UF enters Orange Bowl Classic searching for an inside game
GAINESVILLE UF coach Mike White noted the mismatch under the basket and showed no mercy.
A group of student managers did not stand a chance against 6-foot-8, 270-pound freshman Isaiah Stokes during a recent game at the Gators’ practice facility.
”It’s nice to have that,” White said. “Usually in noon ball, we can’t pound it to the interior.”
White’s approach added up to another ‘W’ for the coaching staff on Wednesday and another reminder of the inside presence his Gators sorely are missing most days.
Redshirt senior center John Egbunu and Stokes continue to recover from ACL injuries and are not expected to return to game action until late January. Meanwhile, 6-foot-9 freshman forward Chase Johnson has been out for weeks with an illness. Backup center Gorjok Gak is limited by knee issues, forcing him to miss practices and impacting his playing time.
“You wish we had all four bigs in practice and we were at full strength,” White said. “But we’ve got to make do.”
The Gators do not have many options.
Junior center Kevarrius Hayes, sophomore forward Keith Stone and freshman forward Dontay Bassett are the team’s only healthy inside players. Hayes and Stone have been inconsistent, while Bassett lacks experience.
With just nine scholarship players available most practices, White relies on two student managers, turned walk-ons.
On game days, quality opponents have capitalized on UF’s thin inside ranks.
Duke big man Marvin Bagley III overwhelmed the Gators with 30 points and 15 rebounds during a Nov. 26 UF loss. Florida State badly beat UF on the backboard — 51 to 34 — to win by 17 points Dec. 4 in Gainesville.
Team have outscored the Gators in the paint by an average of 14 points during the past five games — three of them UF losses.
The Gators (6-3) did snap a three-game skid with last Saturday’s 66-60 win against Cincinnati in Newark, N.J., despite the Bearcats holding a 12-point edge in the paint. White enlisted all five players to defend the interior and forced Cincinnati to earn every layup.
“We had to do it with five guys, less margin for error of course, but it can be done,” White said. “And we’ve got to all be on the same page. Our accountability level to each other has to be darn near perfect.”
The Gators look to get back on the same page during Saturday’s matchup with Clemson (8-1) in the Orlando Bowl Classic in Sunrise. Tigers’ forwards Elijah Thomas and Donte Graham average a combined 28.1 points and 15 rebounds.
But when UF sags inside to help, Clemson could make the Gators pay with 3-point shooting. Cincinnati finished just 4-of-15 from 3-point range; the Tigers average nearly eight 3s.
“They’re a veteran team, they execute really well, they’ve got a great flow to their game,” White said. “They understand where they’re trying to throw the ball, their reads off pick-and-rolls are terrific, they’ve got four guys out there that can make 3s in the starting lineup.”
White blames himself for many UF’s defensive shortcomings. The Gators’ poor transition defense, for example, should have been addressed a month ago.
“We probably needed to have four or five practices where the entire practices were on transition defense for three hours,” he said. “I didn’t know we would be this porous.”
When shots were falling earlier in the season, it did not matter. UF started 5-1, led the nation in scoring and reached No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25.
Now, the No. 22 Gators are realizing winning can come in many forms. Case in point: last Saturday’s scrappy effort against Cincinnati, just UF’s second win when it scored fewer than 100 points.
“We need to find ways to win games when we’re not hitting those 3s, when we’re not scoring 90 points a game,” senior small forward Egor Koulechov said. “That was the first time this year that we really just found a way. That was big for us.”