Gators gearing up

Florida ready to face Wisconsin.

NEW YORK — Devin Robinson will tell you this is what has always been expected of him. It’s what he expects of himself.

Robinson said it’s his job to be a leader on the Florida basketball team.

The junior forward acknowledges, however, that people just catching UF in the NCAA Tournament think he has suddenly emerged as the Gators’ sparkplug during their run to Madison Square Garden and the Sweet 16.

Robinson likes to play down the importance of how he played last week, but make no mistake, Robinson’s play in the first two games of the tournament was critical.

“When he’s playing like this, he’s one of the best players in the country,” Florida guard Chris Chiozza said. “Offensively he can score from all three levels. He can go dunk on a center, shoot the 3 or anything in between. “When he’s on, the whole team is on.” He’s certainly been on and the team has fed off his energy. If Robinson doesn’t drop 24 points and seven rebounds on East Tennessee State, or 14 points and 11 rebounds on Virginia, the Gators could quite possibly be sitting back in Gainesville watching the tournament.

He has been the catalyst for this run to the East Region semifinals and the No.

4-seeded Gators will need more of the same tonight against No. 8 Wisconsin. The teams face off at 9:59 p.m. in a game that will air on TBS. The East Region’s first game between No. 3 Baylor and No. 7 South Carolina tips off at 7:29 p.m.

“I just stick to the plan. I could have been doing this all year. All the guys have been stepping up,” Robinson said. “We’ve got a tendency to have any guy step up at any time, so I’m just playing my role.

“When the ball comes my way, my teammates give me the right confidence to let it fly. so I’m just going to let it fly, with confidence.”

He’s had plenty of confidence of late and even more important, his teammates have recognized it. When he’s feeling it, they get him the ball and Robinson has responded. He has hit 15 of 25 field goals in the tournament for a red hot 60-percent clip, including 4 of 9 3-pointers.

Chiozza talked about the importance of finding the hot hand, which meant feeding the ball to Robinson and Justin Leon during the Gators’ key win over Virginia.

“If he hits his first shot, then he’s going to hit quite a few during the game. So if he hits a shot early, we’re going to try to get him some touches,” Chiozza said of Robinson.

Wisconsin’s defense, which has held teams to a Big Ten-low 61.8 points per game this season, presents a tough task similar to the one UF faced while taking on Virginia, which led the nation in scoring defense this season.

“They play defense like Virginia, just more aggressive, more spread out,” Robinson said of Wisconsin. “When you drive, they try to stay on the wings and not let guys get open shots, so it’s gonna to be tough on offense for us.

“It’s just going to be another defensive game, so we’re going to have to win the game on defense.”

The Gators have preached that line before, but they showed against Virginia they also have some offensive punch that can overwhelm traditional defensive powers. Florida has done whatever the situation has dictated to earn a win so far in the NCAA Tournament and it has built some momentum that can be tough to overcome.

“So we are here, there’s a game to be played and why not see if we can keep this thing going as long as we can,” UF coach Mike White said.