Taking Charge: Gators Sacrificing and Making Winning Plays During Six-Game Win Streak
Friday, February 3, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The circle under the basket is tight and it is loud. Players are shouting, coaches are encouraging and bodies are banging.
It's Erving Walker's turn. All 5-foot-8, 177 pounds of him. Walker steps into the man-made hoop, his eyes wide and mind wondering which Florida teammate is coming at him next. And from where.
Boom! Hello, 6-11 Erik Murphy, who leans into Walker and puts the senior point guard on his backside. Thump! Nice to see you too, Scottie Wilbekin, who extends a hand and helps Walker to his feet. Bam! Back down goes the wincing Walker. Heck, it wouldn't be any fun without a shoulder from 6-9, 247-pound soda machine Patric Young.
“I don't like to take charges,” Walker said. “But the coaches preach it and want us to get excited about them. Now, I think guys are buying in.”
It took some convincing. Nearly month ago, the Gators went to Knoxville and were shown a lesson in toughness, physicality and intensity, as the host Tennessee Volunteers slapped a convincing double-digit defeat on the visitors that did not sit well with the UF coaches.
That's when Donovan and his staff took charge with the take-charge drill that now comes near the start of every practice. Each player has to step in and take three rapid-fire charges from a random teammate, who helps the player up. Donovan puts an exclamation on the drill by rolling a basketball down the court and making each player sprint and -- this is non-negotiable -- dive after a loose ball. If the dive is not executed to the coach's satisfaction, the player run a suicide.
Banging bodies and floor burns. That's how to get the blood boiling.
“It sets the tone for how practice is going to be,” Young said.
And it's carried over into games. Florida took 21 charges through the first 16 games of the season (including the loss at Tennessee). In the six games since, the Gators have taken 13, including five in a big win over No. 18 Mississippi State last weekend.
UF has won every game since implementing the body-slamming drill. Coincidence? Who's to say? But it's certainly seemed to alter the collective mindset of the 12th-ranked Gators (18-4, 6-1) who will look to take some more charges -- not to mention further control of their Southeastern Conference fate -- when they host 25th-ranked Vanderbilt (16-6, 5-2) in a nationally televised showdown Saturday at the O'Connell Center.
“Taking a charge is the ultimate sacrifice for your teammates,” UF coach Billy Donovan. “More so than any other play you can make in the game of basketball.”
It's a defensive stop. It's a turnover for the other team. It's a team foul against the other team. Chances are, it's a personal foul against a key player who's driving to the basket and trying to score.
“It's a winning play,” sophomore forward Will Yeguete said.
Donovan has a nickname for Yeguete: “Mona Lisa.” The moniker is rooted in Yeguete's French heritage, but it could just as easily be for the way UF's defensive specialist has made taking charges his own personal artistry.
“You have to make sure you're in the right spot,” Yeguete said. “You have to move with the ball. You have to make sure you step in before he jumps up. I guess it's really reading the play, being in position ... and a little bit of acting.”
It's basketball syntax, some coaches use “F-F-F” when teaching taking charges. It stands for “Feet” (they have to be set), “First” (the defender needs to be in the spot before the offensive player) and “Facing” (he has to be straight-up on the offensive player, rather than leaning to the side).
“You have to be alert and you have to be thinking one play ahead,” said Young, who took his team-leading 11th charge in Thursday night's win over South Carolina. “It's just a mentality where you tell yourself, 'I can take this charge and really affect the momentum of the game.' It gets the team fired up.”
Young knows about firing up folks. His high-flying slam-dunks are often a thing of beauty and ignite the home crowd like a perfectly timed Kenny Boynton 3-point shot.
But next time, just watch how the bench erupts when a player takes a charge.
“It's an individual player putting his body in harm's way for the team,” UF assistant coach John Pelphrey said. “There's going to be a collision.”
That sacrifice comes with no guarantee, by the way. The call isn't always going to go in favor of the player being mowed over. To be fair, the judgment is not easy for the official.
“That's part of it,” Donovan said. “I'm OK with that.”
The risk-reward is worth it.
Take Saturday's opponent, the Commodores. The Gators were in Nashville last March 5 with a chance to clinch the SEC's regular-season title. UF had nearly blown all of a 14-point lead and Vandy had the ball with a chance to tie when star guard John Jenkins attacked the basket. Into the lane stepped Chandler Parsons.
Feet set. First to the spot. Facing Jenkins.
Charge.
Commodores coach Kevin Stallings went nuts. Technical foul. Boynton dropped both free throws, Florida took possession, went on build back that double-digit lead and stole a championship-clinching road victory.
“They're potentially huge plays,” Young said. “That's why we put so much emphasis on them.”
“You have to be mentally prepared,” said freshman guard Bradley, who drew his first charge of the season Thursday night. “It's not a physical thing at all. It's totally and mental thing that you have to be willing to do and ready to do.”
So into the ring they go.
Who's next?
GATORS GAMEBOX
No. 25 Vanderbilt at No. 12 Florida
Tip-off: 1 p.m. (O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.)
Records: Florida 18-4, 6-1; Vanderbilt 16-6, 5-2
TV: CBS (w/Tim Brando and Bill Raftery)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (w/Mick Hubert and Mark Wise) -- Click here for affiliates) / Sirius 220/XM 199
Game notes: Florida notes; Vanderbilt notes
Need to know: The final leg of a season-long three-game home stand for Florida will mark the 123rd meeting between the two schools in a series that dates to 1931. The Gators have won three straight in the series, and are 21-11 against the Commodores under Coach Billy Donovan. ... A win for UF will put the Gators two games up on Vandy for second place in the Southeastern Conference standings and set them up well at the SEC midpoint in the race for one of four opening-round byes in the league's postseason tournament next month at New Orleans. ... This is UF's second game in the last three against a ranked opponent (UF defeated No. 18 Mississippi in Gainesville last weekend), with a showdown at No. 1 Kentucky set for Tuesday night. ... The Gators are coming off a 74-66 victory Thursday against South Carolina that marked their second-worst shooting performance of the season. UF hit just 37.3 percent from the floor and just 7-for-28 from the 3-point line (25 percent). The second number bears watching, as the Gators through seven SEC games, are now just 36.7 percent from long-distance. ... UF still has five players averaging in double-figures, led by junior G Kenny Boynton (17.5 points), who scored 24 vs. South Carolina, and freshman G Bradley Beal (14.2 ppg, 6 rpg), who carded his fourth double-double vs. the Gamecocks with 17 points and 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end. ... Vanderbilt's last outing was an 82-74 loss at Arkansas. No shame there. The Razorbacks are unbeaten at home. ... Prior to that game, the Commodores had won 10 of 11, including a 17-point spanking of No. 13 Marquette on the road. That streak began with the return of 6-11, 255-pound C Festus Ezeli from a knee injury. Ezeli is averaging 9 points and 6.4 rebounds per game, but is capable of a big night inside (like the 12-point, 14-board outing he put on big and beefy Mississippi State in a one-point loss two weeks ago). ... Vandy doesn't need Ezeli to score because the Commodores have the Nos. 1 and 3 scorers in the SEC in 6-4 G John Jenkins (19.9 ppg, 48 percent from floor) and 6-7 F Jeffrey Taylor (17.4 ppg, league-leading 53.1 percent from the floor). Jenkins tops the conference in both 3-point (44.1) and free-throw (85.7) percentage.
