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Despite tipping off less than twenty-four hours after dropping an away contest at Florida State, the UF women’s basketball team bounced back with a 67-52 victory over Charleston Southern in the friendly confines of Exactech Arena on Wednesday.
The Gators (2-1) started out sluggish, trailing 22-19 with 6:04 remaining in the second quarter. Florida then went on a 23-4 run before the half to pull away.
Florida added to their advantage in the third quarter, outscoring the Buccaneers 17-13 in the period. However, the Gators managed just eight points in the fourth quarter, but the twenty point lead was more than enough to overcome the sloppy finish.
Head coach Cameron Newbauer mentioned the inexperience of playing back to backs as a reason for some of the mistakes at the beginning and end of the game, “We had some good moments in spurts, but there were a lot of strange moments both offensively and defensively. That is just the inexperience of playing back to back games.”
Senior guard Kiki Smith led the way for Florida with 15 points while adding four rebounds and six steals. Sophomore guard Nina Rickards added 12 points and 7 boards to the effort. In all, ten Gators saw action and all ten left their mark in the scoring column.
Team Stats:
FG% – 40% (25-63)
3FG% – 19% (5-26)
FT% – 75% (12-16)
Rebounds – 38
O Rebounds – 15
Reb +/- – +16
Assists – 11
Steals – 8
Turnovers – 15
What’s Next:
Florida is two games into a five in nine day stretch. The Gators will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday afternoon at Exactech Arena. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 PM tip.
The Bearcats are 1-0 after an overtime thriller over Northern Kentucky on November 25. Cincinnati also had a home contest with Louisville scrapped due to a positive Covid-19 case in the UC program.
David Soderquist, Brian Fox Jr, and Jake Hitt preview the upcoming contest between the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers. The trio then discuss key statistics and tell you where Florida has the advantage.
Also, if you would like to leave your opinions, predictions, hot takes, college football jokes, or questions you can leave a message on our voicemail line by calling 352-888-4687.
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Florida men’s basketball may have canceled their first three originally scheduled games, but they tried to fit enough stress and excitement in their opener to make up for every one of them in the team’s 76-69 victory over the Black Knights in Connecticut on Wednesday.
The Gators were playing their first competitive game since March, and the rust showed early and often. The Gators had four turnovers in the opening four minutes and trailed 12-2 to the Black Knights, who had eight early points from true freshman Jalen Rucker.
Head coach Mike White and Florida were playing catch-up the remainder of the first half, but it was all Black Knights. Army held the lead for the entirety of the opening frame on the strength of starting 5-8 from beyond the three-point line in the opening 10 minutes. The team shot shot 46.2% from deep in the opening half and had 12 points from their bench compared to exactly 0 for the Gators.
Army’s ball movement and passing was lightyears beyond Florida’s in the first 20 minutes, as Florida played a lot of isolation basketball. White has said the team had less than 10 practices as a full unit this offseason, and it showed early. There were a lot of turnovers and errant passes, along with some mental mistakes. Florida only had 3 assists as a team in the first half, and they went to the locker room trailing Army 39-31.
The second half, however, was an entirely different story offensively as point guards Tre Mann and Tyree Appleby began to take control. Florida began the second half on a 16-3 run, including 12 straight points. Appleby gave the Gators their first lead of the game with a three-pointer at the 15:16 mark, and he and Mann combined for 10 points and four assists in the first eight minutes coming out of halftime.
Instead of committing turnovers early in the half, Florida began to force them. Army lost the ball five times in the first seven minutes of the second half, and the Gators actually ended the game with six less turnovers than the Black Knights despite the sloppy opening minutes.
Army wouldn’t go down without a fight, however, and they surged back to tie the game over and over again in the final ten minutes. First, forward Nick Finke went on a run, scoring five straight points, assisting a three-pointer and earning a trip to the free-throw line in a 90 second stretch that included four lead changes. Then, it was guard Josh Caldwell who the Gators seemed to be unable to stop from getting to the basket. Caldwell ended the game with 12 points.
However, Appleby and Mann’s heroics continued. With preseason SEC Player of the Year Keyontae Johnson and Scottie Lewis flirting with foul trouble the entire game, Appleby made six free throws as a part of 15 second-half points to keep pace with Army’s run.
