GAME NOTES: Looking to overcome a two-game skid, the Florida Gators will take on the Ole Miss Rebels in an SEC road game at the Tad Smith Coliseum Saturday.

Florida has dropped consecutive contests to Georgia (73-61) and LSU (79-61), leaving the Gators with a 3-2 mark in SEC competition. Three of the team's next four games will be on the road, where Florida is currently 1-3.

Ole Miss has lost two of its last three games, with a crushing 96-82 victory over Arkansas splitting up the team's latest two defeats. But the Rebels must find a way to bounce back from a tough 69-64 loss to Georgia on Tuesday that dropped Ole Miss back to 2-3 in conference play. The team hasn't been all that solid at home either, owning just a 5-4 mark.

This meeting between Florida and Ole Miss will be the 106th in their series rivalry. The Gators hold a 62-43 all-time advantage over the Rebels, although Florida is 22-28 against Ole Miss in Oxford.

LSU absolutely took it to Florida on Tuesday night, as the Tigers connected on 51.9 percent of their shots from the floor and hit on a near-perfect 17-of-18 from the free-throw line to defeat the Gators in Gainesville by 18 points. Florida shot just 38.3 percent from the floor in the loss, and made only 3- of-16 from 3-point distance. Alex Murphy and Dorian Finney-Smith each tallied 10 points off the bench to lead the way for the Gators. Finney-Smith also added eight rebounds, which was a team high.

Florida has had some inconsistencies in its starting lineup lately, where Finney-Smith and Michael Frazier have seemingly been alternating starting spots. Either way, those two players still lead the team in scoring, respectively, with Finney-Smith netting a team-best 13.6 ppg and Frazier contributing 13.1 ppg for Florida. They are the only two Gators in double figures this season, although Kasey Hill has done a solid job replacing Scottie Wilbekin at the point guard. Hill adds in 8.1 ppg and a team-leading 4.4 apg, which is good for fourth in the SEC. The Gators as a whole are averaging 67.3 ppg this season, and are limiting opponents to 58.9 ppg on 40.2 percent shooting.

Georgia was able to hold off Ole Miss down the stretch as the Rebels tried desperately to win their second game in a row. The Rebels ended the game against the Bulldogs shooting 40 percent from the floor, with a 4-of-18 mark from 3-point distance. Stefan Moody scored 26 points to lead the Rebels in the defeat, and was the only player for the team in double figures. Sebastian Saiz grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the team, while M.J. Rhett dished out five assists.

Aside from Moody, most of the team's top contributors were relatively inactive against Georgia. The Rebels will need more out of their other stars if they want to have any sort of advantage going forward in SEC play. Moody heads into Saturday as the team's leading scorer, managing 15.6 ppg on 40.4 percent shooting. Jarvis Summers checks in at second with 14.1 ppg, and LaDarius White contributes 11.6 ppg to round out a trio of double-digit scorers for Ole Miss. The Rebels are netting a healthy 74.3 ppg this season, which ranks fourth in the conference. The team's scoring defense has seen better days, allowing 67.1 ppg to opponents, who are shooting only 38.3 percent from the field. Rhett, the Tennessee State transfer, enters the fray leading his squad in rebounding at 5.2 boards per outing.

This is an almost entirely different Florida team than last season's Final Foul squad, but with Frazier, Finney-Smith and Jon Horford leading the charge, there's no reason to think the Gators can't pick things up. Ole Miss needs more consistent play, and the team hasn't gotten that at home yet.