Prior to each Mizzou hoops game this season, we will get Tiger fans set with The Starting Five. In this feature, we'll give you the anticipated starting lineups for each team, break down keys to a Missouri win and offer up a prediction.

Here is the breakdown of today's game against Florida.

OFF THE BENCH: Ronnie Suggs was the first player off the bench for Cuonzo Martin in the Kentucky game and responded with a career-best 13 points. Reed Nikko has been the first frontcourt player off the bench of late. Mark Smith will see more and more time as he gets healthier and Torrence Watson will see some action in the backcourt as well. Either Mitchell Smith or K.J. Santos will sub at the power forward spot, but which one plays more seems to be a game-to-game thing.

OFF THE BENCH: Jalen Hudson and Keith Stone have both started at times this year and will bring experience off of Mike White's bench. The Gators mostly use a seven-man rotation, though Deaundre Ballard and Dontay Bassett are averaging about 13 minutes each.

TIPOFF: 3 p.m.

LOCATION: Gainesville, Fl.

TELEVISION: ESPNU/WatchESPN

RADIO: The game will be broadcast on the Tiger Radio Network. For a list of affiliates, click here.

1. Sustain the effort

Missouri has frequently managed 20 to 30 good minutes this season. But it hasn't been enough. Missouri needs to find a way to extend that to 35 or 40 good minutes to beat most of the SEC's upper half teams. One thing that is said by nearly every opposing coach is that Missouri plays hard. Cuonzo Martin didn't think that was the case in the first half against Kentucky. The effort has to be there from start to finish on Saturday.

2. Get Mark Smith back

Smith has played each of the last two games, but clearly hasn't been himself. He's made just 1-of-11 from the field and scored three points, which included a scoreless 0-for-7 against Kentucky on Tuesday. The Tigers simply don't have enough talent to win without Smith contributing something. They may not need him to be the leading scorer as he often was at the beginning of the season, but they're going to need him to hit a couple of shots.

3. Hold on to the ball

This is the broken record part of the preview. When Missouri keeps turnovers to a minimum, it's actually a pretty decent offensive team. It just doesn't do that enough. The Tigers have had 24 turnovers or more three times this season and still average 14.5 per game, two more than their opponents. Florida forces 15.7 turnovers per game and scores an average of 18.1 points off of them. Missouri's going to need to keep its mistakes to a minimum to give itself a shot.

Missouri has been in almost every game, but hasn't been able to get over the hump. The Gators are playing well of late and suddenly find themselves in position to actually be playing for something. Florida is probably on the edge of the bubble right now and can't afford a bad loss. This shouldn't be a high scoring game. Florida averages a little more than 68 points per game and Mizzou 67. We expect the Tigers to keep it close, but fall short. Stop us if you've heard this before.

Prediction: Florida 64, Missouri 59

Player of the game: Jordan Geist leads the Tigers with 16 points but doesn't get a whole lot of help.