Mann was the easy player of the day for Florida in what may be his most impressive performance in the Gators program. He led the way with 19 points, six rebounds, four assists, and six steals, the last of which being the most crucial. After missing a shot with a minute left, Army was pushing the ball down the court and only down two points. Mann got in the way of a pass and kept the ball with the Gators, dousing the Black Knights’ momentum. Five Mann free throws made in the final minute put the game out of reach, and the Gators walked away with a seven point win.
There was a lot to be concerned about for Florida fans in the first half, with an offense that looked more like five guys thrown together to play pick-up at a park rather than a DI offense. However, a 45-point second half and the emergence of Tre Mann should keep Gator nation buoyed for at least tonight. A lot of the early struggles can be forgiven with rust, but if Mann and Appleby play the way they did tonight, this team could be powerful once it finds its groove.
The 2020-21 Florida men’s basketball team is finally upon us. After the cancellation of three games, the Gators have added a pair of games at Mohegan Sun before their home opener against Stetson on Sunday.
The following group is offering their thoughts, expectations, and predictions on this year’s team.
Why: I know, I know, We do this every year. We set lofty expectations for this team, only to see them come up short. I’m actually more excited about this team than I have been in years past. Mike White has stated his desires to play faster, which this team seems built for. I expect Scottie Lewis to take a leadership role and show off why he was a McDonald’s All-American coming out of high school. I set an Elite Eight finish for this team, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go further. The talent is there for this squad. Now, it’s up to White and the staff to bring it out.
Why: Wow, I thought I was being a bit overzealous before I saw Brian’s. I honestly could see anything between the Final Four and the NIT for this team, but I’m an optimistic person and I’m optimistic about this team. I heavily debated going with Payne at most improved because I think both new starters are going to take massive leaps this season with a year under their belts. With Mann handling the ball, if he becomes the player he was signed to be, this team would be ideal for the up-tempo offense Mike White has been preaching about. I think we may have been a year early on the Gators.
Why: Call me down on Florida, but this is such a strange year that I’m pessimistic UF will have had the development time necessary to integrate six new player and a new starting PG and PF this season. The Gators want to push the pace while improving on transition defense in a year where conditioning has been iffy and full-squad practices are hard to come by. But let me be clear about this: this roster has incredible potential. Samson Ruzhentsev and Lane should be impact freshmen, and the addition of the sit-outs from last season should make UF more competitive this season. Not to get ahead of myself either, but the Gators should be much improved when it comes to scoring in the post, too.
Why: I’m not as bullish on the Gators as some of my counterparts. Yes, returning juniors such as Keyontae Johnson and Noah Locke will provide key leadership and experience to navigate Florida through a tournament appearance if it gets there. And junior transfers in Colin Castleton and Osayi Osifo will offer solid defense and high motors off the bench to start the season — something coach Mike White and the team have lauded the two big men for. With sobered expectations compared to last year and an uptick in pace on the court, this bunch should be fun to watch this season. But will the squad’s talents gel well come March? Only time will tell.
Why: When you look at recent history in college basketball it’s teams with experience that bring back fringe NBA talent that were 50-50 on going to the league that have success. The Gators are just that, bringing back Keyontae Johnson, Scottie Lewis, and Tre Mann who were getting NBA looks as well as activating fourth year players Anthony Duruji and and Tyree Appleby. This will be a team capable of playing multiple different styles on both offense and defense, a major departure from recent years where they have been rather one dimensional. They’ll be drastically better defensively this year with much more length and athleticism than a year ago and they have improved offensive pieces to augment a team that actually scored the ball pretty efficiently. Any skepticism regarding Florida basketball is warranted but objectively looking at this roster they have more length, experience, and proven production than past seasons where the team has disappointed and they have a chance to do damage in March.
…
Florida opens their season on Wednesday against Army in the Bubbleville Tournament in Unacastle, Connecticut.
The Florida Gators women’s basketball team fell to the Florida State Seminoles for the fifth consecutive year Tuesday, 81-75, despite leading by six after the opening quarter.
