Florida basketball finally earned its first win of the 2024 calendar year on Saturday against the visiting Arkansas Razorbacks, 90-68. The triumph in front of the O’Connell Center fans was a much-needed one for the Gators after dropping their first two Southeastern Conference matchups.
While the 22-point margin of victory was impressive, but not enough to impress one of the major objective measures. In ESPN’s latest Basketball Power Index update, Florida fell one spot from our last update to No. 35 overall, now sitting between the No. 34 Texas Longhorns and No. 36 Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Florida’s BPI rating — a measurement of a team’s true strength moving forward — rose 0.6 points to 9.9. The offensive BPI again moved up 0.3 points to 6.8 and the defense rose 0.2 points to 3.1.
The win-loss projection improved to 19.2-11.8, with a slightly higher 9.2-8.8 prediction for the conference schedule. ESPN now gives Florida a slightly better 0.2% chance to win the Southeastern Conference while the remaining strength of schedule ranked No. 32.
Next up, the Gators return to the road to take on the Tennessee Volunteers inside Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Tuesday, Jan. 16. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
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