Florida vs. New Hampshire, Game Thread: Can the Gators go 100 again?

The story of the Florida Gators through two years under Mike White was that of a very good defensive team with an offense lagging behind the defense.

Thus far in 2017-18, that offense has caught up and then some.

Florida is averaging a stunning 112 points per game, and coming off its first back-to-back cracks of the century mark in its first two games of a season in school history. Moreover, Florida’s scoring about 1.46 points per possession — a molten mark that the Gators hit once in White’s first two years.

The 1.48 points per possession that Florida put on Gardner Webb are the most of White’s tenure. The 1.44 points per possession from Florida’s win over North Florida were the third-most.

To be plain: This is the best offense Florida has played under White. And while maintaining this pace all year is unthinkable — the most efficient team in the country in 2016-17, Oklahoma State, scored 1.26 points per possession — it does stand to reason that the Gators could be this good against bad teams.

New Hampshire, for example.

Chip Kelly’s alma mater is the third consecutive team outside the top 200 of KenPom that the Gators will face, and the Wildcats’ 1-1 record is the product of a loss to Texas and a lopsided win over Division III Wheelock College — a school with under 1,000 undergraduate students. Bill Herrion has led his team to top-200 finishes in KenPom just twice since 2005-06, and while the Wildcats do some things well historically, like preventing offensive rebounds, they’re off to a terrible start from the field this season, shooting just better than 35 percent on twos and just under 28 percent on threes.

If Florida plays poorly, it should have plenty of chances to win this game.

If it plays well? Well, 100 points isn’t out of the question.