Florida Gators

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Three guys. Kevarrius Hayes, a senior, plus Andrew Nembhard and Noah Locke, a pair of freshmen. That's it. Those are the players on the Florida basketball roster who Coach Mike White said Tuesday he can count on — every day — when it comes to accountability, effort, intensity and competitiveness on both ends of the floor, whether things are going well or poorly.

Three. 

Reminder: There are 14 players on the team.

"There are a couple others that are really competitive, and if they make a shot, now all of a sudden, they might start playing with some confidence and they guard at a high level — if they make a shot," White said during one of his regular media sessions. "Then there are a couple others, if the wind is blowing the right way [or] the air conditioning is blowing the right way, they might play with their juices flowing. You just don't know. And there are a couple that might get off to a good start, and then if you yank 'em for making a mistake, or so-and-so doesn't get them the ball, their intensity level is going to [drop]."

He wasn't done. 

"That's why we are who we are," White continued. "That's why we can look like, literally 10 days ago, a top-10 team, in my opinion. … And then we can look like we did the other day."

That, of course, was a reference to the South Carolina debacle Saturday night, when UF blew a 14-point second-half lead, got pushed around, outplayed, bullied and browbeat by the Gamecocks, who finished things off a crushing, buzzer-beating victory. Both teams, White said, deserved what they got. 

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's comprehensive "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
 
White's candid soliloquy Tuesday painted quite the desperate picture on the eve of a visit to Bud Walton Arena, where the Gators (8-5, 0-1) will face the Arkansas Razorbacks (10-3, 1-0) Wednesday night and try to avoid losing their first two Southeastern Conferences games for the first time in nine years. The mini-rant, stated very matter-of-factly, wasn't anything his players hadn't heard before. Frankly, they hear it practically every day in practice, film sessions, meetings, etc. Maybe going public with it was just the next button-pushing avenue for White to explore as he tries to motivate some of his most talented players — ones the Gators need to perform at a consistently high level — to bring an inspired edginess to the floor every practice, every game. 

Here's more: "You feel like you're dragging these guys a little bit. That's not a sign of a great team, when you've got to coach effort at practice. I've said it all year: When you've got freshmen leading, that's not a sign of a great team. … You've got three guys that perform at a championship level every day. … When you've got seven or eight or nine of those guys, you've got a pretty good team. We've got upperclassmen that aren't in that category and they're told every day."

Real talk.

Then came this: "It's a begging of a certain level of competitiveness and intensity. If you have to beg for it then you're not going to get it consistently. It has to come from within."

Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen is one of four upperclassmen on the team. The senior shooting guard is averaging 10.3 points per game, which is a career low. Against South Carolina he reached 10 in the first half (making four of five shots, including both 3-point attempts), then mysteriously vanished from the stat sheet after intermission (one shot attempt in 12 second-half minutes). 

White and Allen had a conversation about the player's on-court assertiveness Monday. The latest in a line. Don't be surprised if this one hits home, at least temporarily, given Allen, the Little Rock, Ark., native, will be playing not far from home in front of family and friends in his home state for the final time. He has a track record for playing well against the Hogs, including a 21-point outburst (with five 3-pointers) two seasons ago in his only appearance at Walton Arena. 

"Yeah, that's a challenge that he gave to me," Allen said of his most recent one-on-one meeting with White. "Go out there and just be more aggressive. Just kind of do more of what I'm doing now and just go out there and play hard."

It's a challenge he's heard before.

Allen is Florida's most gifted scorer, period. By season's end, he'll probably crack the program's top-10 all-time scoring list. Since he arrived on campus in the fall of 2015, Allen has had the green light to shoot the ball any time he can get one off. From wherever. That is a fact. It's a fact, also, that Allen often eschews this freedom. In the 2018-19 season alone: four shots at Florida State, three versus LaSalle, five in the Bahamas loss to Butler, six against Florida Gulf Coast. Several weeks ago, assistant coach Jordan Mincy ordered Allen to take at least 10 a game (preferably closer to 15) or else. 

But instead, it was Locke who attempted 16 shots (on his way to a team-best 17) in the loss to the Gamecocks. Ten more than Allen. 

"He's such a great scorer," Locke said of Allen. "We all want him to shoot it." 

The asking (or begging) will continue. Ultimately, the response, assuming there is one, and like the head coach, has to come from within. 

"I can't explain it. I love [KeVaughn]. Talked to him about it again," White said. "He's very talented and he got off to a really good start [last game] and he's hard to guard. We all see it. You see it, I see it, his teammates see it. When he's playing aggressive and confident, he's really good and we're much better for it. I don't know how to channel it. I don't. But I'm going to keep talking to him about it. It's not all him. It's the other guys on the floor with him. And it's me. Together we've got to find a way, whether he's making or missing shots, [to] urge him to be more confident."

Consider this the latest step in finding another player — a fourth among those 14 — who consistently can be counted on. Maybe that's asking too much from this group. If not consistently, and in Allen's case, at least for a night when he'll have a lot of friendly faces in the house pulling for him and his team really needs him. Repeat: Really, really needs him. 

And then, next time out, White can ask again.