In a matchup that has been all FSU since 2015, head coach Cam Newbauer and his squad teased for the opening frame that this year might be very different. Nina Rickards led the way with a hot stretch from beyond the three-point line, and the Gators were up 22-16 after the opening ten minutes.
From that point on, however, the Seminoles took control and slowly pulled back even with and then ahead of Florida. Junior guard Morgan Jones led the way with 24 points and 7 rebounds, including a run of key baskets late that featured a layup that made it a seven point game with :18 left, essentially icing the Gators. Forward Valencia Myers had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, also laying in some key shots in the fourth quarter.
The most glaring difference on the stat sheet at the end of the game was rebounding. Florida State pulled down over twice as many rebounds at Florida (52 to 25), with 17 offensive rebounds producing 13 second-chance points, including the final Jones basket.
“Anytime you get out-rebounded by [27], you’re not going to win a game,” Newbauer said after the game.
Despite being down as many as 11 points in the final quarter, the Gators refused to quit, bringing themselves back within three points with just 1:46 remaining before Jones and Myers made their key plays to salt the game away.
A large part in why Newbauer’s squad had a chance to win late was the three-point shot, as Florida shot at a 40.7% clip as a team from deep and Rickards made four of her six attempts from long range.
The Seminoles were still more efficient as a whole, however, outshooting Florida 46.2% to 41.8% from the court and making 10 more free throws. This combined with the rebounding disparity proved to be too much for Florida to overcome.
Newbauer talked after the game about how he felt good about the game entering today and that it was close, but a lot of what went wrong for the Gators could be chalked up to inexperience. Typical starter Kristina Moore missed the game with an illness (non-COVID related), which forced five-star recruit Jordyn Merritt into the starting lineup.
“I wanted to see how she’d respond,” Newbauer said of Merritt.
And respond the freshman did. Merritt made two of four threes for an eight-point game as well as pulling down five boards in a promising start to her Gator career.
However, a few late missed rebounds and open lanes defensively held the Gators just short of finally crossing the finish line against their in-state rivals, and Newbauer was the first to say just how disappointing that was.
When the Florida Gators men’s basketball schedule was revealed in October, the team was scheduled to travel to the Bubbleville Tournament at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut, on Nov. 25 to begin their season.
Now, a few cancellations, adjustments, and announcements later, head coach Mike White and his team are still traveling to Mohegan Sun to begin their season. However, instead of starting on Nov. 25 against the University of Massachusetts – Lowell, the Gators will begin their season against Army on Wednesday before playing Boston Collegeon Thursday.
The team’s schedule has been hard to track for the last week. The Gators original opening games in Connecticut, against UMass Lowell and then-No. 4 Virginia, were canceled on Nov. 22 after COVID-19 forced the team to pause all activities for a week. So those two games were out the window.
The next game on the Florida schedule was supposed to be in Oklahoma against the Sooners on Dec. 2. Then the Oklahoma basketball team tweeted Sunday that both teams had mutually agreed to cancel that game as well and push the start of their home-and-home series to begin next season. Three straight games had been called off to start the season and some especially dramatic fans began to question if the team would ever play a game.
However, when Florida announced the Oklahoma cancellation itself, they said more scheduling news would be coming the next day, a signal of hope. Jon Rothstein from CBS tweeted Sunday night that Florida would be headed back to Mohegan Sun, a week later than originally scheduled, for a pair of games to finally get 2020-21 underway later this week, and the school confirmed his announcement and the opponents the next day.
The Black Knights are currently 3-0 after wins against Merchant Marine, Central Connecticut, and Buffalo, Army’s best start to a season in five years. Boston College opened the season with a tough loss to then-No. 3 Villanova before beating Rhode Island to move to 1-1 for the young season.
Keyontae Johnson, Scottie Lewis and the rest of the team may have wanted to get their season started a little sooner than Dec. 2, but the men’s basketball team is finally ready to get their season underway after what is hopefully the last of the delays.
The Florida Gators men’s basketball team is scheduled to finally get their 2020-21 campaign underway this Saturday against Stetson after their opening three games were canceled.
*Right at the time of publishing, the Gators announced they will be playing games against Army and Boston College at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut. Those games will take place Wednesday and Thursday, December 2 and 3. Time and broadcast info will be posted later.
