CHARLESTON, S.C. —
Mike White and his Florida basketball team have spent the bulk of their time together the last fews days diving deep into what they're doing (more specifically, not doing) on offense. In addition to some lengthy film study, the Gators have done a lot of talking, evaluating and even some soul-searching in hopes of solving the issues that have stifled a talented team's rhythm in the halfcourt and all but put a lid on the basket.
After all, it's not like this is some elephant (or brontosaurus) in the room. Through four games, UF is shooting 38.4 percent as a team and 24.1 percent from the 3-point line. That latter number ranks 323rd in the country (out of 353), and is the biggest culprit behind the team's average of just 62.5 points per game (which is 309th nationally).
The Gators might as well talk about it internally, 'cause Lord knows it's a popular subject externally.
"We're on social media all the time," said sophomore point guard
Andrew Nembhard, who admitted he's seen the naysayers doing their naysaying. "I try not to focus on it too much … just trying to hoop and get the outcomes we're trying to get."
More opportunities await for the Gators (2-2), plenty of them, starting with Thursday afternoon's meeting against Saint Joseph's (2-2) in opening-round play of the Charleston Classic at TD Arena. The eight-team field guarantees each squad three games over four days, which may be just the antidote for a Florida team, having tumbled from No. 6 to No. 15 and now all the way out of the
Associated Press Top 25, now looking to flush everything that's happened to date.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
It started Monday with a visit from one of the athletic department's most popular mental coaches, Brett Ledbetter, followed by a review of all 40 minutes of the 62-59 loss Sunday at Connecticut, when the Gators scored just 20 first-half points and shot 5-for-20 from the 3-point line for the game, yet still had chance down the stretch in a hostile road environment.
Upon arriving Tuesday night in this picturesque South Carolina port city, White had a short but candid meeting with his players after dinner, then Wednesday afternoon practiced at the tournament site.
The Gators are moving on. At least, that's the plan.
Freshman guard Scottie Lewis has gone 3-for-12 from deep to start his young career and is part of a five-guard UF rotation that is a combined 14-for-64 from the 3-point line (21.8 percent).
"Sometimes I think we put too much pressure on ourselves; I know I do," sophomore shooting guard
Noah Locke said. "Like, 'Oh man! I missed another shot. Now, I've missed this many in a row,' and now you're just thinking about the past, the past, the past, and even about the future — instead of the present. It's a matter of knowing this is something we're going to overcome."
For sure, so much about what's going on with this team seems rooted in negative energy; perhaps succumbing to pressures that are actually manifested by external expectations.
The Gators, after all, weren't the ones who made them fashionable picks to win the Southeastern Conference or a preseason projection to reach the Final Four, despite a roster of seven new players.
"The body language, the lack of confidence, the 'Oh-no-the-sky-is-falling' look on some of these guys' faces lets me know that it definitely has affected us," White said of the hype attached to his team, something the coaches avoided discussing in house up until now. "So where do we go from here? Let's talk about. I'm changing philosophies on that. We'll see how it works."
Everyone associated with the team — from the coaches to the players to the trainers and strength coaches, to the managers and support staff — know what this team is capable of offensively because they've see it on a daily basis in practice, dating back to the middle of the summer. For whatever reason, the flow, ball movement and shots splashing through the net have not carried over through the first four games.
The Gators are convinced this is just a temporary deal.
"I think sometimes we think too much when we don't have to," said Locke, who set a record for 3-pointers as a freshman last season with 81 (at nearly 38 percent), but so far has hit just five of 22 (just 22.7 percent). "I mean, we're all here for a reason. We're all here because we're good players. We know how to play the game. We all know how to make shots. We all know we can make shots. It's not like we haven't made shots all our lives. I think we just have to reflect on the fact, me included, that we've made shots before. We've been in these situations. We've all been in shooting slumps before and overcome them. I think that's what should be going through our heads."
That mindset certainly would be more productive than crunching the numbers, which so far show UF's five guards — Locke, Nembhard, plus freshmen
Scottie Lewis, Trey Mann and
Ques Glover — at a combined 14 of 64 from the 3-point line. That's 21.8 percent.
To Locke's point, UF didn't recruit those five guys because they were 22-percent shooters. And like he said, just because the shots haven't fallen doesn't mean they've forgotten how to make them. So when they finally do fall — and the Gators are convinced they will — they're going to fall in bunches.
That's the idea, at least.
"We've been trying not to get down on ourselves," said Glover, whose minutes likely will increase in this tournament after Mann entered concussion protocol following a collision in the second half of the UConn game. "We've been trying to stay positive and keep pushing because it's early in the season, and we are going to take our lumps because we are a young team, everybody is new, and we continue to try to build our chemistry. We are keeping our energy level high right now."
