THREE-POINT WEEK IN REVIEW
TAKE A BOW
In between Tuesday's great come-from behind win over Texas A&M and Saturday's dig-themselves-a-ditch loss at Texas Christian, Coach Mike White and his Florida program learned that two of their 2019 signees, Scottie Lewis and Tre Mann, had been named to this year's McDonald's All-America Team. Lewis, the 6-foot-6, high-motor wing out of Colts Neck, N.J., and Mann, a 6-4 guard, high-scoring guard from Gainesville, Fla., became UF's 19th and 20th McDonald's honorees, and the first since Kasey Hill and Chris Walker in 2013. The Gators joined Arizona, Duke, Kentucky and Villanova as the only programs in the country to have multiple players picked for the game. The McDonald's All-America Game is scheduled for March 28 at Phillips Arena in Atlanta. Lewis and Mann will join 6-9 power forward Omar Payne, by way of Montverde (Fla.) Academy, at UF in the fall, with one scholarship (courtesy of midseason transfer Chase Johnson) still to be filled. Given the nature of collegiate attrition these days, there could be more openings, as well. Whatever the case, though, the three-man crew that shows up next fall figures to be the most acclaimed Florida class since Billy Donovan signed the nation's No. 1 overall class in 2007, presumably to replace his back-to-back national-championship teams. After that '07 class arrived, however, UF went to back-to-back NITs in '08 and '09. Rankings are nice, but woven into those four and five stars needs to be some substance. White and his staff believe the next wave of Gators have the right combination of both.
OF CONCERN
The wake-up call at UF's team hotel in Dallas came at 7:30 a.m., but you wouldn't have known it by the way the Gators seemingly slept through the first half of Saturday's 11 a.m. tip-off at Texas Christian on the way to a 55-50 defeat in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Through 11-plus minutes, Florida was shooting just over 7 percent after missing 14 of its first 15 shots to fall behind 18-3. Twice the Gators trailed by 16 before awakening for an 18-2 spree that tied the game midway through the second half. Sometimes, though, you can exert so much energy fighting back from a big deficit that you don't have a second run when needed. Maybe that was the case. Or maybe it had more to do with Keyontae Johnson, who is playing his best basketball of the season, picking up third foul and taking a seat right before the Horned Frogs scored eight straight to regain control. Or maybe (more like probably) it had to do with an offense that shot just under 31 percent for the game, with the Gators' best perimeter scoring threats, KeVaughn Allen, Noah Locke, Andrew Nembhard and Jalen Hudson, combining to hit just 10 of 41 shots overall (24.3 percent) and six of 23 from deep (26 percent) against, granted, the seventh-best 3-point shooting defense in the country. That poor shooting undermined some pretty solid defense against the Horned Frogs and an offense ranked 37th nationally. The result was a close loss against a good team. Another one. Florida has played a scheduled ranked the 13th-toughest in the country, according to KenPom.com. In terms of opposing offenses, the Gators have played the eighth-most difficult slate nationally. That's all well and good and certainly admirable; taking on such an ambitious schedule is the reason UF, despite its 11-8 record, is ranked No. 26 in KenPom, as well as 37th in the first-year NET metric that replaced the Ratings Percentage Index as the data that will determine the 2019 NCAA Tournament field. Good for you, Gators. Eventually, though, the Gators have to win some of these games against good teams. As of now, Florida is 0-6 against NET Top 40 opponents, with losses to Michigan State (No. 3), Tennessee (6th), Oklahoma (26th), TCU (25th), Mississippi State (28th) and Florida State (34th). With the exception of the season-opening drubbing on the road against the Seminoles, the other five were one-possession games inside two minutes. Going by the current NET, the Gators will have five more chances against Top 40 NET teams, with Alabama (43rd) on the cusp, starting this week (see below). Last season, the Gators had -- get this -- 10 of the so-called "Quadrant 1," Top 50 RPI regular-season victories to put before the NCAA Selection Committee. That tied for the second-most in the country, behind Virginia, which ultimately earned the field's No. 1 overall seed.
