Wednesday, February 5, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The question put Tuesday to Florida coach Mike White came attached with an answer. The subject was Anthony Edwards, Georgia's 6-foot-5, 225-pound freshman prodigy and very likely No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft.
How do does a team go about defending the chiseled guard/forward and his perpetual green light?
Then this: Or do you just let him get his?
"No, but he's going to take his," White corrected. "He's fantastic. What a talent. One of the best talents that I've ever witnessed in this league at his age. He's tremendous." Expect UF freshmanScottie Lewis (23) to take personal his defensive matchup against Anthony Edwards.
Stopping Edwards is unlikely. That's because he's going to keep coming and coming, shooting and shooting, rebounding and rebounding.
In UGA's last game, Edwards took 21 shots on his way to 29 points. He wasn't just playing one end, either, as his 15 rebounds in the Bulldogs' one-sided win Saturday over Texas A&M suggests. The game before that, a loss at Missouri, Edwards let fly 24 shots (to go with his 12 rebounds) and scored 23. Five times this season, Edwards has jacked at least 20 shots, including a season-high 26 on his way to a career-high 37 points in a loss to Michigan State, a program that knows a little something about defense. The day after that loss to the Spartans, Edwards dropped in a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a win over Chaminade in its Hawaiian holiday tournament.
When the Bulldogs (12-9, 2-6) line up against the Gators (13-8, 5-3) Wednesday night at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, they'll do so with Edwards ranking second in the Southeastern Conference at 19.3 points per game on a so-so 40.8 percent from the floor and 31.0 from the 3-point line. His 16.1 shot attempts per game tops the league. His 7.5 trey attempts rank second.
Get ready.
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
"Guys are riled up for it," sophomore shooting guard Noah Locke said of the challenge (which individually will likely fall to freshman Scottie Lewis or sophomore Keyontae Johnson, but ultimately will be a collective effort) of checking Edwards. "We're ready to just, you know, guard him, the best we can."
They should be. A lot of great players have come through the O'Dome in its nearly 40 years, but if Edwards is, indeed, destined to be the first No. 1 overall NBA selection he'll be just the ninth — and the first in four years — to play in UF's home building (see chart below).
Here's a preview of the coming attraction, courtesy of the Florida coach.
"He's good at driving it either way. He's probably as good as there is in the country I would think at attacking with his weak hand … [and] he doesn't have a weak hand. He's really good going left, scoring it left, drawing fouls going left, finishing with his left hand," White said. "With him, you can't really sit on either hand. You can't give him an angle because he's so big and strong. He understands how to draw fouls. … He's in space a lot. He's good on the offensive glass. They get him shots, but he also can create his own shot off the dribble. And he's just got an ability to separate just a little bit and with his length and explosive ability off the floor that he can make a contested 22-footer look like a HORSE shot for other guys."
Florida has had its share of problems on the defensive end— miscommunication, rotations, poor 3-point close-outs, lackadaisical transition — the last few weeks. Anything similar that allows Edwards to get his powerful game going could very well assist his path to the top of the draft.
It's happened here before.
CHARTING THE GATORS
UF forward Devin Robinson (3), then a sophomore, squares up against LSU point/forward Ben Simmons (25) at the O'Connell Center in 2016.
Georgia's Anthony Edwards was the consensus No. 1 prospect in college basketball's 2019 signing class and come next June is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft. If so, he'll be just the ninth eventual top NBA selection to play at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center since its doors opened on Dec. 30, 1980. Here's how the previous eight fared.