The Gators and head coach Mike White are coming off a disappointing 19-12 season which saw the team begin the season 6th in the AP Poll. Florida won 11 of 18 conference games, ending the season with a gutting loss to Kentucky after giving away an 18-point lead in the final 12 minutes.
The Gators begin the 2020-21 season in the “Receiving Votes” section of the AP Poll, just outside the top 25, with much more tempered expectations compared to the Final Four projections a year ago. However, in order to see whether the upcoming campaign will be any different than last season, we must look at how the team has changed.
WHO’S GONE
The most notable absences on the 2020-21 team are guard Andrew Nembhard and forward Kerry Blackshear, Jr., two staples of 2019-20 starting lineups.
Both Nembhard and Blackshear were in the top three in both scoring and field goals attempted for the Gators. Blackshear, last year’s preseason SEC Player of the Year and a Second-Team All-SEC selection, had the highest percentage of possessions used offensively (25.5%), and his 7.5 rebounds per game paced the team. He was also one of the best in the country at getting to the free throw line, coming in 16th in the nation in free throw rate (free throws attempted/field goals attempted) at 70.7%.
Nembhard, the Gators primary ball-handler, led the team in minutes (33.2 per game) and easily led the team in assists (5.6 per game) and assist rate (33.1%, second in the SEC). He was also second on the team in both three-pointers attempted and made.
Nembhard now plays with the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs and Blackshear plays professionally in Israel. The Florida offense will have to look drastically different in the upcoming season after losing two of their chief producers, and players that didn’t have as much of a role will have to take a step forward.
Dontay Bassett also departed as a graduate transfer to Weber State, which opens the door even further for one of the younger big men to take a step up.
WHO’S BACK
The most obvious candidate to fill some of the void left by the two absentees will be junior forward Keyontae Johnson, the preseason SEC Player of the Year. A First-Team All-SEC member a year ago, he was the team’s leading scorer (14.5 points per game), Johnson was also second on the team in rebounds (7.1 per game), third in assists (1.2 per game), and led the team in steals (1.2 per game). As a sophomore, he improved in almost every major statistic, including shooting more and at a higher percentage in all three shot categories. Johnson seems primed to take a more focal point in the offense and have a banner year.
Sophomore guard Scottie Lewis also seems set to take a leap forward in his second season. A five-star prospect coming out of high school, Lewis was a bright spot for the Gators defensively, leading the team in blocks (1.2 per game) and second on the team in steals (1.2 per game) on his way to an SEC All-Freshman team nomination. Lewis will have to take a step forward offensively, only being used on about 15% of last season’s possessions according to KenPom. Without Nembhard and Blackshear, however, Lewis can expect this number to increase drastically and his offensive numbers along with it. SEC coaches agree, apparently, as Lewis was named Preseason Second-Team All-SEC earlier this month.
Junior sharpshooter Noah Locke is likely to be a constant presence for the third straight year. Locke shot 43.2% from beyond the arc last season, including a ridiculous 48.1% in conference play. He has been a little hobbled after undergoing offseason hip surgery in May to repair a problem he said caused him to play through pain each of his first two seasons in Gainesville, but hopes to be unencumbered this year once he’s recovered and should be ready to play when the Gators get their season started.
Two sophomores expected to get a big boost in playing time this year are guard Tre Mann and forward Omar Payne, the presumptive favorites to replace the departed Nembhard and Blackshear.
Mann, a McDonald’s All-American in high school, had a quiet freshman year averaging only 5.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Mann had some impressive games, like his 11 points in the Georgia comeback including a huge three, but a majority of his performances were fairly unassuming. A large part of that is due to sitting behind the team’s leader in playing time in Nembhard, but he was also one of the least efficient players on the team, with the second-worst offensive rating on the team, a 35.6% field goal shot, and a three-point percentage south of 28%. Even if he played Nembhard’s minutes, he would have only averaged 1.3 assists per game. If he is to take over the ball-handling vacancy, Mann will have to show a marketed improvement in his play, but that isn’t out of the realm of possibility now that he has a season under his belt, and if he can, he’s perfectly suited for the new up-tempo offense White wants to run.
