Ranking Only as Meaningful as Gators' Next Game

Thursday, December 1

Jacksonville, FL

7 PM

Florida Gators

North Florida

As a senior, Kasey Hill is charged with helping keep the Gators focused on the task of the day -- like Thursday against the Ospreys.

Ranking Only as Meaningful as Gators' Next Game

Thursday, December 1, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

At No. 24, UF is back in the Top 25 for the first time in nearly two years.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Barely two minutes into Sunday's game against Miami, forward Justin Leon caught the ball on the right wing for the Florida Gators. Leon put the ball on the deck and drove into the paint, where was set to make a move when the ball was stripped by UM forward Anthony Lawrence. The Hurricanes were off on a break.

Lawrence outlet-passed to guard Bruce Brown, who sped down the floor and fed backcourt mate Ja-Quan Newton for a layup that made the score 3-2.

But that's not what UF coach Mike White saw.

White watched two of his players, guard Kasey Hill and forward Devin Robinson, retreat hard on defense. He saw their three teammates — Leon, center John Egbunu and guard KeVaughn Allen — jogging back at a pace that gave the Canes their 3-on-2 man advantage.

Timeout. Only two minutes, 10 seconds had elapsed. The score was merely 3-2.

White pulled his entire starting five and rolled out five different guys.

"We kind of came out a little dead," Leon said. "We weren't as up or intense as we should be."

And this from Hill: "Coach did it for the right reasons. We were jogging back on defense."

To be specific, Hill was not jogging back on defense, but 60 percent of his unit was. White's move addressed the collective accountability of his players on the floor, and it sent a message to each — a reminder — about the standard the program is trying to set when it comes to effort.

To a man, the Gators accepted that as they stewed on the bench. They understand.

"We needed that," Hill said. "It changed our mindsets. We got back in and played harder."

The Florida starting five got two minutes and 11 seconds of game time to let it all sink in. After checking back, the Gators played much more purposefully and the eventual result was a hard-fought 65-56 win over a UM program that handed UF a dagger-like defeat two years ago in Gainesville and a lopsided one last season in Miami.

"I credit our guys with the culture they've created with this team right now. It doesn't mean we'll have the same culture next week or next month, but it's a healthy culture now," White said Sunday night. "When five guys got taken out of the game, there was no drama. I've dealt wth drama before. I think you've seen it. [They're] more mature. And when we put those guys back out there, they were pretty good."

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's nuts and bolts "Pregame Stuff' preview here]

On Monday, word came that Florida, winner of six of its first seven and all of them on neutral courts, was back in the Associated Press Top 25 for the first time in nearly two years — and the first time under White. The 24th-ranked Gators (6-1), though, didn't waste a lot of time being impressed with themselves, but rather locked in on Thursday's night's game at North Florida (3-5), a true road date at a venue — raucous UNF Arena, where beer is sold and consumed heavily in the student section — that will treat UF like a big, bad, Sunshine State basketball bully.

The ranking will just be orange and blue window dressing.

"I think it speaks to trending in a positive direction, and it's exciting for our fans and our players, but ultimately it doesn't mean a whole lot," White said. "It doesn't have anything to do with the next game or the rest of your schedule. It's a never a predictor on how you finish your season or how you'll play or anything like that this time of year. Have we been pretty good thus far? Yeah, we have. But we're still focused on a daily basis on getting better — and focused right now on North Florida."

Last March, the Gators had to go to UNF Arena to play a "home" NIT game after the O'Connell Center renovation project commenced. Going into that one, North Florida had hit 400 3-point shots for the season, the most in the country, and were flying high with their "Birds of Trey" nickname and aura.

UF, though, made the Ospreys' home floor look like its practice gym. The Gators led by 30 at halftime, drilled a season-high 16 long balls on 32 attempts (50 percent) — which was seven more than UNF — and left with a 97-68 blowout win and six players in double-figure scoring.

This North Florida team does not possess the long-range firepower of that one, but point guard Dallas Moore (19.1 points per game) would be a solid high-major player and had 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists against the Gators last season. There's also the intangible element of a road game against a super-underdog that should be super-jacked for a super-rare home game opportunity (and unlike last March, the student body is on campus, not on break).

But maybe the biggest factor of all — at least White hopes so — is the next chance to build on something that looks pretty good right now.

The Gators, remember, have yet to play a home game. They're also not complaining about it, probably because the head coach and his staff aren't talking much about it.

Not talking about rankings, either. Or much of anything outside the task at hand.

"It's cool," said Hill, who three seasons ago was a freshman on a team that reached No. 1 in early February and sat there all the way to the Final Four. "We won a couple big games, but it doesn't mean anything. We have to keep playing together as a team and not let any noise come in."

"No Noise." That's a little motto the Gators like to use. For now, it's working.

"I walked in [Tuesday] and as we were preparing to watch film for the first time since the weekend, we simply wrote up on the board, 'Enough Said.' And our guys know where I'm getting that," White said. "It's about the deficiencies we need to improve upon, specifically defensive rebounding, continuing to stress turnover margin and execution offensively. … I guarantee you we'll have an incredible mindset now that we're ranked, but that's where it should be. I don't anticipate veering too far from [that]."