As the No. 3 seed in the 2024 inaugural WBIT, Florida will host St. John’s on Thursday evening at the O’Dome. The matchup will mark the first meeting between the Gators and the Red Storm in over 10 years.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida will host St. John’s on Thursday evening in the first round of the inaugural WBIT. The post-season opportunity involves 32 NCAA teams, with four rounds leading to a championship game on April 3.
The Gators enter the tournament as a No. 3 seed after making a run to the quarterfinals in the SEC tournament. St. John’s will travel to Gainesville after similarly falling in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Tournament. 53-44 to Georgetown.
The Thursday night winner will advance to round two of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament and face the winner of Toledo vs. Cleveland State.
ST. JOHN’S (17-14, 11-8 BIG EAST):
* Date: Thursday, Mar. 21
* Time: 7:00 p.m.
* Site: Exactech Arena
* Stream: ESPN+<https://www.espn.com/espnplus/player/_/id/4d4f4312-3b7b-44cd-b641-b6d1d692e5a7#bucketId=41482>
* Radio: ESPN Gainesville 98.1 FM / 850 AM<https://floridagators.com/watch/?Live=5284>
* Stats: StatBroadcast<https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=524632>
* Tickets<https://am.ticketmaster.com/gators/en/ism/V0IyM0JJVDE=?utm_source=EML24_0318_10A_WBK_WBIT-TIX&utm_medium=EMAIL&utm_campaign=WB23&elqTrackId=22a1eeb6c84b4e1d98ff325e7fddb615&elq=0848170356af4ffc86bc43a9f10b354d&elqaid=5932&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=>
THE SERIES:
St. John’s currently holds the all-time series over Florida 2-1. The Gators and Red Storm have only met a recorded three times with their last meeting dating back to 2014.
HISTORY:
Florida and St. John’s have a limited history as they come from different conferences and have only tipped off against one another three times. The last meeting between the Gators and the Red Storm was on Nov. 20, 2014, with Ronni Williams on the Florida roster. Florida ultimately fell 72-66 in Queens, N.Y.
FLORIDA’S LAST GAME:
The Gators’ last time on the court was on Mar. 8, 2024, in Greenville, S.C. at the SEC post-season tournament. Florida took on Ole Miss in the quarterfinals falling short by 10 points with a final score of 84-74. Florida was led by Aliyah Matharu with a 24-point performance, followed by Leilani Correa putting up 18 for the Gators. Correa also led Florida on the boards securing nine of the team’s 32 rebounds.
Florida finished out its last game shooting 38.6 percent from the field, 55.6 percent from the three, and went 25-of-32 from the free throw line (78.1%). Overall the Gators had a strong performance in its first challenge of the post-season, defeating both Missouri and Vanderbilt.
ABOUT ST. JOHN’S:
St. John’s enters Thursday’s competition with a 17-14 overall record and an 11-7 BIG EAST record. The Red Storm share a league with three 2024 NCAA tournament teams (UConn, Marquette, Creighton) and have proven to be a strong competitor defeating Marquette in both of their regular season meetings.
The Red Storm has been led on offense this season by Unique Drake averaging 17.7 points per outing and has accumulated 549 points in 31 games. Jillian Archer and Ber’Nyah Mayo also average double-digits in scoring. Archer holds an 11.3 average and Mayo averages 10.7 points per game. Archer also leads the Red Storm on the boards for a combined 239 rebounds this season. On average, Archer secures 7.7 rebounds a game.
QUICK HITS:
* Florida’s participation in the WBIT will mark its fourth consecutive year qualifying for post-season play
* The Red Storm finished out the regular season as the third-ranked team in the BIG EAST conference
* St. John’s Unique Drake is fourth in the BIG EAST for scoring
* The Red Storm’s current head coach, Joe Tartamella is the winningest coach in St. John’s program history
* St. John’s fell to Georgetown in the BIG EAST tournament before Georgetown went on to play in the championships falling to UConn 78-42
* The Gators’ only recorded victory over the Red Storm dates back to Nov. 26, 2013, defeating St. John’s 72-68
* The Red Storm will come to Gainesville for their eighth post-season appearance in 12 years
* It will be 13 days since Florida’s last time out and 12 since St. John’s
* Both teams fell in their respective conference tournaments in the quarterfinals
* The Gators faced a total of 12 NCAA tournament teams in the regular season posting wins over four (Vanderbilt, Columbia, Texas A&M, and Michigan)
* St. John’s took on four NCAA tournament teams in the 2023-24 regular season (Fairfield, Creighton, Marquette, and UConn) notching two wins over Marquette
#GoGators
