Florida Gators
Michigan State
Spartans Require Everything Gators Got ... and More
Friday, December 11, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
UF is facing a second ranked opponent in five days. This is one is No. 1.
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- The last couple days have been about soul-searching and mirror-watching for the Florida Gators. The visit to Miami Tuesday night was a kick in the head along the lines of the one delivered by Purdue a couple weeks before.
Two chances against two ranked teams for UF. Two lopsided losses. Plenty of missed shots and missed defensive assignments, with plenty of head-hanging, in both too. Not much competitive fire, either.
"From the film, when we make shots, it looks like we play harder, more together and have more fun," sophomore guard Chris Chiozza said. "As a team, we worry too much about things we can't control, instead of worrying about things we can control; like not turning the ball over, playing hard on defense and executing plays. If we do that, all the other things will flow into the game."
On a team of 16 players, it's not easy to get everyone on the same page and operating toward the same goal. That is, however, the objective. And, yes, it can be done. It's been done at Florida in stunningly successful and championship-level fashion.
It's done at Michigan State annually.
When the Gators (6-2) take on the No. 1-ranked Spartans (10-0) Saturday night at sold-out Breslin Center it won't be a question of whether the visitors face adversity but when. And how often. MSU ranks fifth in the country in defensive efficiency (.823 points per 100 possessions), sixth in scoring (57.3 ppg), fourth in shooting percentage defense (.353) and 15th in 3-point defense (.270). If the cold-shooting Gators (42.2 percent from the floor, 28.9 from 3) think they've seen in-your-face guarding and tough close-outs to date, wait till the see Tom Izzo's bunch up close.
Fact: UF is going to miss a bunch of shots and have to speed back down the floor and defense. How the Gators respond in those moments will determine the game's tone. If UF's players show bad body language, national player of the year candidate Denzel Valentine and his friends will go all hyena and shred the Gators into a scene of green and white carnage.
Sophomore point guard Chris Chiozza (above) and the Gators know a commitment to doing their jobs -- which they didn't do very well Tuesday at Miami -- will spill over into the team's across-the-board results. [Photo by Paul Fong]
Instead, White wants his team to be the bunch that rolls out most days at practice and defends, communicates, executes and plays a game that's fun.
If not now, in one of greatest cathedrals in all of college basketball, then when?
"It's simple accountability issues," White said. "We all hope that we make some shots up there, make great decisions and execute really well, but it's simpler I think for this team. While we're searching a little bit offensively, it's simpler for us to focus on the things we can control -- like being really good defensively -- because we've shown signs of being a tremendous defensive team. It was a 'C' or 'D' effort against a really good Miami team."
From the opening tip against the Hurricanes, the Gators were slow to match the fight. The Canes, in turn and with the backing of their home crowd, sensed UF's vulnerability and stayed on the attack.
Florida led for just 13 seconds, yet stayed within two to four possessions most of the game. The struggle to make shots -- and "struggle" is a kind word for what this team has done from the perimeter thus far -- spilled over on the defensive end in what turned into a 66-55 loss.
Now, as UF readies to face back-to-back ranked non-conference opponents for a third straight season -- something that happened just once in Billy Donovan's first 17 seasons -- White and the Gators get the nation's top-ranked team on the back end. Great. And nothing about what they rolled out against a very talented team in South Florida will work up here.
"We've got to make the second- and third-efforts and communicate," fifth-year senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith said. "Miami hit us, but we've just got to make the extra efforts. That's not a skill. That's not a talent. That's just working hard."
That's the kind of team the Gators will face in the Spartans. Year in, year out, Izzo teams play with unbridled energy and always have a great leader to lean on. This season, that guy is Valentine, who is averaging 18.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and 7.8 assists. He's their most productive player, but also their heart and soul.
He's Travis Trice, Draymond Green, Mateen Cleaves. And the Spartans feed off him.
"You wish you had a month to prepare for them. They're that good," White said. "It starts with Valentine, who's arguably one of the best -- if not the best -- players in the country. He's so good in so many different ways; good at everything. And they're good at everything. Michigan State doesn't have a weakness. They're as solid a team as there is in college basketball."
In last week's home win against Louisville, the Spartans had just five points nearly 11 minutes into the game, but they never worried about the scoreboard. Instead, the locked in on winning each possession and went to win 71-67 against another program known for toughness.
"You look at them, they never beat themselves," Chiozza said. "They don't make mistakes, never miss blockouts, they just do their job on every possession."
That takes discipline. Takes toughness. The Gators, to a man, believe they have both.
Against a team like Michigan State, to a man, they need to show it.
