Florida Gators

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The best way to understand the impact the Florida-Florida State game had on the Gators' 2017-18 season is by revisiting what happened before the Gators and Seminoles renewed their seven-decade-old rivalry the first week of last December. 

Florida had been to Portland, Ore., for Thanksgiving weekend to play in the prestigious PK80 Invitational, where the Gators trounced Stanford by 21 and withstood a furious road-like environment to defeat No. 17 Gonzaga in a double-overtime thriller. UF was a joy-to-watch offensive machine in scoring 108 points against the Cardinal and 111 against the Bulldogs to advance to the tournament bracket title round, where the Gators built a 17-point lead against No. 1-ranked Duke, only to let it slip away in an 87-84 defeat. 

On the long, cross-country flight home, the players had a lot of time to reflect on how good they were — no less an authority than Blue Devils coach Mike Kzyzewski said after his team's win that UF was "the best team we'll play all season" —  and then had a week off to start to believe it. Six games in, Florida led the nation in scoring at 99.5 points per game, was shooting 48 percent overall and 46 from the 3-point line on the way to ascending to No. 5. Had UF beaten Duke, the Gators likely would have risen to No. 1.

Things were good.  

Then Florida State came to town. 

Really big, really bad (as in playground-bully bad) Florida State came to town. 

"In our minds, we were thinking we were way better than we were, the media was saying we were great — a top-five team — and we were listening to it all," recalled UF senior swingman Jalen Hudson. "We were on a super high and here comes this team that was really hungry, a rival, and we think we're going to just roll over them because of what happened the week before. It went the complete opposite way."

Therein lies the overriding storyline for Tuesday night's 2018-19 season opener at Tucker Civic Center, where Florida will try to halt an all-time worst four-game losing streak in its 77-year rivalry series against Florida State. The first three were hard fought and close. The fourth was not, and that's the one the players have been reminded of in the run-up to this one.
  "It wasn't our best physicality performance. More toughness was required," senior forward Kevarrius Hayes said. "We were looking at the stats and the film from that game the other day and I just thought about all the effort plays we missed, the hustle points they got, and some of the other things we could have controlled."

Instead, FSU was in complete control. 

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's comprehensive "Pregame Stuff" setup here]

The Seminoles rapped the Gators in the mouth from the opening tip. They guarded ferociously, rebounded relentlessly, and rapidly beat the home team up and down its own floor all night. FSU led by seven at halftime, by double digits six minutes into the second half, and never was challenged in an 83-66 blowout that not only put a deep gash in the Gators' collective psyche, but provided a blueprint for future opponents of just how to play them. 

"Florida State was tougher, more prepared than we were," UF coach Mike White. "They exposed our half-court defense, and the way they played transition defense, they were the first team we had played that was able to get back and get their defense set and make us run half-court offense. We looked lost at times."

Of FSU's 83 points that game, 55 came from either second-chance baskets, off turnovers or in transition. The Seminoles' domination on the glass — 51-34, including 23 caroms on the offensive end — foiled the Gators' opportunities to get out on the break. FSU also pressed and overplayed its defense and got into point guard Chris Chiozza, totally throwing his game out of whack. Chiozza finished 0-for-5 from the floor with four assists and four turnovers, and the UF offense obviously suffered along with him. 
  The fallout from that game was a concerted effort by ensuing UF foes (just two nights later, the Gators played Loyola-Chicago, remember?) to crowd the perimeter on defense to force Florida to look inside (thus exposing a glaring weakness),while also putting an emphasis on offensive rebounding, crashing guards to the glass for second possessions that limited UF's fast-break opportunities.

If the Seminoles knew they could do that against a savvy veteran like Chiozza on his home floor last year, imagine how they intend to guard UF freshman Andrew Nembhard, in his collegiate debut, in their gym Tuesday. FSU counterpart point guard Trent Forrest is a fierce defender who took his game to another level during the Seminoles' run last March to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He will come after the UF rookie hard.

They'll be others besides Forrest — even with standout 6-foot-9, 235-pound power forward Phil Cofer expected to miss the game due to a foot injury — coming Nembhard's way. Sometimes they'll come in waves.

"He will be ready. He's a really, really good player and he'll be fine," Hudson said of Nembhard. "Trust me."

The rest of the Gators need to be just as confident. And way more physical. 

White spoke last week about his team's DNA ("We're a bit soft right now," he said) being put to the test. But he also said the Gators are more physical than they were at this time last season, with the next step being an ability to battle through fatigue when things get tough. 

Make no mistake, at some point, things will be tough Tuesday. 

"They've beaten us the last [four] years in a couple different ways," White said. "They've defended at a high level, as they always do, and last year they came in and played well offensively and ran up a bunch of points in transition. It's a great test for both teams early on in the year; a good measuring stick to see where we both are." 

A far more valuable one than a guarantee game against a low-major. 

"If you play, say, a mediocre team you can fall prey to yourself and play down to the competition," Hayes said. "A game like this puts more pressure on you to play at a high level. Against a tough opponent like this, I think everybody understands what's at stake."