More Effort, More Everything Needed vs Kentucky ... And Everybody Else
Saturday, February 7, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After taking the week's mandatory off day on Wednesday, the Florida Gators returned to the practice floor Thursday afternoon. It was their first time together since laying an Opryland-sized egg in a loss to last-place Vanderbilt two nights earlier at Nashville.
After stretching and warming up, Coach Billy Donovan and his staff instructed the players to get themselves started in drills. On their own. To do something. Anything. Donovan and assistant coach John Pelphrey then went to separate sides of the gym and took a seat. In silence.
When the Gators, en masse, appeared confused, they looked down to Donovan at the far end of the court for guidance.
“You don't listen to us, anyway,” Donovan said. “Figure it out for yourselves.”
That was pretty much the theme for the day. The message, soaked in sarcasm, was clear.
UF went to Vanderbilt riding back-to-back victories, neither of which were overly impressive, but both of which required winning, gut-check plays and possessions in the closing seconds. Good for the Gators. But any sense that Florida's issues -- and there are a multitude of them -- had been solved, would have been (at best) misguided and (at worst) absurd.
So Vanderbilt, losers of seven straight and planted at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference standings, promptly scored the game's first 15 points and physically dominated the Gators inside in handing UF one of the most deflating defeats of a season. In several seasons, actually.
Great timing, too.
Next up for Florida (12-10, 5-4) is Saturday night's date with No. 1-ranked and unbeaten Kentucky (22-0, 9-0), with its gargantuan frontcourt and suffocating defense, at the sold-out O'Connell Center.
Now what, Gators?
That's what Donovan and his staff wanted to know.
“Part of our frustration, I think, is in the message we're delivering and how we can deliver it better?” Pelphrey said. “I mean, it wasn't like we played really good basketball [at Vanderbilt] and then some things went wrong in the last two minutes. Nothing was good or even remotely close to the things we talk about and believe in. So as crazy as this may sound, we either have to convince our guys to change and get committed or we're not winning. Again. At all.”
The Gators got the message Thursday and responded with a brisk practice Friday, but the picture is so much bigger than Kentucky and ESPN College GameDay in the house and prime-time television and all the glitz that goes with that.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's expansive Q&A with ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas, who talks about the Gators and Billy Donovan and gives his thoughts on this year's team versus last year's]
“It's another game. It's not about the name on the other jersey, it's about representing what Florida basketball is about and playing the way we've been coached to play,” junior guard Michael Frazier II said. “If we'd listened to them before, we wouldn't be where we are right now. The reality is our record is what it is and there's only so much the coaches can do. It's up to us to change. They've done their job. We have to do ours.”
That job, senior forward Jake Kurtz said, starts with effort. And it has to be better no matter the opponent.
“It's a mindset that, as a team, we have to buy into as a team [that] 'This is what we're going to do,' ” Kurtz said.
Playing hard, which UF did not do against Vandy until the hole was too deep, would be a good start, but it goes way beyond than that. Especially against Kentucky.
It's only natural that the Gators will show up inspired against the Wildcats, with the crowd, TV, the stakes and all that comes with facing the top-ranked team in the country, including dreams of a big upset. Every Kentucky opponent does that.
And that's exactly the point the Florida coaches were making.
“We've played 22 games and you haven't changed and now you're going to get excited about playing this game and think you're going to win? Based on what?” Pelphrey said. “You won't play defense. You don't score enough points. So, no, you're not winning unless you do this and this and this.”
Against the Wildcats, “this and this and this” will have to be a lot. Such as excellent ball movement just to get shots against their defense; driving the paint with awareness against their incredible size; limiting live ball turnovers to avoid run-outs; getting back in transition; boxing out, even face-guard rebounding, if need be.
Stuff the Gators did not do at Vanderbilt and, frankly, haven't done very much at all this season.
“You always look for guys to do their job,” Donovan said. “If you have a job to do and you're not doing your job, what it comes back to generally a lot of times is the effort that needs to take place.”
He spoke of watching Kurtz, the undersized walk-on at 6-foot-5, doing all he could against the large front lines of North Carolina and Kansas earlier in the season. Donovan compared that to freshman forward Devin Robinson, at 6-9 with tremendous athleticism.
Robinson has five offensive rebounds in SEC play this season and just two in the last five games.
“That, to me, is effort,” Donovan said.
And that, and many other elements of this team, has to change. If not now -- with nine games left in the regular season -- then when?
“You know that old saying about the definition of insanity? About doing the same things over and over again and getting the same results?” Pelphrey asked. “Well, if we continue to do the same things, we're not beating anybody, let alone teams with really good resumes. We have to be a lot better before we talk about winning games.”
Such was the message, only it was delivered mostly in silence.
But heard loudly and clearly.
