Senior point guard Kasey Hill had another complete floor game in the win over the Crimson Tide.
Harry Fodder: Next Day Takeaway
Wednesday, January 11, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
More from the night before, an 80-67 road SEC win at Alabama.
NEXT-DAY TAKEAWAY
Florida 80, Alabama 67
Three leftover thoughts from Gators' win Tuesday night
1) The clock was inside seven minutes to go and the game was tied at 61 when Coach Mike White made a call from the bench. UF was struggling to guard Alabama without fouling in its straight man-to-man defense, so White slapped a 1-3-1 zone on the Tide, with 6-foot-8 Devin Robinson sliding his feet and flailing his arms at the top, 6-11 John Egbunu, 6-8 Keith Stone and athletic 6-2 guard KeVaughn Allen (and later 6-6 forward Canyon Barry) on the second line, with point guard Kasey Hill in the back. Four times over the next three minutes, Hill rocketed out of the defense with steals — be it on picked off bounce passes or tipped ones — and turned takeaways into transition opportunities, sending UF on a 19-6 run to close out a big Southeastern Conference road win and remain unbeaten in league play. Of the Tide's 18 turnovers, five came in those final six minutes. Florida's length and athleticism proved too much for Bama's ball-handlers in crunch time, especially redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram, who turned it over seven times. Through four SEC games, UF is averaging 17.8 turnovers per game, with Hill, who is playing phenomenal basketball, at 3.25 per.
2) White and his staff knew exactly what Alabama's defensive plan was going to be because the Gators saw it last year and did not deal with it well. White told Allen, the team's leading scorer who came in shooting 51 percent from the floor and 54 percent from the 3-point line over the previous seven games, the Tide were going to flat-out deny him touches by face-guarding him in the halfcourt. That's what they did to Dorian Finney-Smith in Gainesville last year and, sure enough, that's what they did to Allen and, at times, to whoever UF's next-best offensive player on the floor happened to be. The Tide wanted to make it a 3-on-3 halfcourt game and let their bigs control the paint. Allen, who came in at 14.7 points per game, finished just 2-for-7 from the floor for six points and none of those seven attempts were open or good looks; a couple were forced. And yet afterward, White praised Allen for basically keeping his composure, playing within the framework of the offense and letting other guys (Stone and Barry, mostly) have their night on the perimeter. That's what great teammates do.
3) Rebounding and blocking out on the defensive end remain a problem for the Gators, as Tide behemoth Donta Hall (6-for-6 from the floor) demonstrated with his some very loud putbacks. He had four offensive rebounds and all of them were high-flying follow slams. Alabama finished with a 37-30 edge on the boards and with 10 offensive rebounds. On a couple of those, the Gators' front court players did a poor job locating crashing Tide bodies to block out when the ball was in the air. This is an issue that is talked about and drilled every day at practice and, by the looks of things, figures to be an on-going one during the season. Worth noting: Robinson led UF with six rebounds, just ahead of Hill with five. Center Kevarrius Hayes and his backup, Egbunu, combined for six rebounds. Florida is dead-last in the SEC in overall rebounding (35.4 pg) and defensive rebounding (23.3 pg).
Florida 80, Alabama 67
Three leftover thoughts from Gators' win Tuesday night
The Gators mob @Keith_Stone25 in the locker room & hear @MikeWhiteUF's postgame message after last night's W at Alabama. pic.twitter.com/NEYVQ71BM7
— Gators M-Basketball (@GatorsMBK) January 11, 2017
1) The clock was inside seven minutes to go and the game was tied at 61 when Coach Mike White made a call from the bench. UF was struggling to guard Alabama without fouling in its straight man-to-man defense, so White slapped a 1-3-1 zone on the Tide, with 6-foot-8 Devin Robinson sliding his feet and flailing his arms at the top, 6-11 John Egbunu, 6-8 Keith Stone and athletic 6-2 guard KeVaughn Allen (and later 6-6 forward Canyon Barry) on the second line, with point guard Kasey Hill in the back. Four times over the next three minutes, Hill rocketed out of the defense with steals — be it on picked off bounce passes or tipped ones — and turned takeaways into transition opportunities, sending UF on a 19-6 run to close out a big Southeastern Conference road win and remain unbeaten in league play. Of the Tide's 18 turnovers, five came in those final six minutes. Florida's length and athleticism proved too much for Bama's ball-handlers in crunch time, especially redshirt freshman Dazon Ingram, who turned it over seven times. Through four SEC games, UF is averaging 17.8 turnovers per game, with Hill, who is playing phenomenal basketball, at 3.25 per. 2) White and his staff knew exactly what Alabama's defensive plan was going to be because the Gators saw it last year and did not deal with it well. White told Allen, the team's leading scorer who came in shooting 51 percent from the floor and 54 percent from the 3-point line over the previous seven games, the Tide were going to flat-out deny him touches by face-guarding him in the halfcourt. That's what they did to Dorian Finney-Smith in Gainesville last year and, sure enough, that's what they did to Allen and, at times, to whoever UF's next-best offensive player on the floor happened to be. The Tide wanted to make it a 3-on-3 halfcourt game and let their bigs control the paint. Allen, who came in at 14.7 points per game, finished just 2-for-7 from the floor for six points and none of those seven attempts were open or good looks; a couple were forced. And yet afterward, White praised Allen for basically keeping his composure, playing within the framework of the offense and letting other guys (Stone and Barry, mostly) have their night on the perimeter. That's what great teammates do.
3) Rebounding and blocking out on the defensive end remain a problem for the Gators, as Tide behemoth Donta Hall (6-for-6 from the floor) demonstrated with his some very loud putbacks. He had four offensive rebounds and all of them were high-flying follow slams. Alabama finished with a 37-30 edge on the boards and with 10 offensive rebounds. On a couple of those, the Gators' front court players did a poor job locating crashing Tide bodies to block out when the ball was in the air. This is an issue that is talked about and drilled every day at practice and, by the looks of things, figures to be an on-going one during the season. Worth noting: Robinson led UF with six rebounds, just ahead of Hill with five. Center Kevarrius Hayes and his backup, Egbunu, combined for six rebounds. Florida is dead-last in the SEC in overall rebounding (35.4 pg) and defensive rebounding (23.3 pg).
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