THREE-POINT WEEK IN REVIEW
TAKE A BOW
UF would have been in trouble this week without Dontay Bassett, the 6-foot-9, 240-pound center/forward who was called on to do some dirty work down low while senior Kevarrius Hayes dealt with foul trouble. Bassett had seven points and five rebounds over 23 minutes in the 57-51 win Wednesday night at Arkansas, then seven points, three rebounds and hit all four of his free throws in 22 minutes in Saturday's 78-67 home loss to Tennessee. Good for him. Bassett was not a highly touted prospect out of Tampa (Fla.) Oldsmar Christian. In fact, Mike White and his coaching staff, just six months into their time at UF, recruited Bassett as a developmental and culture type player. Bassett red-shirted his first season and over the last two has garnered a reputation as the most physical player on the team, a label he lives up to given his number of fouls. Last season, he had the seventh-most fouls on the team (40), despite playing the fewest average minutes in the regular rotation (7.1). This season, he's second on the team in fouls (33) and ninth in minutes (12.6), but he's fouling less per minute and his minutes are going up as his coaches' collective trust increases with him on the floor. Give Bassett credit for embracing his role and doing so with the right attitude. All programs need these kinds of players and both Bassett and the Gators will be better for it in the long run.
A lot of the issues Coach Mike White has spoken about time and again with his players continue to rear themselves. Against Tennessee, they did so at inopportune times late.
OF CONCERN
As energized as the Gators looked against the Volunteers, and with an offensive display that yielded decent looks for the better part of the game, a lot of the same breakdowns and lack of discipline with regard to being in the gaps, boxing out, rotations and communication on defense, as well as some spacing issues on some key late offensive possessions, ended up biting the home team in the end. The two second-half sequences when the UF defense gave up not one, but two offensive rebounds, both led to third-chance points at pivotal junctures of the game. Example: When an opponent releases a shot, each defender is supposed to find a man and hit him. The Gators drill it every single day. Example 2: Fouling a 3-point shooter with the shot-clock at 2 seconds? Ugh. Until Florida cleans up a lot of these little things — things White and his assistants have been talking about since the season-opening blowout loss at Florida State; things that veteran players should already know to do (or not to do) — opponents who are on the details will capitalize. Also worth noting here, also, is the stat line of Andrew Nembhard, who was 1-for-10 from the floor (including 0-for-3 from deep), with a couple of missed layups. It's worth noting because Nembhard has the substance to take that game (easily the worst of his young career) and learn, grow, and get better from it.
GET READY
The Gators are 1-2 in Southeastern Conference play for the first time since the 2009-10 season and haven't started 1-3 since the 1996-97 season, the first under Coach Billy Donovan. UF (9-6, 1-2) will go on the road Tuesday night and play a desperate Mississippi State (12-3, 0-2) team that not only is winless in league play, but also represents an overall athletic program that holds something of a grudge these days against Florida (See Mullen, Dan, and Stricklin, Scott). After that UF will be back on the road Saturday, for the third time in four games, when it goes to Georgia (9-6, 1-2) for the first meeting against new Bulldogs coach Tom Crean. UGA has played one conference home game, crushing Vanderbilt by 19.
CHARTING THE GATORS
Jalen Hudson finished 1-for-7 from the floor and missed all four of his 3-pointers in the loss to Tennessee.
Fifth-year senior swingman Jalen Hudson got his second straight start Saturday. He made his first shot of the game, 10 seconds in, then went 0-for-6 from the floor the rest of the way and finished with two points, no rebounds and three assists in 20 minutes. To think of where Hudson was just last season. He starred on a team that won 21 games (including 11 in SEC play) and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament, then dipped his toe in the NBA underclassmen waters, only to return and be voted to the preseason All-SEC team. Now, look at the profound offensive struggles he's dealing with. It has to be one of the most puzzling stories in all of college basketball. Hudson's numbers in '17-18 vs. '18-19 are striking.
| Statistic |
2017-18 (34 games) |
2017-18 (15 games) |
| Points per game |
15.5 |
6.5 |
| Field-goal percentage |
45.5 |
29.7 |
| 3-point percentage |
40.4 |
22.0 |
| Free-throw percentage |
66.2 |
59.4 |
UF ALUM UPDATE
CATCHING UP WITH ... CHRIS CHIOZZA
In his four seasons at Florida, point guard
Chris Chiozza dropped a lot of dimes, obviously, given that he left the Gators as the program's all-time assists leader with 571. Along the way, in 139 career games, he topped the 20-point threshold just three times, with a career-high of 26 in the upset of Gonzaga last season.
Well, Saturday night, Chiozza poured in 30 points, hitting 12 of his 23 shots, including three of four 3-point attempts, to lead his G-League Capital Go-Go squad to a 114-106 win against the Long Island Nets. On a club that also features former UF teammate
Devin Robinson, Chiozza is averaging 10.7 points, shooting 40.6 percent from the floor, 35.4 from the arc, to go with 4.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists. A couple weeks ago, in an exposure tournament in Las Vegas, Chiozza nearly had a triple double for the Go-Go and last week showed up on the G-League site of NBA.com on a list of potential NBA call-up candidates. Given the Capital's parent team, the Washington Wizards, has lost point guard
John Wall to a season-ending injury, we could see "Cheez" in the bigs before the season is out.
Now, wouldn't that be cool.
Good luck and congrats, Chris!
PERSPECTIVE POLICE BEAT
(i.e. "Twitter Patter")
Coaches are held accountable. Players are held accountable. Even senior writers are held accountable. This space is dedicated to holding the fans (and fan boys) on Twitter accountable. At times, we'll also recognize those who "get it" and acknowledge those who offer entertaining social media fodder, or (God forbid) the proper perspective.
[Note: If you're completely unreasonable and wonder why you don't show up here, it's probably because you've been muted or blocked, and thus in "Perspective Prison." I'm the cop, judge, jury and warden of that legal system, by the way.]
Welcome to my world, Will. Bet he didn't even acknowledge the victory, either.
Good observation. Some players can present unique matchup issues to another team and its personnel. That's basketball.
Mike White will be blamed for it.
This miserable guy is sick of a lot of things. Needs to see a doctor. And this was during a game the Gators won.
Yawnnnnnnnnnn.
And this is the bitter, draining, never-a-good-thing-to-say fan I know who shows up all too frequently on my timeline. In your defense, "Doggg," you're not the only one.
As ludicrous a comment as it is uninformed. You have no idea about this kid's makeup.
Gotta "ball" (and be accountable) on both ends, but yes, a case could be make that he could or should have been out there on offense. Would have needed to take a timeout after the
Admiral Schofield 3-pointer to insert him,
since officials would not let Allen check in, per rule, after they stopped action for a clock review.
And it was.
Who let you in here?