GET READY
As the calendar flips to February and margin for error further narrows with each defeat, all the Gators can ask for are more cracks at quality foes, what with that glaring goose egg for quality wins. Like it or not (and Florida has put itself in this position, so the Gators have no choice but to like it), here comes a four-game run of dates against ranked SEC foes, including two at home this week. UF takes on No. 20 Ole Miss (14-5, 4-2) Wednesday night, then gets big-fish Kentucky (16-3, 5-1) on Saturday. The Rebels had won 10 straight before dropping three of four, including a 21-point loss at Alabama and 14-point home defeat in their SEC/Big 12 turn against Iowa State last week. The Wildcats, with guard Keldon Johnson leading their usual parade of freshmen standouts, are one of the nation's hottest teams. They've won six straight, including a big home triumph Saturday over ninth-ranked Kansas, and figure to have little trouble at league-winless Vanderbilt before coming to Gainesville.
CHARTING THE GATORS
The guys from (mostly) the Midwest took the guys from the South to the wood shed in the 2019 version of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The final tally in the sixth annual version of the ESPN-concocted event, which dates to the 2013-14 season, had the Big 12 with a 6-4 margin in the 10 games played over nearly 11 hours Saturday. Baylor, with its win over Alabama, now stands alone with the best record in the event, after starting the day tied with Florida atop the aggregate standings, with the Bears lone loss coming last season in an 81-60 rout by the Gators in Gainesville. Here's an updated look at how all 24 teams -- the 14 from the SEC and 10 from Big 12 -- have combined to fare in the cross-sectional conference "Challenge" over the years.
| Team |
Conference |
Record |
Highlight |
| Baylor |
Big 12 |
5-1 |
2013: No. 20 Bears beat No. 4 Kentucky at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. |
| Tennessee |
SEC |
4-1 |
2019: Grant Williams and friends routed West Virginia as nation's No. 1-ranked team. |
| Florida |
SEC |
4-2 |
2013: No. 19 Gators beat No. 13 Kansas with Andrew Wiggins, Joel Embiid, Frank Mason. |
| Kansas |
Big 12 |
4-2 |
2017: No. 2 Jayhawks upset No. 4 Kentucky at Rupp. |
| Oklahoma |
Big 12 |
4-2 |
2016: Buddy Hield's 32 points, eight 3s, bombed Ben Simmons and LSU at Baton Rouge on the way to the Final Four. |
| Oklahoma State |
Big 12 |
4-2 |
2017: No. 9 Cowboys routed Arkansas by 28. |
| Texas Christian |
Big 12 |
4-2 |
2019: Held Florida to 20 first-half points to go 9-1 at home. |
| Texas Tech |
Big 12 |
4-2 |
2019: Stopped late Arkansas rallied as nation's No. 14 team. |
| Alabama |
SEC |
2-1 |
2018: Beat No. 12 Oklahoma, held nation's scoring lead Trae Young to 17 points. |
| Iowa State |
Big 12 |
3-3 |
2019: Waxed No. 20 Ole Miss on the road, hitting 13 straight field goals at one point. |
| Kansas State |
Big 12 |
3-3 |
2018: Held Georgia to 51 points on the road. |
| Kentucky |
SEC |
3-3 |
2018: Stormed back from 17 down to beat No. 7 WVU on the road behind 34 points from Kevin Knox. |
| Texas |
Big 12 |
3-3 |
2016: Longhorns withstood a big game from Vandy 7-foot center Damian Jones. |
| Georgia |
SEC |
2-2 |
2019: Bulldogs beat Texas for second straight year, came two points shy of reaching 100. |
| Missouri |
SEC |
1-1 |
2013: Beat West Virginia at home in one of just two appearances in event. |
| Arkansas |
SEC |
2-3 |
2018: Daniel Gafford's tip-in with 16.2 seconds left gave Hogs 66-65 win over Oklahoma State. |
| Texas A&M |
SEC |
2-3 |
2016: Beat No. 14 Iowa State at home en route to sharing SEC regular-season title. |
| Vanderbilt |
SEC |
2-4 |
2018: Commodores, losers of five of six and on way to sub.-500 mark, rallied to beat NCAA-bound TCU. |
| LSU |
SEC |
1-2 |
2014: Josh Gray's layup with 7.6 seconds left shocked WVU at Morgantown. |
| Auburn |
SEC |
1-3 |
2017: Tigers got 25 from center Austin Wiley in win at TCU. |
| South Carolina |
SEC |
1-3 |
2015: Sindarius Thornwell and Gamecocks demolished Oklahoma State by 26 at Columbia. |
| West Virginia |
Big 12 |
1-5 |
2017: Lone win came at home against A&M. |
| Mississippi State |
SEC |
0-1 |
2013: Just being invited to participate, evidently. |
| Ole Miss |
SEC |
0-6 |
None. |
UF ALUM UPDATE
CATCHING UP WITH ... COREY BREWER
On Jan. 15, a Tuesday, the Philadelphia 76ers signed
Corey Brewer to a 10-day contract, the first such contract for the 11-year veteran and iconic Gator. The 6-9 forward made his Philly debut the very day he signed, logging eight oh-by-way mop-up minutes in a 42-point blowout of Minnesota. He was a DNP two nights later in a win at Indiana, and again the next game in a two-point loss to Oklahoma City. What (or who) were the Sixers saving Brewer up for?
