Mike White made a lot of faces, none of them smiles, Tuesday night in Tallahassee.
Moving On: UF Out to Put FSU Eyesore in Rearview
Friday, November 9, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Their coach actually found something positive to take away from the season-opening debacle in Tallahassee earlier this week. Heading into the game, Florida coach Mike White told his team to be prepared for a physical challenge at Florida State; to be braced for 40 minutes of contact, else run the risk of a bodily beating along the lines of what took place when the two clubs met last season.
As it turned out, FSU pillaged UF once again, doing an 81-60 number on the road team. But not by shoving the Gators around. Not this time. White found reason to be encouraged by the way his players rebounded, took on and initiated contact, and generally defended — especially in the first half, holding the Seminoles to just 31 points — with the exception of the first few minutes after intermission when a nine-point deficit became 21 in a snap.
No, what troubled White and his staff most was what happened (or didn't) on the offensive end, low-lighted by a 20-point, 24-percent-shooting first half that undermined whatever good the team achieved on the defensive end. The Gators' movement, both with and without the ball, was awful. So was their spacing, which allowed FSU's defense (and tremendous length) to crowd what few gaps may have existed. When the ball stopped moving, guys with the ball took matters into their hands and starting hunting shots. A lot of bad ones.
That was Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Gators (0-1) returned to practice, starting with a film session that to run as long as "Titanic" (probably as calamitous, as well), then headed to the court to begin fixing the FSU mess and looking toward Friday night's home opener against Charleston Southern (1-0) at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
After warming up, White had his starting five take the floor to run some "dry" offense. As in 5-on-0. Actions minus defenders. As the first-teamers took their spots, each was tossed a basketball. Andrew Nembhard, the freshman point guard, stood at the top of the key when White ordered them to run "motion," the team's standard base offensive set.
The players looked at each other, confused.
"Go!" White yelled. "Run it! Play!"
Again. More curious looks.
Nembhard began dribbling to his right, but had no idea what to do. KeVaughn Allen started his bounce and ran the baseline. Kevarrius Hayes dribbled from the block to the elbow, presumably to set a screen. Jalen Hudson, in the left corner, kept the ball on his hip and moved to a spot near the key. Keith Stone dribbled in place. In other words, no one had a clue what was going on.
"You can't do it, can you?" White said, as the players realized both the prop and the prank were both an attempt to illustrate selfishness. "Everybody can't have the ball."
Point made. Point taken. And now?
Points needed.
"We took what Coach said to heart," senior forward Kevarrius Hayes said.
Poor ball movement and spacing in Florida's halfcourt offense led to scenes like this -- season guard Jalen Hudson swarmed by Seminoles -- in Tuesday night's ugly road loss at Florida State.
The Gators will try first to prove it against CSU, but way more importantly is to make execution — especially movement and spacing — a priority as they look to work through what figures to be a very difficult pre-Southeastern Conference schedule. After facing the Buccaneers, out of the Big South Conference, UF is home next week against LaSalle, then dives back into the Power 5 world at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas come Thanksgiving week, starting with a game against Oklahoma, followed by either Wisconsin or Stanford, and then possible meetings with Virginia, Butler or Dayton, all over just three days.
White thought the team actually got more accomplished during its lengthy film sessions Wednesday than on the floor, as it related to accountability. Guys took ownership.
"We understand it was just the first game," Hayes said. "We're not going to let this define us the rest of the year."
The second game won't define them, either. It also won't be anything like the first. There will be no 7-foot-4 center or a bunch of Elite Eight-tested raptors on defense. But facing Charleston Southern will have very little to do with the visiting Buccaneers. It's all about the home team distancing itself from a performance so abhorrent that few in the building saw it coming.
At least 30 games remain, so the Gators might as well start fixing things now.
"First and foremost, I'd like to see the ball move better. I'd like to see much better shot selection," White said. "I would like to see much better connectivity amongst our players; a higher level of not necessarily the communication while the game's going … it's more, the whistle is blown and we got guys walking in different directions. One guy is worried about why the [official] called that. One guy's worried about, 'Why did Coach yell at me about that bad shot?' One guy's worried about why 'this guy looked me off.' One guy's worried about 'When is coach going to take me out of the game?' We're not connected right now. We're one game in, so I don't expect us to be ultra-connected, but I'd like to see a step in the right direction from that regard [Friday] night."