Payne, another top 50 recruit in 2019 according to ESPN, has all the tools to be a great big. He had one of the most impressive performances of the year against Auburn with 19 points, 11 rebounds, and a perfect 9-9 from the floor, teasing everyone as to just how good Payne could be. However, his level of play and performance was anything other than steady. Payne had seven games with an offensive rating over 125, but he also had six games with an offensive rating of 85 or lower. With a ridiculous 7’5.5″ wingspan and averaging 1.1 blocks in just 15 minutes per game, Payne’s ceiling is one of the highest on team, he just has to be more consistent about sustaining that level of play.
Fellow sophomore’s Ques Glover and Jason Jitoboh are also returning and hoping for a boost in their second seasons. Glover had troubles taking care of the ball, leading the team in turnover rate, but the fact that he got the playing time he did last year as an undersized late signee is a testament to the coaches’ belief in him and his athleticism, and he would be a seamless bench transition in a fast offense. Jitoboh was one of the bigger surprises of last year, getting steady minutes even around Blackshear and Payne and looking more impressive as the season went along. He could be a dark horse to get starts if Payne struggles and should be competitive for time.
WHO’S NEW
The most interesting position race to watch this year will be at the point guard position, where Mann will be challenged by Tyree Appleby. Appleby, a redshirt junior who began his career Cleveland State, was with the team last year but ineligible to play as a non-graduate transfer. Appleby averaged 14.3 points and 4.7 assists in 63 games at Cleveland State and was named to the All-Horizon League Second-Team in 2019.
Appleby isn’t the only player who was forced to sit on the Gators bench last year. Anthony Duruji, a forward from Louisiana Tech, is now eligible to suit up for White after the NCAA made him take a year off. At 6-foot-7, Duruji shot over 35% from beyond the arc at his time in Louisiana, something that should excite White and the team. His final season, he brought in over 12 points and 6 rebounds a game while also averaging 1.2 blocks and 0.9 steals.
One transfer who won’t have to sit out a year is forward Colin Castleton, who began his career with the Michigan Wolverines. In two seasons in Ann Arbor, Castleton’s minutes jumped to almost eight per game last year, averaging 3.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks. At 6’11”, he’s one of the tallest players on the roster and could be a serious threat to Payne and Jitoboh down low should he show improvement. Alex Klatsky will also be available after redshirting his freshman year.
Osayi Osifo is also a new transfer coming from Eastern Florida State College. He and Castleton are joined by the three freshman, forward Samson Ruzhentsev and guards Niels Lane and Jack May as the five players beginning their first year as a Gator.
Ruzhentsev is the most likely of the three freshman to see the court, a lanky wing at 6’7″ and a four-star prospect out of high school. Osifo is the most intriguing of the debutants, however, considering he hasn’t even played basketball for four years yet and ran track in high school. He averaged more than 10 points and over 7 rebounds last season at Eastern Florida.
PICKING UP THE PACE
If there’s one point about this upcoming season White has emphasized, it’s about pushing the tempo and playing faster as a team for 2020-21.
The last two seasons have been the slowest in terms of possession time in the White era. Florida averaged 68.4 and 66.9 possessions per game the last two seasons, ranking 296th and 338th in the country respectively, as well as ranking outside the top 325 in adjusted tempo according to KenPom both years.
A lot of this lethargic pace can be attributed to former point guard Andrew Nembhard, who is much more comfortable with a slower offense and would actively draw out the pace to see the court. However, the most successful season of the White tenure, the 2016-17 season, was also one of the fastest, and the Gators reached the Elite Eight that season.
On a team full of athletic wings like Johnson and Lewis and a combo guard like Mann, and with Nembhard no longer commandeering the offense, White should be set up perfectly to push the pace as much as he would like.
WHAT TO EXPECT
This Florida team has a really wide range of outcomes that wouldn’t really surprise me. There are two ways to view this roster. It could be an athletic team that is perfectly built for White’s new up-tempo style with a bunch of young players poised to take a leap, or it could be a team that is trying to institute an entirely new offensive system after losing two of its three best players and an unproven squad learning through abbreviated offseason with new routines.
The most reliable variable heading into this season is the performance of Johnson. With his efficiency and improvement last year, it would be genuinely surprising if he is anything other than the Gators’ best player.
