GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Barely 40 seconds into Sunday's 2020-21 home opener, Stetson guard Chase Johnston found himself open on the perimeter and let fly a 3-pointer that splashed the net and gave the visiting Hatters their first basket of the game.
On the Florida sideline, Coach
Mike White immediately went to his bench and pulled junior guard
Noah Locke, probably the most accountable player on the roster, for being late on a defensive rotation. Locke was subbed out of the game at the next dead ball.
About two hours later, after UF had smashed Stetson 86-40 before a mostly empty, COVID-restricted crowd at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, that early sequence came up in the post-game Zoom session.
"We're more experienced, we're deeper and Noah knows better. Noah is bought in. He's embraced to play at a higher standard, and if he's going to lead he has to lead to his standard," White said. "He needs to be the best version of himself so he can lead."
To be fair, Locke's exit was not the only quick hook in the game's first few minutes. There were several other mistakes and thus several other early substitutions. If nothing else, it demonstrated just how committed the Gators (3-0) are to getting things right this season, especially on the defensive end, as the program tries to morph into a higher-tempo, higher-pressure style of play.
"I wasn't being aggressive and I wasn't down in a stance," Locke said. "They're definitely on us about that and being able to guard."
Locke was back on the floor soon enough, and joined forces with his teammates in what became a thoroughly dominant defensive effort, albeit against a grossly outmatched opponent.
Stetson shot just 19.5 percent for the game and found next to nothing easy against Omar Payne (5), Anthony Duruji (4) and the Florida defense.
Junior forward
Keyontae Johnson led all scorers with 19 points. Locke added 15 on five 3-pointers. Sophomore guard
Scottie Lewis posted 10 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, with classmate point guard
Tre Mann hitting his third straight double-figure game with 10 points. The UF points, though, weren't as eye-popping as the lack of points — lack of made baskets, actually — by the Hatters (0-3), who shot a dismal 19.5 percent for the afternoon, including a 3-for-25 first half (that's 12 percent) that had the home team up 18 at intermission.
After Johnston's made 3 at the 19:14 mark, Stetson's next field goal came at the 12:42 mark, its last of the half at 5:04, and first of the second half (just its fourth of the game) at 15:22. At one stretch of the first, the Hatters missed 18 of 19 shots tries and faced that fat deficit at the break despite the Gators hitting just 37.5 percent, including misses on 10 of their last 11 shots.
Things changed after that.
UF scored the first 11 points of the second half to go up by 30. A few minutes later, Locke went on a tear of three straight buckets, all 3s, on his way to finishing five of six from distance and recalibrating his sights after making just seven of 20 shots in the team's two games to open the season last week in "Bubbleville."
"Noah is super, super confident," Lewis said. "You never have to tell him to keep shooting the ball."
Junior guard Noah Locke jacks an open 3 in transition, one of his five long-ball makes on six attempts on his way to 15 points Sunday.
Speaking of confidence, Lewis had some awfully impressive swag, as well, in a strikingly efficient and complete a performance. His plus-minus number checked in at plus-43, even though he only took five shots. He was everywhere and doing a lot of everything.
"He made some great decisions and really affected the game," said White, who pointed to Lewis's single turnover against those half-dozen assists. "If you're plus-43 and take five shots you're playing hard, you're bringing energy and it spreads. He's continued to improve, of course, but I like the unselfishness in him more than anything. He made some really good passes in transition."
Florida shot 45.2 percent for the game, but 53.3 in the second half. The Gators also converted 23 Stetson turnovers into 24 points, as the Hatters' final shooting percentage showed 19.6 percent and scored the third-fewest points by a team during White's six seasons.
"We have a history here of playing great defense," Lewis said. "We slacked off last year."
They're determined that won't be the case this year.
