Mike White learned in four years at Louisiana Tech how rare it is to get a high-major program -- much less the state's flagship school -- to your campus for a game. Now, as coach at Florida, he has to take the Gators to North Florida for the NIT.
Photo By: Tim Casey
Monday, March 14, 2016
North Florida's 'Birds of Trey' Laying in NIT Wait for Gators
Chris Harry
/
Senior Writer
The $65 million renovation to the O'Connell Center means the Gators (19-14), a No. 2 seed in the NIT bracket, must play its first-round game against the seventh-seed Ospreys (22-11) on the road.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --
Mike White was asked Monday morning if he thought his Florida Gators had a true grasp of what awaited them on the pending trip to face North Florida in the National Invitational Tournament.
"No," he said. "I don't think they have any idea."
A few hours later, they got a quick lesson when White, upon arrival at the team hotel in Jacksonville, showed them the below video clip sent out by the UNF men's basketball Twitter account, showing its players collective reaction to getting a home game against the Gators in the postseason.
The circumstance certainly resonated with White, who for four years at Louisiana Tech repeatedly was shot down by bigger schools when his program sought to schedule games against higher-profile programs. The best he could hope for was a neutral-site showdown at some exempt tournament. And forget the notion of any program of note agreeing to come a home-and-home series.
Think LSU would ever go to LA Tech for a game?
"Not in a million years," White said.
Now here come the Gators (19-14) for a Tuesday night NIT date against the Ospreys (22-11), regular-season champions of the Atlantic Sun Conference and whose biggest annual home dates the last few years have been against cross-town rival Jacksonville and A-Sun nemesis Florida Gulf Coast. With the O'Connell Center unavailable due to the $65 million renovation, second-seeded Florida was forced to travel to seventh-seeded North Florida for a rare in-state road game. Florida State or Miami? Yeah, OK.
But North Florida?
The NIT stars aligned for the Ospreys.
Enrollment at UNF is around 16,000, which makes it the eighth-largest of the 12 schools in the state university system (or fifth smallest). The UNF Arena seats 5,800 and even though the school is in the middle of its spring break, you can bet the joint will be jammed and jumping.
They sell beer there, by the way.
"They're not used to playing in a gym our size," Ospreys forward Beau Beach told The Florida Times-Union.
Added Coach Matt Driscoll: "For us to get a home against the [Southeastern Conference] is monumental."
UNF Arena seats just 5,800, but figures to be as packed and pumped as its ever been Tuesday night when the Ospreys host the Gators.
If this was a regular-season game at the O'Dome, it would barely register a meaningful blip on the Rowdy Reptile scale. But this is a postseason game. While both of these programs, obviously, would rather be playing in the NCAA Tournament -- the Ospreys were there last year, while the Gators were in the Final Four two years ago -- this is the card their seasons have been dealt. As far as UNF is concerned, the Ospreys drew an inside straight when they drew the state's flagship university.
If the Gators don't grasp what this opportunity means to North Florida, it could be a very long night for the visitors and a very big one for the home team.
"They're fired up," said junior point guard Kasey Hill, who was UF's best player during their two-game stay at the SEC Tournament last week, scoring 18 points against both Arkansas and top-seeded Texas A&M. "They're going to be ready to play. They're probably going to have a lot of fans there. We have to match that intensity and come ready to play."
The Gators also have to guard the 3-point line. UNF ranks eighth in the nation in offensive efficiency. Not only have the Ospreys -- a.k.a, "The Birds of Trey" -- shot more 3-pointers than any team in the country this season (402), they've hit them at 41.5-percent efficiency. They will take 3s from all five positions, with five players in their seven-man rotation already with at least 55 treys this season.
Florida has one player with that many.
"Not only are you bringing your 4 man, your power forward, out beyond the 3 [line], but your 5 [man]," White said of guarding UNF. "So it's going to be a very difficult matchup for our bigs to have to defend in a way that they've rarely, rarely defended this season."
Context: UNF played at LSU back on Dec. 2, when Ben Simmons went for 43 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists in a 119-108 shootout. The Ospreys hit 19 of 33 shots from the arc.
That's what they can do.
Now, for some balance to the matchup.
UNF is No. 163 in the Ratings Percentage Index and UF, No. 52 in RPI and with the nation's 11th most-difficult schedule, has played only seven teams ranked lower and lost to none of them. The Ospreys, meanwhile lost six games to teams beyond the 200 RPI mark, including the likes of Stetson, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb and twice to FGCU (including by 33 in the A-Sun tournament semifinal game last week at UNF Arena).
UF will have a significant advantage relative to size, especially with 6-11, 255-pound center John Egbunu underneath, despite his right hand braced because of a torn ligament in his thumb. Dorian Finney-Smith, at 6-8 and averaging better than eight rebounds per game, and 6-9 Devin Robinson (5.7 rebonds per) will present a challenge inside, also.
North Florida is not a good defensive team. At all. The Ospreys check in at 323rd out 351 in defensive efficiency. They may shoot 48.6 percent as a team, but they give up 46.2. Because the Ospreys shoot so many 3s, the floor will be spread for long rebounds and transition opportunities when shots are missed. Hill, along with guards Chris Chiozza and KeVaughn Allen will have some wide-open lanes to attack. The Gators also will walk into a bunch of 3s in transition. But will they make them?
Statistics say the Ospreys will hits theirs, especially at home.
In a game like this one, though, statistics may not matter. This one weighs heavy with intangibles. The Gators fell one or two wins shy of an NCAA berth. The NIT is not the tournament they wanted to be in.
The Ospreys, meanwhile are delighted with how things worked out.
"To me," White said, "it's way more about our state of mind."
