Florida Gators

FAMILIAR FOES 

DES MOINES, Iowa — As soon as Florida swingman Jalen Hudson saw the Gators had been matched against Nevada in the NCAA Tournament, the fifth-year senior reached for his phone and texted a couple of old friends. 

Caleb and Cody Martin. 
 

"I sent them the 'eyes' emoji, and they both responded immediately," Hudson said. 

The Gators (19-15), seeded 10th in the NCAA West Region, will face No. 7-seed Nevada (29-4) in Thursday's opening round at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa. The Martin brothers just so happen to be the 6-foot-7, 200-pound twin backcourt duo that helps make the Wolf Pack average 80.7 points per game (12 more than the Gators) and shoot close to 47 percent from the floor (nearly 5 percent more). 

Though the Martins were from Mocksville, N.C., they attended the hoops boutique of Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy and played AAU for a powerhouse out of Richmond, Va., by the name of "Team Loaded." Hudson, from Richmond, was on that team as well and alongside the Martins they dominated their age-group club circuit from the ages of 14 through 17, with their families becoming extremely close along the way. 

Hudson originally signed with Virginia Tech, while the Martins both went to North Carolina State. They played each other several times over two seasons in Atlantic Coast Conference action before Hudson left the Hokies after two years and the Martins bolted that Wolfpack at the same time for the out-west Wolf Pack (different spelling). 

All three have carved out identities with their current teams and will figure prominently in Thursday's outcome. Hudson, after struggling on offense for two-thirds of the season, is playing his best basketball of the season, having bumped his average to 14.0 points per game over the previous 12 games. The Martins, meanwhile, both average in double figures, with Caleb, the shooting guard, scoring at a team-high 19.2 clip to go with 5.1 rebounds, and Cody, the point guard, at 11.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Nevada likes to play fast. 

"Once [Caleb] gets hot, it's super hard to kind of slow him down," Hudson said, comparing that Martin brother to Auburn's sharp-shooting first-team All-Southeastern Conference guard Bryce Brown. "And they're both 6-foot-7, super long. Cody's more like a point guard, more of a passer. When we were younger, he actually played the '4,' so if he feels like he has a smaller guy on him he may try and actually post up because he did that when we were younger. They're both super versatile. Cody doesn't shoot the 3 as well as Caleb, but they're very good players. Very, very good players. I think they'll play at the next level for sure."
 
If Hudson has his way, his buddies will be chasing their dream earlier than he will. 

As for that emoji that found its way to the Martins phones. 

"I told him, 'It's crazy is going to end up like this,' " Caleb Martin said to reporters in Reno. "We'll be ready for it." 


HELLO, HAWKEYES! 

The Florida team practiced in Gainesville Tuesday, then hopped its charter flight and landed in Des Moines at approximately 5:15 p.m. (CT) Tuesday and bused to the team hotel, where they were greeted by a local high school drum line squad as they went into a banquet room for a meal. 
 

The players, coaches and support staff went to dinner Tuesday night and returned to the hotel for a meeting and film session. On Wednesday, there will be an early afternoon practice, probably about 90 minutes, at nearby Drake University, then the Gators will be ferried to Wells Fargo Arena for their media obligations, which include a press conference, beginning at 4:15 p.m. Afterward, there will be a light practice and shoot-around in the arena that is open to the public from 4:55 to 5:35 p.m., as tournament officials look to keep all eight teams on site in time slots that will mimic when they play the next day. 

As for the surrounds, well, it's different than the Sunshine State. Obviously. 

"I've never been to Iowa," said freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard, who hails from Canada. 

No Gator has ever been to Iowa for an NCAA Tournament game, but it will become the 18th state to host UF during "March Madness." As for the rundown of where Florida has gone dancing, the Gators have been dispatched six times (to five different cities) in their home state, four times to New York and Texas, three times to North Carolina, twice each to Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana and Tennessee, and single stops to Utah, Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Georgia, Oklahoma, Nebraska and now the Hawkeye State. 


