SUNRISE, Fla. – The deficiencies to date have been clear. They start with inexplicably bad (some of the poorest in the nation, in fact) 3-point shooting. The Florida Gators also have been too loose with the ball and undisciplined in the paint on defense, especially with over-fouling.
The confluence of these issues – and others (see below) – has UF off to the worst start by a college basketball defending national champion in 11 years. UF coach Todd Golden is confident improvement is on the way, but until that happens that incredibly simplistic and on-point cliché made famous by Pro Football Hall-of-Fame coach Bill Parcells rings applicable.
You are what your record says you are.
And, right now, the Gators (5-4) need wins, starting Saturday when they face George Washington (8-3) in what has become a biannual date in the Orange Bowl Classic at Amerant Arena. UF has exited the meat-grinder portion of its pre-Southeastern Conference schedule, having trekked to Las Vegas, San Diego, North Carolina and New York City to absorb four losses that, with a play here or break there, could just as soon have been victories.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry’s “Pregame Stuff” setup here]
But making the aforementioned mistakes against Arizona (now No. 1 in the country), a defense-first program like Texas Christian (elite at forcing and scoring off turnovers), at powerhouse and fourth-ranked Duke (in the team’s first trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium in 27 years) and last week against No. 5 Connecticut (the winningest program this century, on its regional home floor) have the Gators in their current predicament.
That said, there are no Koa Peats, Cameron Boozers or Alex Karabans on the horizon between now and New Year’s Eve. Nope. After facing GW on what should be a fairly friendly semi-neutral South Florida floor, the Gators will be home – where they’ve not played since Nov. 21 – to face Saint Francis, Colgate and Dartmouth before turning their attention to the SEC opener at Missouri on Jan. 3.
“Collectively, we’re all disappointed that our record’s not a little better right now, but I think you’d have to be really soft-minded to not realize that we’ve competed against really good teams and been in a position to win or play down to the last second against the teams that, over the first two months of the year, people would argue are probably top-five, top-six teams in America,” Golden said. “So, you could focus on the negative of not getting to the finish line and what our record is or focus on the fact that we’ve played some really good ball in a lot of areas. Again, we’re not in a position where we’ve played our best and we’re just not quite good enough, and having to kind of balance that disappointment.”
CHARTING THE GATORS: Second quarter woes
In the three losses to teams currently ranked in the Associated Press Top 5 (Arizona is now No. 1), UF has started strong, but hit a wall in the final 10 minutes — or “second quarter” — of the first half. Add that trend to the fix-it list before the Gators hit Southeastern Conference play in January.
Opponent
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Final score
vs No. 13 Arizona (Las Vegas)
plus-10
minus-16
minus-1
minus-1
L 93-87
at No. 4 Duke
even
minus-12
plus-7
plus-4
L 67-66
vs No. 5 Connecticut (at New York)
plus-7
minus-14
plus-8
minus-4
L 77-73
Total point differential per “quarter’
plus-14
minus-42
plus-14
minus-1
Record: 0-3
And they have to move on.
Next play, as they say.
Can’t do anything about those four missed opportunities, other than learn from and address the shortcomings. And the most pressing item on the to-do list is to start making shots, given the Gators are at 27.3% from the 3-point line on the season. That ranks 343rd nationally and dead-last among the 79 power conference teams.
Since the 3-point line was adopted by the NCAA for the 1986-87 season, no Florida team has shot below 30% from the arc.
“We were one of six on our open threes [against UConn]. We have to be better than that. We have to at least make two and you would expect to make 50% of those,” Golden said. “Again, that’s a little bit of the difference in the game. So, I focus on getting good [shots]. Hopefully, we start making more of them. But that’s a little out of our control. Again, we want to make sure we take better care of the ball, which I thought we definitely did that. And defend without fouling better, which I thought we did a much better job with that.”
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.
