No Layups for Gators

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The scene, frankly, was somewhat anachronistic. After the Florida basketball team was put through its routine pre-practice stretch and warm-up Monday, the Gators did not break into running, passing or shooting drills. Instead, they fanned out, two to a goal, and worked on layups.

The "Mikan Drill," to be specific.

The date was Feb. 19.

Hall of Famer George Mikan with the Minneapolis Lakers

It's a drill rooted some 75 years ago by the legendary George Mikan — at 6-foot-10, the game's first true giant and superstar — and remains a fundamental hoops staple. Continuous banked layups on both ends of the goal. Repetitive. Requires concentration and constant movement. In these year-round times of training, the Mikan is used more in individual instruction versus with two weeks left in a regular season, but it's one the UF players obviously needed after what went down in the 71-68 loss at Vanderbilt over the weekend.

"We have to be able to make a layup," Florida coach Mike White.

They're called "layups" for a reason. They're supposed to be easy.

Right now, nothing is easy for the Gators.

For their analytics purposes, UF staffers define a "layup" as any shot when a player is facing the basket on the block or in the restricted circle. Under those parameters, the Gators went 9-for-21 against the Commodores. A handful of those failed attempts were contested or taken through contact. No one is going to make them all. But a couple (enough, perhaps, to close out the game, if converted) were point-blank misses, and thus continued Florida's woes as one of the worst 2-point shooting teams in the country. UF ranks 281st (out of 351 Division I programs) by virtue of its 47.1 percent 2-point shooting overall. The number drops to 45.8 percent in Southeastern Conference play.

The national median for 2-point shots is right at 50 percent.

So White, in his on-going mission to push the right buttons with this bunch, opted this week to go back to basics, as the Gators (17-10, 8-6), who have won just two of the last seven SEC games, turned their focus to Wednesday night's road date against No. 19 Tennessee (19-7, 9-5) at Thompson-Boling Arena.

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

The Volunteers have lost two of three, but before that were on a six-game winning streak that rocketed them into the nation's top 15 until hitting this mini-roadblock. The Gators, meanwhile, have done a 180-spinout into a ditch over the better part of the last month. Their once-vaunted 3-point shooting offense has gone ice cold (29.7 percent over previous eight SEC outings) and the inability to close out games (two blown second-half double-digit leads the last two games) seems to have shaken their confidence.

And now, they have the layup yips.

The advice from the coaches?

"Make 'em," assistant Jordan Mincy said.

If that sounds too simple (or even sarcastic), consider some context. The last couple days, the UF coaches have had sit-downs with players and showed them tape of when things were going well. When Chris Chiozza was zipping passes up and across the floor against Gonzaga. When Jalen Hudson was attacking the paint and finishing shots against NBA lottery-pick-in-waiting Wendell Carter, Jr., of Duke. When Kevarrius Hayes was alley-oop slamming over Kentucky. When opponents so overplayed Egor Koulechov on the 3-point line, he could back-door them on the baseline.

Granted, defenses are guarding the Gators differently these days. They're fanning out on the perimeter, running UF's shooters off the 3-point line, and are now willing to let Chiozza penetrate the lane and live with it if he can finish a challenged drive at the post versus giving up a 3.

Solution: More driving, better finishing.

It's not like the Gators can't (or haven't) done it before.

"We've got to reassess," said junior center Kevarrius Hayes, who shot 70 percent from the floor as a freshman, 60.6 playing far more as a sophomore and is down to 56.7 this season. "We are going to go back to look at the film, see which ways we can improve and kind of bring it together as a team. I feel like the only way we can go is up from here."

That's quite a statement, considering the team is one, perhaps even two wins short of securing a second straight at-large NCAA Tournament berth. It's a statement that likely speaks to the group's collective confidence, given the struggles to put the ball in the basket.

Even from directly beneath it.

Chiozza missed two layups at Vandy. Forward Keith Stone rimmed a couple from dead-on range. Backup guard Mike Okauru wasn't even close on one of the most wide-open shots the Gators have gotten all year in the halfcourt, his miss coming during a pivotal second-half stretch. Hudson couldn't convert a transition layup — maybe a 2-footer — on a 3-on-2 break with just under 40 seconds left and the Gators down by a point.

Koulechov, after a couple losses this season, has said the team needed to "get back to the lab."

Here's a better cliche: "Back to the drawing board."

Back to the Mikan drill.

Florida's remaining four regular-season games — at Tennessee, Saturday against No. 10 Auburn, then next week at Alabama, and the finale at home against Kentucky — just might constitute the hardest four-game finish for any team in the country. In other words, there are no so-called layups.

So, the Gators better make some of the real kind.

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Players Mentioned

Chris Chiozza

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Egor Koulechov

Mike Okauru

Keith Stone

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