Florida is back home Tuesday night after dropping two of three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Gators Reach For Reset Button vs North Florida
Tuesday, November 27, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — His customary day-before-game media opportunity Monday was held outside the men's coaches office on the second floor atrium of the Florida basketball office. There was something a tad surreal about the scene.
The first question lobbed at UF coach Mike White focused on swingman Jalen Hudson, the team's leading scorer last year who was benched after one game at the Battle 4 Atlantis last week and replaced in the starting lineup by a freshman. Hudson's confidence appears to be at its nadir right now — a stunning development for a player with more than 1,000 career collegiate points — after going 3-for-13 from the floor and 0-for-7 from the 3-point line over three games in the Bahamas.
Later came a question about KeVaughn Allen, whose offensive swoon (scoreless in the season-season-opener at Florida State; three points in Saturday's loss to Butler) has been nearly as confounding.
The surreal part?
All the while White was talking, highlights from the 2017-18 season replayed on a giant flat-screen monitor hanging on the wall to his right. As White spoke of the "tough place" Hudson is in, images from his 35-point outburst against Gonzaga last November and his with-conviction drive and slam over a helpless Alabama power forward looped on the TV. So did video of Allen rising above would-be defenders and swishing picture-perfect jumpers.
It's in them. Somewhere. Everyone has seen it.
It's up to White, his staff, their teammates and, ultimately, themselves to relocate the mojo that make both players, when confident and clear-headed, deadly offensive weapons. Those versions of Hudson and Allen did not show up in the Bahamas, so the coaches had to look elsewhere for something/anything to get the team on track.
"We found out a lot about us individually, about our locker room, and about us as a whole in different areas," White said.
Much has been made about the dropoff in offensive production from Jalen Hudson and KeVaughn Allen, but much was expected of fourth-year junior forward Keith Stone heading into this season, as well. He's averaging just 5.8 points and 4.7 rebounds. If Hudson, Allen and Stone -- the teams' best scoring options -- can get out of their funks collectively, the Gators will look like a different team.
The Gators (3-3) will hit the reset button Tuesday night with a home game against North Florida (2-4) at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. Whether the next chance looks any different than the previous ones is to be determined, but a two-hour Sunday film session, followed by a two-hour practice, then close to the same schedule Monday included a lot of critiquing and a lot of correcting.
"He has been tough on us," freshman guard Noah Locke said of White.
Locke was the one who started in place of Hudson after a thorough review of everyone's play showed a multitude of breakdowns throughout the tournament-opening loss to Oklahoma Wednesday, a game that came down to the final possession.
To the Gators' credit, the energy and effort was at a different level the next day in a 23-point blowout of Stanford, but they were neither on point nor on the mark with their shooting in a 61-54 loss to Butler in the tournament finale Friday night.
On Saturday, the Gators arrived at the airport in Nassau at 9:30 a.m. and on board for their 90-minute, chartered flight to Jacksonville by 10:20, but the plane sat on the runway for four hours due to a mechanical issue on a cargo door, with officials there refusing to let any of the passengers (including the 6-foot-9 ones crammed in the back) off the aircraft to stretch their legs. When the team finally arrived in Jacksonville, it took three hours to clear what became a Keystone Kops customs check, as clueless agents there eventually turned the traveling party over to regular TSA agents to sent the passengers to the main terminal and funnel through commercial-flight check-in and screening.
What should have been a three-hour return trip became 10. It was that kind of weekend, but it's over with.
Time to move on.
"We should be better than we are, but I'm frustrated with myself, too. I'm never going to be one of these guys that's going to blame my players. I'm in charge of this thing and we've got to be more disciplined, we've got to play harder, we've got to be tougher," White said. "I was hopeful that this team wouldn't have to go through this process, that we wouldn't be having to send messages to guys, but that's not where we are right now."
It doesn't have to be where they're headed, though. The Gators control that. The next game, and some very difficult ones on the immediate horizon, could yield some very significant intel about this team. More so than what was uncovered in the Bahamas.
"I think guys are really starting to try and lock in and get better," Locke said. "Overall, I just feel like we can be better as a team if we just come together, all together."
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