No. 23 Florida finds footing before playoffs
GAINESVILLE, Fla.— Florida coach Mike White has a forbidden phrase for his staff, a rule implemented just a few weeks ago.
No one is allowed to say “PK80” in front of the team. It’s banned in scouting breakdowns, video sessions and practices.
It’s the coaching equivalent of a backcourt turnover that leads to an easy basket.
“All the noise that our guys hear is, ‘Well, you guys were so good then,’” White said, referring to the late-November tournament in Portland, Oregon, that helped vault the Gators to No. 5 in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll. “We were horrific defensively.
“We were playing really, really fast and we were getting open looks, and that’s before people started grinding that thing out against us. We looked a little bit different. All the reminders that our guys get, all the exterior noise about, ‘PK80 this, PK80 that,’ I didn’t think it was healthy for our guys to continue to hear that. Let’s just focus on today. Let’s focus on getting better.”
White’s new directive coincided with the start of a significant turnaround for the 23rd-ranked Gators (20-11, 11-7 Southeastern Conference), who are back in the poll after winning three in a row.
Florida is playing its best basketball of the season heading into the SEC Tournament in St. Louis. White’s team beat then-No. 12 Auburn , thumped Alabama on the road and handled then-No. 23 Kentucky in the regular- finale.
Those victories helped the Gators earn the No. 3 seed in the 14-team tournament. Florida will play Arkansas, South Carolina or Mississippi in the quarterfinals Friday night.
“We’ve just got to stay in this groove, said guard Jalen Hudson, who was named co-SEC player of the week Monday. “We’ve got a good thing going.”
Just in time for postseason play, too.
“Great timing,” Hudson added. “Couldn’t have been better.”
The Gators thought they had it all figured out in Portland. They scored 108 and 111 on consecutive nights in wins against Stanford and Gonzaga, respectively, and then had a 17-point lead against then-No. 1 Duke in the second of two title games at the Phil Knight Invitational, a 16-team tournament that celebrated the Nike co-founder’s 80th birthday.
Florida blew that big lead to the Blue Devils, but still rose in the rankings.
White cautioned anyone who would listen that his team wasn’t playing the kind of defense needed to sustain success and overcome a poor shooting performance. It came to light the next week when the Gators lost consecutive home games to Florida State and Loyola Chicago.
That started an up-anddown trend for a team that featured several newcomers, led by Hudson and fellow guard Egor Koulechov. Florida reached a low point last month when it dropped six of eight in league play.