Up and Back At 'Em: Gators Facing Veteran Georgia Team
Saturday, January 17, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
ATHENS, Ga. -- Ah, the ol' quick-turnaround again, eh?
Since 2010, the first season the Southeastern Conference partnered with ESPN for a Thursday-Saturday television package, the Florida Gators have been in the two-games-in-three-days scenario nine times and boast a 17-1 record, with the lone defeat coming in 2011 at Kentucky.
That's not to suggest Coach Billy Donovan and his staff have this very challenging scenario figured. Not at all. Not even close.
Donovan, in fact, credits those previous successes to having teams with key upperclassmen leading the way; like the four seniors last year and the three the year before.
“That was one of the advantages of having an older team,” said Donovan, whose squad is playing a second game in 43 hours, a rarity in regular-season play. “You have to have a maturity level as a player.”
Just how mature the current Gators (10-6, 3-0) are will be on display when they face Georgia (10-5, 1-2) Saturday at 2 p.m. Stegeman Coliseum.
Bulldogs coach Mark Fox has been impressed with what UF has shown of late in winning its first three league games.
“They lost a lot of pieces off last year's team, but it appears to me they found their identity and where they fit with each other and I think they're playing their best basketball,” Fox said. “They've got a very good basketball team.”
Maybe so, but the Dawgss are the kind of veteran team, with two seniors and two juniors in the starting lineup, the likes of which Donovan is used to having. They have a trio of very solid and physical perimeter players in forward Marcus Thornton, plus guards Kenny Gaines and Charles Mann. They also have a stretch-4 forward in Nemanja Djurisic who is both physical and proficient from the 3-point line. Combined, the foursome has started 213 games.
Georgia will drive hard, rebound hard and initiate contact.
Donovan will find out if his players are up for the confrontation; physically, mentally and a combination of the two.
The latter is a reference to UF's penchant for fouling. Donovan spoke about it after the Gators hacked and whacked Auburn 20 times in Thursday night's win, putting the Tigers in the shooting bonus barely eight minutes into the second half. In the SEC opener at South Carolina, the Gators committed 24 fouls.
“We are fouling at an astronomical and alarming rate,” Donovan said.
The Bulldogs, who are averaging a league-high 18.1 made free throws per game, will look to exploit that flaw.
Any veteran team would.
