Bigs Vow Bigger Impact

Junior center Kevarrius Hayes, suspended from the opening game at the PK80 Invitational last week, says he's determined and refocused to become the committed and energetic force of the last two seasons.

Thursday, November 30, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Interior defense has been a struggle for Gators, but Kevarrius Hayes and Keith Stone are hitting the reset button.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Videotape can be difficult to watch sometimes. That's because videotape is truth serum.

Nothing about it lies.

"Once we saw the film, we all had our heads down," Florida third-year sophomore forward Keith Stone said Thursday. "We don't want to see that anymore."

Neither do the UF coaches, which was the point of a very pointed and critical video session Wednesday when the Gators convened for the first time since returning from an impressive three-game run through the PK80 Invitational at Portland, Ore.. That was where Florida, four minutes from winning Sunday night's "Motion" bracket championship game, collectively broke down in a gut-wrenching 87-84 loss to No. 1-ranked Duke.

Coach Mike White didn't emphasize those four minutes, when the Gators blew a 10-point lead. No, the main impetus was about energy, productivity and awareness on defense in the low post. Duke's 6-foot-11, 240-pound freshman forward Marvin Bagley III, the projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, had his way inside en route to 30 points and 15 rebounds. Just like Gonzaga power forward Johnathan Williams (39 points, 12 rebounds) did two nights earlier.

Frankly, just like the best opposing "4s" or "5s" have this season.

"Our lack of focus. Our lack of physicality. Our lack of discipline with shot fakes and understanding of actions. Our overall toughness on the interior," White said, listing in layman's terms the breakdowns of his big men through the season's first six game, an area the Gators have been able to overcome with the highest-scoring offense in the country. "Every opposing big we've played has had a field day against us."

The numbers back that up.

The top low-post offensive threats in UF's six games averaged 24 points and 8.8 rebounds. And those numbers don't even count the ones posted in an exhibition game by Duke Shelton, the forward for Division II Tampa who went for a double-double of 22 and 11. In the post-game handshake line after that game, an easy victory for the Gators, White pulled Shelton close.

"We may have helped get you drafted next year," White said.

CHARTING THE GATORS
Here's a look how the top low-post players have fared against the Gators' struggling low-post defense in the first six games, compared to their respective season averages to date.

Player	Team	Current averages	vs Florida
D.J. Laster	Gardner-Webb	13.0 pts / 7.6 reb	19 pts / 8 reb
Wajid Aminu	North Florida	9.4 pts / 6.8 reb	10 pts / 6 reb
Tanner Leissner	New Hampshire	19.0 pts / 7.7 reb	23 pts / 5 reb
Reid Travis	Stanford	21.2 pts / 7.4 reb	23 pts / 5 reb
Johnathan Williams	Gonzaga	16.0 pts / 7.1 reb	*39 pts / 12 reb
Marvin Bagley III	Duke	22.3 pts / 7.4 reb	30 pts / 15 reb

* Career high

Right now, Florida is the most high-powered offensive team in the country. The numbers say so, with no one is scoring more than its 99.5 points per game. The Gators are playing a mostly four-guard lineup that is shooting 48.8 percent from the floor, 46.0 from the 3-point arc and getting to the free-throw line and hitting 78.3 percent. UF's top four perimeter players — Egor Koulechov, playing mostly the "4" spot, plus Jalen Hudson, KeVaughn Allen and point guard Chris Chiozza — have accounted for 74.8 percent of the team's scoring and 52.6 percent of its rebounds.

With the rotation minutes shrinking amid the elite PK80 competition, Stone, Kevarrius Hayes and Gorjok Gak were the UF bigs to get key minutes. Combined, they averaged 10.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in Oregon, and for the season are accounting for 14.5 percent of the team's points and 22 percent of its rebounds.

So there's a reason White is rolling four guards out for the opening tip, and very well may do so again Monday night when the sixth-ranked Gators (5-1) return to action against rival and unbeaten Florida State (6-0) at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.