A lot of Florida’s performance is going to rely upon on how well the young talent on the roster develops. Will Lewis make as big a leap as he’s expected to offensively? Will Mann be able to run the offense and get more efficient with a year of experience? Will Payne or Jitoboh be able to establish a real paint presence consistently? If the answer to all three is yes, Florida will likely challenge for the SEC title and make the tournament run they seemed destined for 12 months ago. If the answer to all three is no, Gator nation could be in for another long and disappointing year.
The most likely answer is a combination of success and disappointment. It’s unlikely the team will perform to the loftiest expectations and reach the heights of their potential, but it’s also unlikely that the team falls flat and disappoints to a larger magnitude than last season.
Florida is projected to finish 4th in the conference, but any result between winning the conference and finishing eighth or ninth in the league isn’t exactly outside the realm of possibility.
I’m actually slightly more optimistic than that and have the Gators third behind Tennessee and Kentucky. I don’t think the offense will quite be as up-tempo as White says (it’s hard to jump from outside the top 300 to the top 50 in a year in any statistic), but there’s enough talent on this roster that, as long as the tempo doesn’t hinder them and the offseason didn’t get in the way of preparation too much, the team can raise its floor high enough to prevent being as disappointing as last year.
This team is straight-up weird. And Kentucky was another example. I’ve left multiple games thinking “How this team wins makes no sense.” And then I somehow make sense of it here. So join me, will you, in another episode of understanding how this win came to pass?
Offense: B- This unit keeps doing more than what it needs to win games: put up points. But this week it looked out of sorts again. I know it’s hard to say 34 points on the league’s best pass defense is “out of sorts” but it really did seem that way for a few drives. For example, that first drive was a three-yard Dameon Pierce rush, Trask getting hurried and throwing it away and a five-yard catch by Kadarius Toney. Then a fake punt extends the drive and the Gators hit a 56-yard score by Kyle Pitts. See what I mean? Sometimes we saw sputtering and the other times the usual offense. When before — fans rarely saw a hiccup. Those two Gator fumbles also are some bad mistakes that put the defense in bad position inside its own territory. With that being said, most teams (especially teams of Florida’s past) would think 34 points (technically 27) is a pretty good day. And it is. Kyle Pitts scored three touchdowns and had almost 100 yards receiving on five catches after two weeks away! Nayquan Wright was (and is) a reliable receiver at running back. The Gators can still run the ball with Pierce. In my mind, it wasn’t the cleanest game again but the offense did more than enough to win.
Defense: B First half? Downright pushover. Kentucky got anything it wanted in the run game. It underperformed so bad we could see Dan Mullen lighting up Todd Grantham on the sideline in a way that’d make Nick Saban shed a tear. The most frustrating part was seeing guys still not know where to line up in Week 8. Some players just looked completely lost. And Kentucky’s ability to move the ball, and subsequently control the clock, is what allowed the Wildcats to lead and own that first half. But that second half defense? Whew boy. Kentucky couldn’t get anything going. Big plays to get off the field on multiple occasions: Mohamoud Diabate’s pick in Kentucky territory, Shawn Davis’s interception on a deep post route and not to mention Marco Wilson’s big tackle on fourth and two in UF territory. The best parts of the day for Florida were the pass rush and the middle of the defense at the line of scrimmage. Asim Rose and Kavosiey Smoke were consistently met by a wall at the LOS. The pass rush played an early role in forcing a Kentucky punt on it’s first drive. Those are things Florida needs if it wants to compete for an SEC title.
Special teams: A A well-deserved “A” by the special teams unit. You could argue it helped flip the game before halftime. Jacob Finn’s pinpoint punt to trap UK at the one set up the short Wildcat punt and the okie doke on punt return allowed Kadarius Toney’s punt return TD. That play helped the Gators go into the locker room with a little juice and a 14-10 lead. Kudos to the return team for the great acting job. Finn actually only punted one other time but even that one pinned Kentucky at the eight (despite the ensuing 87-yard field goal drive.) Plus Evan McPherson going 2-for-3 on field goals when Gator drives stalled out helped Florida tack on points every possession. Let’s also not forget the fake punt to extend Florida’s first drive and set up the glorious return of Kyle to Kyle. The only problem to see is the constant adventure of Toney fielding punts. Like when he outmuscled a gunner for a kick inside the 10. Leaping for a kick doesn’t ever seem like a good thing, especially if it’s contested.
