The Gators hope their recent shooting surge travels to Vanderbilt's historic (and quirky) Memorial Gym.
More to Playing at Vandy Than Memorial Gym
Tuesday, January 26, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- You can set a watch by it. If a team, any team, is headed to play a road game at Vanderbilt, there will be questions about playing in 64-year-old Memorial Gymnasium.
"It might be the toughest gym to play in," Florida sophomore point guard Chris Chiozza said Monday. "It's dark in there, and its not really like a basketball court. It's like a theater. They put the benches behind the goals. It's just a weird place to play."
Sounds like Memorial Gym is already in at least one Gator's head, as UF (13-6, 5-2), riding a three-game Southeastern Conference winning streak, looks to Tuesday night's showdown with Vandy (11-8, 3-4) at the oldest arena in the league. Chiozza, though, went on to praise his team's shot selection of late and the importance of sticking to the identity -- high energy, up-tempo, in-your-jersey defense -- to which this Florida team has been at its best in the first season under Coach Mike White.
Without that same approach, the Gators have no chance to run their SEC streak to fou games.
And, no, not because of the venue.
"I think the bigger challenge is Kevin Stallings and the bodies he puts out there," White said.
Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium opened in 1952 and is one of the oldest venues in the nation.
Once Billy Donovan jumped to the NBA last May, Stallings became the dean of SEC coaches. Now in his 16th season at Vandy, Stallings is renowned for his intricate and multiple offenses that keep opposing coaches awake at all hours.
"It's a nightmare," said UF assistant Dusty May, the ranking member of White's staff who twice was assigned Vandy advance scouts when working as an administrative assistant at Indiana. "Don't ask me how we did."
The Gators, at least, will understand what they're up against. May will make sure of that.
Stallings, he said, can roll out 50-55 set options, then run variations off them. It's tough enough for a veteran, much less an underclassmen-stocked squad like the Gators will bring to town.
Example: Two years ago, Donovan took one of the best and most veteran teams in SEC history to Memorial. The game turned into a low-scoring dogfight. At one point in the first half, Donovan inserted freshman center Chris Walker, the seldom-used backup just six games into his career after the NCAA ruled him eligible in midseason. Vanderbilt had an underneath out-of-bounds situation at its goal. With the UF bench maybe 15 feet away and Donovan barking defensive instructions from point-blank range, Stallings called a play that completely bamboozled Walker, picking him off on a screen he never saw coming and giving the Commodores a wide-open layup.
Next dead ball, Walker was yanked from the game.
The Commodores are coming off a 76-57 loss at Kentucky that figures to have them refocused and locked in for a bounce-back opportunity. They've lost eight games this season, including four in league play, but after they're healthy now. And they're back home, where they've won eight of 10.
"Focus has to be off the charts," White said. "We're going to see a bunch of different actions. We're going to have to guard eight or nine different guys. We've got to be mentally engaged and defensively be so good that we can hold it in the road and then figure out how to score enough to be competitive late in the game. These guys can get a lot of points on you in a hurry if you're not right defensively."
The current Gators have a handful of key guys -- KeVaughn Allen, John Egbunu, Justin Leon -- who haven't had to execute assignments and make decisions against the Stallings system. That'll be tough enough, but the Commodores also have a talented lineup armed with a pair of potential NBA first-round draft picks in junior center Damien Jones and sophomore guard Wade Baldwin IV. They are one of the league's best teams at shooting 3s, but also one of the best in the nation at denying them.
Coincidentally, the Gators have been sizzling from the 3-point line (.385) since SEC play began.
Now they get to try their hot hands in a place their starting point guard says is quirky.
"It's just a weird place to play, but I don't think it's going to be too hard in there," Chiozza said. "We're on a roll offensively and we're taking good shots, so I think if we just play like we've been playing and not get out of our character, then we're going to be fine."
Getting that character to travel would be another major step for this group.
"We played some very good teams that beat us and we took our lumps early -- and we'll take a few more lumps I'm sure," White said. "I think it took some negative experiences and it took some losses for the buy-in to increase, that 'Hey, maybe this is what we need to focus on.' Over the last five, six weeks, outside of a couple of games, we've been really consistent defensively. And now we're seeing guys step up and shoot the ball with a little more confidence for whatever reasons."
And if you can shoot it with confidence in Memorial Gym ... .
