Gators eager to regain spark in Orlando
NASHVILLE — Florida sophomore KeVaughn Allen is usually soft-spoken. But not on Friday. When asked whether the Gators had lost momentum after losing to Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals, their third loss in their last four games, Allen answered immediately that they hadn’t. Teammate Kasey Hill agreed.
Then Florida coach Mike White spoke.
“I disagree with my guys,” White said Friday. “We obviously have lost momentum.”
After its best season in three years, finishing second in the SEC, Florida was eliminated from the SEC Tournament quarterfinals for the second consecutive year.
But despite the loss, Florida’s NCAA Tournament standing didn’t take much of a hit. UF was awarded the No. 4 seed on Sunday, earning a spot in the Big Dance for the first time since 2014 and playing its opening games in Orlando.
“Our guys have withstood a long, grueling season, with only playing a few games at home because of our unique circumstances, and they’ve handled it well,” White said in a news release. “They’re very deserving of this.
UF will play No. 13 seed East Tennessee State in the first round on Thursday. The game will start after the No. 5 Virginia-No. 12 UNC Wilmington matchup that tips off at 12:40 p.m.
“What a great night for our players, our fans and our entire program,” ETSU coach Steve Forbes said after his team learned it would face UF. “We’re ready to get to work. Our goal was not just to play meaningful games in March, but to win them.”
The Buccaneers (27-7) outscore opponents by an average margin of 10.6 points, good for 28th in the nation. ETSU has also won nine of its last 10 games, including the Southern Conference Championship Game on March 6.
“I’m just glad to be back in the tournament,” Hill said. “It means a lot. Now, we have to be really locked in and play our best basketball. Everybody does, because we’re going to need everybody to win.”
Heading into Thursday’s matchup, Florida will look to gain back the confidence it was playing with when it won nine straight games during a stretch in January and February.
“I think we’ve been in that place at times this year,” White said of UF’s confidence. “We’re not in that place right now.”
The Gators shot just 34.4 percent from the field in Friday’s loss to the Commodores, their worst mark of the season. They also shot 26.1 percent from 3-point range, their worst shooting performance from behind the arc since missing all 17 of their 3-point attempts in a loss to South Carolina on Jan. 18.
“I feel like the shots we took were great shots,” Allen said. “They just didn’t go in.”
But perhaps UF’s most glaring weakness has been its lack of scoring from the center position. With starting center John Egbunu out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL, sophomore Kevarrius Hayes has struggled in Florida’s last two games, both against Vanderbilt. Hayes scored a combined four points on 1-of-8 shooting.
White attributed Hayes’ struggles to Vanderbilt center Luke Kornet, who ranks third in the conference in blocks.
“John has had his share of scoring with his back to the basket, but Kevarrius has as well,” White said. “I think the last two games with our lack of interior production has a lot more to do with Luke Kornet than my bigs. I just do.”
And even with a firstround tournament matchup just two hours south of Gainesville, White is not taking any opponent for granted — especially in his first NCAA Tournament appearance as a head coach.
“There are a handful of games in our league that could have gone the other way,” White said. “We’re not this dominant team that is just rolling through people.”