"Our guards are all defending at a pretty high level — some more so than others — but we're struggling with our interior defense, from our interior guys, as much as anything else, and they're more capable than that," White said, noting that Koulechov, at 6-5, has been the team's best low-post defender. "They've shown that in the past. Defensive rebounding hasn't hurt us as bad as it could playing a four-guard lineup. Hopefully, I'm saying the same thing in a week. Again, it's been our interior defense by our front court guys as much as anything else. Obviously, if we have a bigger lineup overall, it probably helps, but I think the offensive weapons out there outweigh that a little bit."

Certainly, in the current state. This is not to say what's going on in the post is permanent. Not at all. The message White and his staff delivered via video was answered with two of the better practices of the season, including a bouncy, active, live efforts both Wednesday and Thursday from Hayes.

You remember Hayes, right?

Known for his boundless energy, ability to run the floor and using his length to recover and block shots, the 6-9, 225-pound Hayes has averaged just 5.0 points and 4.8 rebounds thus far. He was also benched from one start for missing a tutor session and suspended from the PK80 opener against Stanford for violating team rules.

Hayes sat in in his hotel room alone while the Gators easily handled the Cardinals.

"One of the hardest things I've ever done in basketball," Hayes said Thursday. "It's one thing to have to sit out because you're hurt. It's something else to know it was something I could have avoided through my actions. Team rules are team rules. To have to sit back and watch my team like that, it was tough. I'm just glad we won."

It was Hayes who took over the center spot last Feb. 14 when 6-foot-11, 255-pound John Egbunu was lost for the season to a knee injury at Auburn. Hayes averaged 10 points, shot 52.5 percent from the floor, grabbed 6.2 rebounds and blocked nearly two shots a game down the stretch. In a win earlier at Oklahoma that season, he tallied career highs of 20 points, nine rebounds and three blocks.

That's the Hayes the Gators want to see again. Now.

"We need leadership from a bunch of guys and there's a challenge for all of our guys to step up in that role — and him as much as anybody," White said. "Kevarrius is a great kid. He made a little mistake. I'm not so much worried about him off of the floor as I am with him getting back the mentality he had last February and March when we needed him the most to really step up as a high-level defender and rebounder. He showed that [Wednesday] in practice after being challenged and it's not surprising. Hopefully, we see that moving forward."

The Gators need to see similar bursts not just from Hayes, but from Stone and 6-11 Gorjok Gak, as well. That's not to say, however, the spotlight is strictly on them. Bagley, after all, may be the best player in the country. Williams could end up being the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. Stanford's Reid Travis was first-team All Pac-12 last season.

The guys that have posted those low-post numbers are really good players.

"We have five guys on the floor, so it can't strictly be on them," said swingman and leading scorer Jalen Hudson. "They help us when we get beat off the dribble. They help us with closing out and on rotations. So we have to help them more. We can't leave them out to dry down there. We're a little bit undersized, so we have to look at that every game. There's not going to be many games where we say, 'OK, we're bigger than they are.' "

Not as long as Egbunu remains on the bend from his reconstructive knee surgery. The timeline for his return has been projected for sometime in January.

In the interim?

"I have to do my job, no matter where I'm playing," said Stone, who showed as a redshirt freshman last year (with his 15 and eight against Miami, or 17 points on the road at Alabama) that he is capable. "[The PK80] was definitely eye-opening because of the mistakes we made, letting people score so easily in the front court. We watched film, we improved, we'll be better."

Ditto Hayes.

"I need to refocus my efforts. I feel I've dropped off a little bit," he said, admitting his lackluster mini-run on the court has spilled over into his academics. "I need to be more focused. On everything. Once I get there, the rest will fall in place."

And a new Kevarrius will emerge, right?

"I feel like the old me will be the new me," he said. "I'll leave it at that."

The Gators will gladly take that version.

Right now.