White at wit’s end with struggling Gators
Florida lost two of three games at Battle 4 Atlantis tournament
“Our older guys need to be a little more competitive at this point.”
—UF coach Mike White
GAINESVILLE — UF basketball coach Mike White is frustrated — and he does not care to hide it.
Seniors Jalen Hudson and KeVaughn Allen aren’t scoring. Power forward Keith Stone has five offensive rebounds in six games. The team’s two most reliable defenders are freshman guards Andrew Nembhard and Noah Locke.
Put it together and it adds up to a disappointing 3-3 start for White’s Gators entering Tuesday night’s game against North Florida.
“We should be better than we are,” White said Monday. “It’s a process with every team. I was hopeful this team wouldn’t have to go through this process — we wouldn’t be having to send messages to guys.
“But that’s not where we’re at right now.”
Two losses in three games during last week’s Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas exposed the Gators’ weaknesses.
Two days after his team’s 61-54 loss to Butler, White reviewed his team’s shortcomings in painstaking fashion on Sunday at the team’s practice facility.
“We’ll go out and practice today for a long time — as much as the NCAA will give us,” White said “They gave us four hours yesterday. We used all four. We used two on film.
“Our guys are about as sick of watching film as I am, but we’re gonna watch film again today.”
But White delivered his most resounding message in the wake of last Wednesday’s 65-60 loss to Oklahoma. The next day against Stanford, White benched Hudson, who played seven scoreless minutes during the Gators’ 72-49 win.
A fifth-year senior shooting guard and team’s leading scorer last season (15.5 point per game), Hudson returned to UF instead of turning professional. Expected to be a team leader and go-to player, he is averaging just seven points and has three total assists as his stock continues to plummet like the Dow Jones in recent weeks.
“He’s in a tough place,” White said. “This wasn’t what Jalen was expecting. It wasn’t what his teammates or I were expecting, either. He’s got to find a way to get himself going, and we’ve got to keep challenging him and communicating with him.”
White has taken issue in the past with Hudson’s lapses as a defender and rebounder, but Hudson vowed to address those areas this season. Instead, he looks lost on both ends of the court.
“And not just in games, but it’s been in practice,” White said. “He knows that. We show him clips every day. I could play him 30 minutes; maybe he gets in a great offensive rhythm. That said, you have to be able to earn 30 minutes.”
Two seasons after he averaged a team-high 14 points, Allen is scoring just eight points per game. Allen’s effort level has kept him on the court, but the Gators need Allen and Hudson to emerge from their slumps.
Until they do, White will continue to lean on a pair of first-year freshmen and senior center Kevarrius Hayes, who is severely limited offensively.
“I want my five most competitive guys on the court,” White said. “Unfortunately, two of those guys are freshmen — a little bit of a surprise at this point. I’m pleased with those guys, but our older guys need to be a little more competitive at this point.”
The Gators’ offensive rebounding woes have drawn White’s attention — and ire — more than any of his team’s failings. UF ranks last in the SEC and 311th of 351 Division I teams with an average of 8.1 per game.
Hayes leads the team with 17 offensive rebounds and follows his assignment each time down the court, according to White. But Hayes is not getting much help, beginning with Stone and Hudson.
“He’s hard to block out because he goes 10 out of 10 times,” White said of Hayes. “So he might get one or two of those. And we’ve got other guys that are supposed to go every time, and they go when they feel like it. They go when it’s easy. They go when the air conditioning is blowing across the gym the right way.
“We’ve got to play harder.”
Injuries to big men Isaiah Stokes (knee), Gorjok Gak (knee) and Chase Johnson (concussion) have not helped.
White also is not about to make excuses for his team’s struggles.
“I’m not even spending time focusing on Isaiah, Chase and Gak,” White said. “If they become a part of the equation, I’ll focus on them a little bit more. That’s another frustration, of course, to handle with those guys. But we’ve got enough. We’ve got enough to be successful.
“We’ve just gotta do our jobs.”