Mike White watches forward Justin Leon during Wednesday's shoot-around at Anyway Center. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/For UAA Communications)
For Gators, it's Back to Basics ... and Some Basic Basketball in NCAA Return
Wednesday, March 15, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
Share:
The mismatches presented by Vanderbilt won't exist in the NCAA opener vs East Tennessee State.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
ORLANDO — With the exciting start of college basketball's second season, Florida coach Mike White has talked about about his team, having dropped three of the previous four, getting back to playing the brand of basketball that helped the Gators run off nine straight wins and contend down the stretch for a Southeastern Conference title.
Come Thursday afternoon, when No. 4-seed UF (24-8) takes on 13th-seeded East Tennessee State (27-7) in opening-round play of the NCAA East Region at Amway Center, that opportunity will present itself for the first time in two weeks.
Why?
"Because we're not playing against a 7-footer who shoots 3s," UF assistant Darris Nichols said.
That's a fact. The Buccaneers, regular-season and postseason tournament champions of the Southern Conference, do not have a player remotely similar to Vanderbilt's Luke Kornet, the 7-foot-1 leaving and breathing defensive dilemma. Few do. The Florida roster, especially with 6-11 center John Egbunu done for the season with a knee injury, just did not have a player or workable plan to contend with the matchup issues Kornet presented them and, in turn, what he did to the benefit of his fellow Commodores — like point guard Riley LaChance, forward James Roberson or wing Matthew Fisher-Davis — that stressed, confused and outsmarted the UF defense.
"Some matchups are just bad," Nichols said. "That's basketball."
The casual fan may not understand, but the Gators do.
The memory of back-to-back two-point losses to Vandy remains fresh in their collective minds.
"A lot of times, fans just look at the records of the teams and don't really get why," UF senior forward Canyon Barry said. "But with a player like Kornet, [Vandy] can space the floor and put so much strain on your defense. If you switch it [on screens], he goes in the post and can score. If you don't, he'll pick and pop and hurt you with 3s. They're just really hard to guard."
So why is Kornet, who is 2,300 miles away preparing for the West Region in Salt Lake City, even a topic of conversation, with Florida preparing for its first NCAA action in three years? Because in East Tennessee State, the Gators get a more conventional opponent that wants to play the same type of game and pace that UF has thrived in during the 2016-17 season.
The Buccaneers won this season with really good guard play, led by 6-3 T.J. Cromer, who was second in the SoCon in scoring at 19.1 points per game, alongside point guard Desonta Bradford. Both are talented players, but the Gators have a trio of guards in Kasey Hill, KeVaughn Allen and Chris Chiozza, who have been very good defensively on the perimeter and excel (and accelerate) on offense if the game turns into a track meet.
In the frontcourt, the Bucs have 6-9 Hanner Mosquera-Perea and 6-8 Tevin Glass, a tandem that defensively is more to the liking of UF counterparts Devin Robinson, Justin Leon and center Kevarrius Hayes. The Gators will have more options, as far as switching combinations and defensive sets that fit their personnel.
This is not to suggest, in any way, that ETSU is at any major disadvantage. But postseason play is all about matchups and this one, from the UF standpoint, figures to provide better forum for the Gators to do what they do best.
"We've had matchups, especially the last one that lasted two games, that on paper, going into the game, we thought would be very difficult for us offensively and defensively," said White, whose team had another fairly difficult matchup four games ago in a loss at Kentucky, which tends to be a mismatch for a lot of teams. "With East Tennessee State, you've got two teams that are pretty similar in a lot of ways. There's probably nothing that intimidates them about us and I don't think they're going to throw a lot of curve balls at us. Just speed, quickness and athleticism."
Florida can play that game. And it can play that game with more guys.
Sophomore center Kevarris Hayes, due to matchup situations, figures to have a much bigger impact against ETSU than he did the previous two games against Vanderbilt.
Against Vanderbilt, the Gators' roster was reduced. For two straight games, neither backup centers Schuyler Rimmer or Gorjok Gak played a minute.
"I don't think having me or Gak out there trying to guard Riley LaChance 25 feet from the basket would have been good for anyone," Rimmer said.
The Gators tried to go small, with three guards, with either Leon or reserve forward Keith Stone sliding over to center, which also eliminated any minutes backup guard Eric Hester might have gotten to give guys a breather. It also wasn't a great alignment as far as switching and finding shooters on the perimeter.
UF, which has leaned on its bench all season for big-time boosts, got only 13 points from backups in the last Vandy loss. Barry, the SEC Sixth Man of the Year, went scoreless.
"We have to get back to playing our game," Barry said. "To playing Florida basketball."
Playing ETSU is a good start.
Look for Hayes, UF's starting center since Egbunu went down, to become more of a factor. His strengths, namely running the floor and making energy plays in an up-tempo game, were neutralized against Vanderbilt, as he managed just one field goal and four points in the previous two games combined. His activity and length in and around the post will show up against the Bucs.
"Florida is a very good defensive team that likes to get their hands on a lot of balls,' Cromer said of the Gators, who were one of the SEC's best teams at forcing turnovers and now face an opponent that's been known to be a little loose with the ball. "Defensively, we've been able to defend really well because of our length and our strength and our size. We have to try to use that to our advantage."
UF will be saying the same thing. That's not what the Gators were saying the last couple weeks, but now they're preparing for an opponent more in line with the college basketball mainstream.
"Your biggest fear going into this one — especially because of us and the not-too-distant past — is just a couple mental lapses defensively and then Cromer goes on a 6-0 run by himself and we're like, 'I forgot to switch! I lost him in the corner!' " White said. "Can't have that."
The chances they do decrease significantly with Kornet and friends two time zones away.
It's a new season, a clean slate.
"We can't worry about what happened in the past," Robinson said. "Let's move forward and get another winning streak going."
As far away from those last two games as possible.
