Florida Looks to Continue SEC Winning Streak as Gators Travel to Georgia
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
By SCOTT CARTER
GatorZone.com Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida men's basketball coach Billy Donovan will take his seat on the bench as usual when the Gators tip off at Georgia tonight.
Of course, Donovan usually doesn't stay seated long at the start of games. But he might not begin pacing as quickly as normal if the Gators start off like they did in Saturday's 75-43 win over Arkansas. Florida went on a 10-0 run after the Razorbacks scored the game's first basket and never looked back, winning by its widest margin in an SEC game in four years.
No one at Stegeman Coliseum will be watching the Gators more closely than Donovan, who is constantly pushing his players to play with the same fire that he displays on the bench. If there has been a common theme in Donovan's message this season, it revolves around what he often refers to as “competitive maturity.''
Some teams just have it. Other teams never find it. With a veteran lineup and a collection of players Donovan has said repeatedly that he enjoys coaching, Donovan has seen glimpses of it in this year's Gators.
“There have been some incredible moments for our team,'' Donovan said Monday. “We are the same team that beat Kansas State, beat Tennessee on the road. We're the same team that lost to Jacksonville and didn't have anything but a lackluster performance against South Carolina, and lost to Central Florida.''
Donovan wants to see the same team tonight that overwhelmed Arkansas three days ago, a victory that followed a 45-40 grind-it-out victory at Auburn. The back-to-back victories moved the Gators back into both national polls on Monday – No. 24 in the AP Top 25 and No. 23 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll.
Gators senior center Vernon Macklin knows where Donovan is coming from when he constantly urges them to forget the last game or the last play and focus on constant improvement.
“The way Coach Donovan coaches and the way he speaks, he is a competitive person,'' Macklin said. “He wants us to play the way he is. That's just something that we've got to come together and do and try to figure out ourselves.''
Now is the perfect time.
The Gators are alone atop the SEC East standings entering a stretch in which they'll face all five division foes over a six-game stretch. The only detour from SEC East play is when the Gators travel to face Mississippi State on Saturday.
That rough road starts against a Georgia team that is 9-1 at home and has beaten the Gators the last two times at home. Bulldogs fans have taken notice, packing Stegeman Coliseum with sellout crowds the last three games.
“Our crowd has created the atmosphere that college basketball is all about,'' Georgia coach Mark Fox said Monday. “They've brought the energy back to Georgia basketball and to our building. Our fans have helped us win games. They have definitely been a factor.''
Georgia's biggest win came over defending SEC champion Kentucky. Fox expects the same kind of challenge from the Gators from what he has seen on film.
“They are athletic. They are big. They shoot the ball great,'' Fox said. “They were picked to win the league, and they should have been. They are very complete.''
Florida played perhaps its most complete game of the season in the win over Arkansas. To leave Athens with a victory tonight and keep Donovan in his seat longer, the Gators will have to find a way to slow down the Georgia trio of forward Trey Thompkins, forward Travis Leslie and guard Gerald Robinson.
At 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds, Thompkins presents some of the same threats the Gators faced earlier this season when they lost to Ohio State and Buckeyes freshman Jared Sullinger.
Thompkins leads the Bulldogs in scoring (17.4 points a game) and can play inside or away from the basket.
“He is a tough guy to guard,'' Macklin said. “We've got to have five guys helping out. We've got to try to avoid him getting the ball at all times. To me he is like [former NBA player] Rasheed Wallace. He plays just like that guy.''
Parsons called Leslie “the most athletic player in college basketball'' after watching him miss a three-pointer and get his own rebound and dunk it against Tennessee recently. Meanwhile, Robinson is a transfer from Tennessee State who has added a scoring threat in the backcourt.
“They are as good as anybody in our league,'' Donovan said. “They have the ability to be a great team, there is no question. Watching Georgia play, I'm hard-pressed to believe that they are unable to line up against anybody in the country. Ohio State is 1 in the country. They are undefeated and we played them.
“I think if Georgia and Ohio State played a game on a neutral court that it would be an unbelievable game.''
When the Buckeyes visited the O'Connell Center in November, the Gators matched them punch-for-punch for the first 30 minutes. Ohio State took control down the stretch and left with a 93-75 win.
The Gators obviously want to avoid a similar finish. To do so they could use a similar start to the game against Arkansas. Macklin scored eight consecutive points and senior forward Alex Tyus added four as UF's frontcourt scored the Gators' first 12 points. Florida finished with 42 points in the paint after only 20 at Auburn.
Donovan, when talking about the frontcourt's fast start, went back to that favorite phrase.
He wants to see the same “competitive maturity'' against the Bulldogs that the Gators showed against Arkansas.
“It's easy high-five and chest bump when everything is going well for you and when your shot is going in,'' he said. “That's what I'm hoping we can find a way to get through some of that. I think our guys understand the challenge that we have in front of us.''
GATOR GAMEBOX
Florida at Georgia
Tip-off: 7 p.m.; Stegeman Coliseum
Records: Florida 15-4 (4-1 SEC); Georgia 14-4 (3-2)
Game notes: (click here)
TV: ESPN
Radio: Gator Radio Network (click here for affiliates)
Need to know: Florida has won 12 of the last 14 meetings against Georgia, with both losses coming the last two trips to Athens … The Gators lost 78-76 at Stegeman Coliseum last season despite a career-high 29 points from Chandler Parsons … With a victory, the Gators can win three consecutive SEC games for first time since Feb. 18-23, 2010 … The Gators are 4-0 on road and 6-1 overall away from O'Connell Center, their only loss to UCF at Orlando's Amway Arena on Dec. 1 … UF has held back-to-back SEC opponents to less than 45 points – Auburn (40) and Arkansas (43) – for first time since 1947 … Florida is 11-1 when holding opponents to 60 points or less … All five UF starters are averaging in double-figures in SEC play, led by Kenny Boynton's 14.4 scoring average … The Bulldogs are coming off a 22-point win over Mississippi State on Saturday … The Georgia trio of F Trey Thompkins (17.4 points), G Gerald Robinson (14.1) and F Travis Leslie (14.7) accounts for 65 percent of the Bulldogs' points.
