Florida got trounced earlier this month at Butler, but not because of forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. (24), who had 17 points, five rebounds and stayed out of foul trouble enough to play 33 minutes.
UF Needs More PT From 'KJ'
Friday, December 20, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
SUNRISE, Fla. — Kerry Blackshear Jr. was the last player to board the bus that took the Florida basketball team Friday afternoon from the practice facility in Gainesville to its hotel in Fort Lauderdale. There was no chance the Gators were leaving without him.
They would, however, love to play more with him.
Rewind to Tuesday night in Brooklyn, N.Y., where UF was trouncing Providence in the second half by 18. Blackshear had been limited to less than nine minutes in the first half after picking up his second foul. It was barely three minutes into the second half when Blackshear was called for his third, which sent him to the bench with a thorough look of exasperation on his face.
"I was frustrated with myself," he said. "I need to be there for my team at all times."
UF, obviously, is better when its best player is on the court. Blackshear has had trouble doing so in this young season, with his minutes average of 26.9 down by three over his 2018-19 season at Virginia Tech, where he averaged 3.2 fouls per game and fouled out five times in 35 games. Through 10 games with the Gators, Blackshear is at 3.3 fouls an outing, but has five games where he's had at least four fouls, two disqualifications (in the 3-point loss at Connecticut and down-to-the-wire home win against Marshall), plus an ejection for a flagrant foul (against Saint Joseph's in the Charleston Classic in a game he was limited to only five minutes).
As it turned out, Blackshear's 17 minutes, seven points and three rebounds were more than enough to pitch into Tuesday's 32-point demolishing of the Friars. The Gators (7-3), though, likely won't survive such limitations from their big man when they line up against Utah State (11-2), one of the tallest teams in the country, in Saturday's Orange Bowl Classic at BB&T Center.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's in-depth "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
Say hello to 7-foot, 245-pound Neemias Queta, the 2018 Mountain West Freshman and Defensive Player of the Year, as well as potential first-round NBA draft pick next June. Get a load of 7-2, 220-pound reserve Kuba Karwowski. There goes 7-foot, 240-pound Trevin Dorius, an 11-minute-per-game reserve the Aggies trot out just for depth. Finally, though he's only 6-7 and 210 pounds, forward Justin Bean ranks fifth in the nation in rebounding at 11.6 per game and plays on the glass like his hair's on fire. KenPom.com ranks USU 24th nationally in height (UF is 103rd).
Note: Shooting guard Sam Merrill only goes 6-5, but the reigning MWC Player of the Year might be the best all-around offensive player UF has faced to date.
Kerry Blackshear Jr.played less than 17 minutes in Tuesday night's rout of Providence, but got free for a baseline dunk in the second half before heading to the bench in foul trouble.
The Aggies already have beaten LSU, so they'll have their sights set on another Southeastern Conference trophy head to put on their mantle back in Logan. Blackshear doesn't want to make the task any easier by ticky-tack fouling his way to the bench.
"KJ's got to stay out of foul trouble at a higher level for us," UF coach Mike White said of his top post threat who's averaging 12.7 points, 7.9 rebounds and has hit nearly 80 percent of his team-high 54 free throws. "He's got to manage his emotions as well as anyone on the team. He's got to improve in that area, because everything he does is an example for our younger guys."
A lot of the calls that have gone against Blackshear have been positioning and block-out fouls, as opposed to straight-on hacks in the act. It's also been obvious at times that Blackshear has felt he's not gotten the reciprocating calls when the Gators are on offense. High hands, less reaching and more fundamentally sound box-outs will be among his marching orders against Utah State's mammoth front court.
Said the guy who goes by KJ: "I just need to have better awareness on defense."
"In that heat of the moment, he's really competitive and I think he puts a lot of pressure on himself," White said. "As mature as he is 99 percent of the time, it's got to be 100 percent for us, for this team especially, with his supporting cast being as young and impressionable as these freshmen are. Whatever he says and does, these young guys watch."
Against Providence, watching was mostly what Blackshear could do and he saw his young teammates take apart the Friars in arguably their best all-around performance of the season. Florida shot 51 percent from the floor, made eight of 10 shots from the 3-point line and did its part defensively in helping force PC to miss 17 of 18 from long distance. Woven into those numbers were some really good minutes from backup freshman guards Tre Mann and Ques Glover, who combined for 23 points on 8-for-17 shooting, plus 3-for-7 from deep.
UF coaches and players agreed the product was a reflection of the practices leading up to the game.
"Guys were locked in and we were competing a lot better than what we were before," sophomore shooting guard Noah Locke said. "Guys weren't complaining, but just wanted to get better."
Now comes the next chance.
Blackshear came from the Atlantic Coast Conference, so he's no stranger to really big teams (like Florida State and Syracuse, for example). It's up to him to make sure he sees this Utah State team up close, as in banging bodies, as opposed to watching from the sidelines.
"They're a really good team and I'm looking forward to the challenge," Blackshear said. "If I can stay on the floor, I can help my team out a lot."