In conclusion: Florida got over another slow start for another SEC win. At this point, seeing Florida perform well is more about building confidence in their ability to beat Alabama. However, they can’t keep coming out in mediocre fashion to start games. Because against an elite opponent, that’ll put Florida in a deep hole.
But let’s look at the bigger picture, with them in a good situation in the rankings, all the Gators really need to do is whatever needed to win. Right now if they win, everything else comes. Atlanta, the SEC, a Playoff spot. All those require are wins, not style points.
Check out the latest episode of The Gridiron Growl Podcast. David Soderquist and Brian Fox recap another victory as the Gators defeated Kentucky 34-10 on Saturday.
The two then recap the other SEC games and discuss other games that affect Florida’s CFP ranking.
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A first half of confusion and a second half of dominance could describe Florida’s win. The Gators defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 34-10 on Saturday after a scare in the first half.
It seemed like more of the same with the Florida defense on the opening drive: open receivers and the opponent driving down the field.
But the flood gates opened in the redzone. A first down sack by Brenton Cox Jr., a hurry by Cox on second down forcing an incompletion and a big sack on third by Mohamoud Diabate and Zachary Carter forced a UK punt.
Meanwhile, Florida seemed like it would stall out to start the game too. But Dan Mullen stayed true to his aggressive nature and called a fake punt inside his own 30 yard-line. Kyle Trask didn’t waste the new set of downs and Kyle Pitts let everyone know he’s back as the two connected for a 56-yard touchdown to give Florida a 7-0 lead.
It was a microcosm of first half of twists and turns. After another stop on defense, Florida was in rhythm driving the ball. Then Justin Shorter fumbled on a screen pass to give Kentucky the ball with a short field.
The Wildcats jammed it down Florida’s throat to the four yard-line. And, on third down no less, Terry Wilson hit Keaton Upshaw over the middle and -tied the game 7-7. They got the ball back one minute and 41 seconds later from an out-of-sync Gator offense.
Pinned inside the 10 by a Jacob Finn punt, Wilson and Co. grinded out an 87-yard field goal drive and took up almost 7.5 minutes of game time. Florida’s offense clearly wasn’t clicking as it took the ball off that ensuing kickoff and went only 25 yards in one minute. Kentucky managed over 20 minutes of possession to Florida’s six.
However, special teams made some plays to make up for Florida overal getting manhandled in the first half starting with a Jacob Finn punt downed at the one. The Gator defense forced a three-and-out allowing for some half-ending fireworks on punt return with a little trickery and Kadarius Toney.
Then Florida took the ball right down the field aided by three straight Kentucky penalties. Two facemasks and a pass interference gave Florida first and goal. Then it was just Kyle to Kyle on a slant for a 21-10 lead.
The Gators wrestled control away from Mark Stoops’s squad. They forced a three-and-out, kicked a field goal for 24-10 and Mohamoud Diabate made a great play on an interception to give Florida the ball back in Kentucky territory.
What happened three plays later? Kyle to Kyle for a third time pushed it to 31-10.
The Gators fumbled on their next drive and gave Kentucky another short field but the Florida defense came out a different unit in the second half. Florida and UK were tied with 175 yards of offense at halftime. After halftime Kentucky gained 46 yards compared to Florida’s 243.
Part of that is attributed to great plays on defense to get off the field. A clutch fourth down tackle by Marco Wilson ended the drive after a Florida fumble. Florida used that drive to add a field goal. Following that, Shawn Davis picked off Terry Wilson on an overthrow. And another Evan McPherson field goal came off it.
Fans saw a healthy amount of the backups after Florida’s last scoring drive. Freshmen Trevez Johnson picked off Joey Gatewood to end UK’s final possession. Emory Jones and the second team offense then ran out the final 5:53 to end the game, opting to not score after reaching the goal-line.
Mullen’s team moved to 7-1 on the year with the win. Barring a Georgia loss to South Carolina, the Gators are one win away from securing the SEC East.
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