Florida basketball nearly earned its fourth win in a row and third signature victory of the 2023-24 campaign on Wednesday night against the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa, but was outlasted in overtime by the home team by a final score of 98-93.
In ESPN’s latest Basketball Power Index update following the loss, the Orange and Blue rose two spots since our previous update, now sitting at No. 24 overall; that nestles them between the No. 23 Kentucky Wildcats and No. 25 Texas Longhorns.
Florida’s BPI rating — a measurement of a team’s true strength moving forward — rose 0.2 points to 11.9. The offensive BPI increased 0.1 points to 8.6 while the defensive BPI rose 0.2 points to 3.4.
The win-loss projection slightly slipped to 21.7-9.3, with an also slightly reduced 11.7-6.3 prediction for the conference schedule. ESPN gives Florida a distant 0.7% chance to win the Southeastern Conference while the remaining strength of schedule ranks at No. 93.
The Gators return home on Saturday, Feb. 24, to host the Vanderbilt Commodores inside the O’Connell Center. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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