The Houston Rockets, that's who. Specifically, for
James Harden.
By now, you've probably seen the above theatrics that played out that night between two ferocious competitors who were once teammates for nearly three seasons in Houston. In the run-up to the game, Brewer predicted there would be trash talk, but this was truly unique stuff. Brewer basically commissioned himself to be the reigning NBA Most Valuable Player's personal 33-minute haunt. And while Harden, well on his way to defending last season's scoring title, finished with 37 points, "The Beard" had to work for them all when Brewer was on the floor. The Sixers ended up with a lopsided 121-93 win.
Brewer scored 11 points, hit five of his 10 shots, grabbed three rebounds, had a pair of steals and blocks, and was basically the talk of the league for the next 24 hours. Worth noting: Two nights later, Harden went for 61 at Madison Square Garden.
Philly is 4-2 since Brewer joined the squad, a mark that includes Saturday night's loss at Denver, where Brewer went for 20 points, six rebounds and two assists iin 32 minutes. The Sixers and Rockets play against March 8 at Houston. That should be fun.
We'll be watching, Corey. Good luck!
PERSPECTIVE POLICE BEAT
(i.e. "Twitter Patter")
Coaches are held accountable. Players are held accountable. Even senior writers are held accountable. This space is dedicated to holding the fans (and fan boys) on Twitter accountable. At times, we'll also recognize those who "get it" and acknowledge those who offer entertaining social media fodder, or (God forbid) the proper perspective.
[Note: If you're completely unreasonable and wonder why you don't show up here, it's probably because you've been muted or blocked, and thus in "Perspective Prison." I'm the cop, judge, jury and warden of that legal system, by the way.]
True that.
Smart, clear-headed suggestion, Chris. And I admire those who put names to their tweeter accounts versus cowards who don't.
Big 12 crew.
I think it did, as well.
OK, so how would you "counter-attack" great length without any true post-up offensive options when outside shots aren't falling? I mean, differently than how the Gators did in the second half in coming back from 16 down to tie the game, that is?
I do, actually, and the track record backs me up: 80-45 in four seasons (.640), 2017 SEC Coach of the Year, 4-2 record in two NCAA tournaments, with a top-five signing class on the way. This has been a challenging season for a number of reasons, given the imbalanced roster, injuries, youth, etc. White has publicly taken ownership of the struggles any number of times. He's handcuffed relative to options, right now.
No, because he doesn't act out like a petulant 10-year-old on my Twitter timeline ... like you.
Yeah. Sometimes win by it, too. #a&m
What about the Aggies' scoring droughts and UF's second-half defense? Or did you even notice?
Or praise him, apparently, even in victory. Didn't hear from this petty/gutless one afterward, of course.
Speaking on behalf of the coach after the A&M comeback, you're welcome.
You just can't get smart, insightful, in-depth analysis like this anywhere.
FREE THROWS
Dwayne Schintzius
White's third technical in four seasons as the UF coach came at the 7:05 mark of the second half, as he protested a foul called on Hayes during a sequence when a TCU the TCU player Hayes was defending appeared was frozen with the ball in the lane for well after the allowed three seconds. White protested the call and whenever he heard back incited him to go back a little stronger at the Big 12 crew. Asked to explain afterward, White took the high road. "Just frustration," he said. ... Allen's 44 points last week put him at 1,541 all-time. He's now 30 away from program's top 10. ...
Kevarrius Hayes blocked five shots at TCU, giving him 187 for his career, which is now third in UF history and just two behind
Al Horford (2004-07). Considering Hayes is averaging 2.1 blocks per game, he figures to take that No. 2 spot this week. He won't catch 7-2
Dwayne Schintzius (1986-90), who is atop the list with 272. ... Locke wasn't on target in Fort Worth, but his two 3s makes from long distance gave him 52 on the season, which tied him with
Michael Frazier II (2012-13) for the eighth-most by a UF freshman. Locke figures to be near the top of the list come March.