KEEPING CHIN UP WAS KEY FOR KEY 

Freshman forward Keyontae Johnson was extraordinary at the SEC Tournament, as he led the team in both scoring with 13.7 points per game and rebounding at 10.0 per. He also shot nearly 57 percent from the floor and 46 percent from the free-throw line. 

Oh ... and 10 percent from the free-throw line. 

Yes, Johnson's tournament numbers from the line were an astounding 1-for-10, with all his attempts coming in the first two games — both UF wins — when Johnson was 1-for-5 against Arkansas and 0-for-5 against LSU. What was impressive, though, was the manner how Johnson shook off the frustration and still had the confidence to play hard and on an even-keel despite his woes at the stripe. Eventually, Johnson made the penultimate play of the game when he drove the ball late and, in traffic, had the presence of mind to make the pass-out that ultimately decided the game; the one to classmate Andrew Nembhard, who buried the game-winning 3-point with one second left. 

Credit Johnson, whose maturation the second half of the season has been something to watch, for looking ahead, rather than behind; for moving on to the next play, rather than dwelling on previous ones. 

"The coaches kept preaching to me, 'Don't feel down on yourself' when I'm missing shots and stuff," said Johnson, who came into tournament shooting 71.4 percent from the line for the season. "I was trying to, like, not let that get in my way of playing the game, [but] just keep playing each possession one by one."

Eventually, it led to this. 
 

Keyontae Johnson with the dunk of the year! #ESPNTop10 @espn @GatorsMBK @FloridaGators pic.twitter.com/6lbVmoi07z

— Joel Coker (@JCFLGator) March 16, 2019

LSU led by 10 when Johnson grabbed a lob pass from Nembhard and, though off-balance in the air, thundered it home for a ridiculous alley-oop slam that drew gasps from the Nashville, Tenn., crowd and threw a jolt into the team that started a comeback that ultimately got the Gators to this place surrounded by cornfields. 

"When that dunked happened, it boosted me up a little," Johnson said. 

Don't bother wondering or asking. Yes, Johnson spent a nice chunk of time practicing his free throws the last couple days. And will again Wednesday. And Thursday.


AARP NEVADA ROSTER 

It's a truly amazing statistic, especially in this day and age of college basketball, but the Wolf Pack start five fifth-year seniors, all of whom transferred to Reno from elsewhere. 
 

Oh, and they have a sixth fifth-year guy off the bench, also.

"They have to be the oldest team in college basketball," Florida coach Mike White said. 

Teams weren't this old -- as in six players who are 23 years old -- back in the days of short shorts. 

Besides the Martin brothers, second-leading scorer and top rebounder Jordan Caroline, who goes 6-7, 230, is a career 1,700-point scorer who came after one season at Southern Illinois. Forward Tre'Shawn Thurman, 6-8 and 225 pounds, came from Nebraska-Omaha and 6-11, 230-pound forward Trey Porter is on his third school. Porter started at George Mason, transferred to Old Dominion, then grad-transferred to Nevada. Backup guard Corey Henson is a grad-transfer by way of Wagner. 

Fourth-year junior Jazz Johnson is just a plain, ol' transfer. He came from Portland. 

Now, compare that depth, especially the experience, to a UF roster that last week in the SEC Tournament had five players average at least 30 minutes, including the two freshman starters in Nembhard and Johnson. Florida's first man off the bench was freshman guard Noah Locke, who averaged just 17.3 minutes. 



THE SLATE

Here's the schedule of games that will be played this weekend in Des Moines (all times ET):

Thursday
East Region: 10th-seeded Minnesota (21-13) vs No. 7-seed Louisville (20-13), 12;15 p.m. No. 2-seed Michigan State (28-6) vs 15th-seeded Bradley (20-14), 2:45 p.m.
West Region: Florida (19-15) vs Nevada (29-4), 6:50 p.m.; No. 2 Michigan (28-6) vs 15-seed Montana (26-8).

Saturday 
TBD