Florida coach Mike White hopes his team can match the physicality of Michigan State and play with the intensity the Gators showed the last time -- three seasons ago against No. 9 West Virginia -- a top-10 ranked no-league opponent came to the O'Dome.
Spartans' Race vs Gators' Pace in Marquee Saturday Showdown
Friday, December 7, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — There aren't many college basketball programs Mike White has more respect for than Michigan State. The Spartans, in their 24th season under Hall-of-Fame coach Tom Izzo, are an annual powerhouse in the Big Ten Conference and always a threat come NCAA Tournament time. Always talented, always physical and one of the toughest teams in the country year in and out.
Those 21 straight NCAA appearances, 12 Sweet 16s, nine Elite Eights, seven Final Fours and one national title (over the Gators in 2000, no less) during Izzo's 24 seasons are pretty solid testaments.
"I've always admired their level of discipline and toughness," White said.
He was not an all-star caliber basketball player during his days as a starting point guard at Ole Miss, but White would fight every minute on the floor. That's the kind of program he wants for the University of Florida as well, but toughness has not been a constant for the Gators this season. It's shown up in spurts, but no team can't be part-time tough and beat ones who exhibit that intangible each game.
If UF (5-3) doesn't have that mentality when it shows up for Saturday's high-noon, nationally televised showdown against 10th-ranked Michigan State (7-2) it'll be too late summon it. The Spartans are the kind of team that punches opponents in the mouth from the outset and turns that physicality into basketball brilliance by getting up and down the floor as fast as any team in the land.
"The biggest key is getting back on defense," UF senior guard KeVaughn Allen said.
That's assuming, of course, the Gators are up for the initial wave of body-banging, both under the basket and in the halfcourt.
Florida's defense will need to be at its harassing best Saturday -- even better than Noah Locke (10) and Keith Stone (25) were in Tuesday's win against West Virginia -- to handle one of the best and fastest offenses in the country in Michigan State.
Michigan State ranks sixth in the nation in offensive efficiency, scoring 87.2 points per game, while shooting better than 46 percent from the floor and 45 from the 3-point line. The Spartans have grabbed 107 more rebounds than their opponents, and rank 19th in the country in offensive rebounds at 37.4 percent. Translated, that means more than a third of their missed shots become second possessions.
UF freshman guard Noah Locke translated it further.
"We need to box out," he said.
And, obviously, they need to defend, which is something the Gators have done well for the most part this season. UF is coming off its best wire-to-wire defensive efforts in Tuesday night's 66-56 defeat of West Virginia at the Jimmy V Classic in New York City. The Mountaineers came into that game averaging nearly 87 points a game, but were held 31 points below that mark and limited to less than 30-percent shooting from the floor and 3-point arc.
Upon further review, Florida wasn't great on the guard that night — there were some breakdowns — but WVU couldn't capitalize by making shots and turned the ball over a season-high 21 times. Again, the Gators weren't great defensively, but they did play hard throughout the game.
UF will start Saturday ranked sixth in nation in defensive efficiency and allowing just 68.7 points per game, just under 37 percent shooting and 31 from long distance.
Those are nice numbers, but what the Gators need to do — if even possible, given the opponent — is win the effort matchup against the Spartans.
"We're a better team than we were a week ago. We took a step," White said. "We're going to have to be even better in this one to have a chance. And we're still trying to find ourselves offensively."
Remarkably, Michigan State will represent just the seventh non-league opponent since the Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center opened 38 years ago to come in ranked in the Associated Press top 10. The last was No. 9 West Virginia in the 2016 SEC/Big 12 Challenge, a game the Gators, a middling conference team that season, played near-flawlessly on the way to an 88-71 blowout victory.
Something similar may be required to stay with the Spartans.
"They're a program you have to respect," said senior center Kevarrius Hayes, who as a freshman scored two points and grabbed one rebound in UF's 58-52 loss to Michigan State at East Lansing. "I like that they're coming here. I like the competition. It'll be a great test to see where we are and something we're all looking forward to."
CHARTING THE GATORS
The O'Connell Center opened its doors on Dec. 30, 1980 for a game against East Tennessee. In the 39 seasons the Gators have played in the O'Dome (now Exactech Arena), they've been matched against just 14 non-league opponents who came into the game ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. When Michigan State rolls in Saturday, the 10th-ranked Spartans will be the 15th such foe (and just the seventh in the top 10). UF is 6-8 against non-Southeastern Conference teams at home, with a run of three straight victories.
Date
Ranked Opponent
Outcome
The Buzz
Nov. 23, 1987
No. 18 Georgia Tech
W 80-69
Dwayne Schintzius, Vernon Maxwell and his fellow M&M Boys were better than Dennis Scott, Tom Hammonds, Duane Ferrell.
Dec. 5, 1989
No. 7 Illinois
L 74-69
Kendall Gill, Marcus Liberty were back from Illini's '89 Final Four squad.
Nov. 27, 1990
No. 22 Texas
L 76-74
Longhorns went on to finish second (to Arkansas) in old Southwest Conference.
Jan. 27, 1992
No. 23 Florida State
L 68-67
Sam Cassell circus reverse layup with 2 seconds left wins it.
Dec. 9, 1995
No. 10 Wake Forest
L 77-53
Tim Duncan (before he was "The Big Fundamental" or "Old Man Riverwalk").
Jan. 11, 1996
No. 3 Kansas
L 69-54
Roy Williams, Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Jacque Vaughn and an Elite Eight team.
Dec. 4, 1996
No. 18 Texas
L 82-64
Sixth game for Billy Donovan's first team, which started 3-3.
Dec. 5, 2001
No. 24 Michigan State
W 74-40
Two seasons after Spartans beat Gators in 2000 NCAA title game.
Dec. 11, 2004
No. 13 Louisville
L 74-70
Billy D was 0-5 vs mentor Rick Pitino (0-2 at Kentucky, 0-3 at UL).
Dec. 23, 2006
No. 3 Ohio State
W 86-60
The '04s' famously did an NCAA title game preview number on Greg Oden and Company on wayt to second straight national title.
Nov. 16, 2010
No. 4 Ohio State
L 93-75
Jared Sullinger and Aaron Craft were freshmen.
Nov. 14, 2013
No. 22 Wisconsin
W 74-56
UF forward Erik Murphy went 10-for-10 from floor, 24 points, 8 rebounds.
Dec. 18, 2013
No. 13 Kansas
W 67-61
1st of 30 in a row came against Andrew Wiggins and Joel Embiid, the 1st and 3rd picks (respectively) in NBA Draft the following June.
Jan. 30, 2016
No. 9 West Virginia
W 88-71
Gators go 12 of 20 from 3-point line for Mike White's first UF win over ranked team.
