Like Rest of Gators, Frazier Looking for Answers
Wednesday, January 7, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- As he walked through the bowels of Colonial Life Arena about 10 months ago, Florida guard Michael Frazier had a glazed looked in his eyes; even more so than the South Carolina team he'd practically single-handedly just beaten.
“I kind of got in the zone, but I never really felt anything,” said Frazier, who moments earlier had finished off a blistering night of 3-point shooting, breaking the Southeastern Conference single-game record with 11 treys on his way to a 37-point output that equaled the most points ever scored by a Billy Donovan player. “I don't know. I was just kind of there.”
Everywhere, actually. And from way, way out.
This was what Gamecocks coach Frank Martin said after Frazier scored 22 second-half points, compared to his team's 20.
“Our scouting report said they have one guy who shoots 3s,” Martin said. “We usually don't get beat by one player.”
That was March 4, 2014.
Here it is, Jan. 7, 2015, and Frazier has a different kind of glossy look about him. The lone underclassmen to start for that unforgettable UF team that won 30 in a row last season, he is now the lone returning starter on a team that has lost twice as many games as the Gators did a year ago. And the Southeastern Conference season hasn't even begun.
For Florida (7-6), it does Wednesday night against South Carolina (9-3) in the very building where Frazier seemingly could not miss.
“It's not about last year,” Frazier said this week. “We're a different team this year, they're a different team.”
For sure, much has changed.
Most significantly, with the parts around him.
As a sophomore last season, Frazier was a deadly option in an offense that spread the ball around, went inside and out, had shot-makers and penetrators and low-post options. He finished the year at 44.7 percent from 3-point range, best in the SEC, setting a single-season Florida mark with 118 makes from downtown As a freshman the year before, he shot 46.8 percent from distance.
Now a junior and the team's leading scorer at 14.1 points per game, Frazier is a deadly option on an offense that has next-to-nothing as far as threats under the basket, so defenses can focus on not letting him shake free on the perimeter. When he's been open, he's missed shots he buried the previous two years.
At 37.5 percent, Frazier ranks third on the team in shooting from the arc, behind freshman Chris Chiozza (43.3) and forward Dorian Finney-Smith (41.3), though his 88 attempts are far and away the most the squad. As are his 33 makes.
Entering the offseason, Donovan spoke to Frazier -- as he did all the returning players -- of how his role was going to be drastically altered and how opponents would now look at him as a focal point of the offense, rather than a shooting specialist. Frazier listened, but was he really hearing and soaking it all in?
Frazier even stated his intentions of being a leader, a battle-field sort of promotion that probably seemed natural to him, given his status.
These were not the priorities Donovan was looking for.
“To me, that was the wrong approach. I told him he was missing what this is about,” Donovan said. “I told him, 'How are you going to handle it if a team decides to wipe you out of the game, [and] just totally face guard you and [let you] not get another shot up? Are you OK figuring out and understanding that this is an opportunity for other guys? That other things can be opened up for them?' I think he struggled a little bit with that.”
Donovan has said repeatedly that Frazier struggles with focusing on the next play when his shot is not falling. Truth be told, he's not the only one on this team that has a tendency to wallow in past possessions (far from it), but as a veteran who's now played in 88 games and started more than half of them, Frazier is held to a higher standard.
Example: To start the second half at Florida State, Frazier allowed his man to drive by him for a layup. Not 10 seconds later, he threw a pass to a Seminole for a run-out dunke.
Donovan called a timeout just to take Frazier from the game. To send a message.
With talent and experience comes responsibility. Ramifications, too. There are no sacred cows on this team. Not even those on pace to easily surpass the 1,000-point milestone (he has 867) in just his third year.
For Donovan, this moment of the season is about emphasize (maybe even protecting) his culture. He will not compromise on how he expects his players to go about their day-to-day business; how he expects them to play the right way. As in hIs way.
Now comes the SEC season, which Florida enters a mere one game over .500. The Gators have work to do in the league if they hope to realize their postseason aspirations, but for this team, right now, it's about one opponent, one game. But it's also about their approach between the lines and their competitiveness possession by possession.
Right now, whatever the Gators are doing, it's not good enough.
And last year -- the wins, the championships, the phenomenal shooting performances -- means nothing.
“It's forced me to look in the mirror ... still doing that,” Frazier said. “It has forced us to look in the mirror as a team and see what we're really about and what we want to stand for as a group, as a unit. Once we get bought in, we'll start to win.”
Now's a good time.
