Grad-transfer forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. (24) contemplated joining his former Virginia Tech coach, Buzz Williams, at Texas A&M, but now he'll face him, instead.
Gators Seek Road Redo at A&M
Wednesday, February 12, 2020 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Last offseason, Virginia Tech forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. was the most sought-after graduate transfer in college basketball. Before deciding to sign with Florida, Blackshear also considered — and visited — Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas A&M,, three teams the Gators will face on the road over the next couple weeks.
First stop: Wednesday night at A&M.
When the Gators (14-9, 6-4) take the court against the Aggies (11-11, 5-5), Blackshear knows he'll hear it from the crowd at Reed Arena, especially with his former Tech coach, Buzz Williams, now on the A&M sidelines. The jeers will be more pronounced at Rupp Arena and Thompson-Boling, to be sure.
Blackshear grinned at the thought.
"That doesn't bother me at all. It's all fun," he said. "They're all great schools, which I is why I considered going there. Ultimately, I chose this group for the people we have in this locker room. I feel confident going into these environments with this group."
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
The Gators didn't look very confident their last time out. UF, having won two straight, went to Ole Miss and got rolled, 68-51, by a Rebels team that came into the game with just two Southeastern Conference wins. Florida, despite a bevy of clean looks at the basket, shot just 33.3 percent as a team, including 5-for-23 from the 3-point line (21.7 percent). Those numbers, though, weren't the most troubling takeaway for Coach Mike White and his staff.
Yet again, they were dismayed by anecdotal moments of immaturity when adversity struck. The kind of adversity that happens all the time on the road.
"The body language. The lack of positivity. The abundance of woe-is-me," White said Tuesday. "Shrugging of shoulders. 'I was open, you didn't throw me the ball.' 'The world is ending because he just hit a shot on me.' Just the way we ride that emotional roller coaster, the immaturity we display at times, is not the right recipe. It's not. And it's why this team can play really, really well in spurts and can fall apart in spurts."
UF coach Mike White continues to see his players struggle when face adversity.
The game before, of course, the Gators erased a 22-point deficit at home against Georgia to equal the biggest comeback in program history. In that one, on its home floor, the team played desperate, like it did in rallying from 21 down against Alabama to pull out a dramatic double-overtime win a month earlier at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
That desperation or sense of urgency didn't travel to Mississippi.
"When they went on a run, we didn't respond very well," Blackshear said.
There's only so much more time to talk about it (or solve it), but the Gators better have packed their desperation for the the flight to Texas or more of the same awaits. The Aggies aren't a great team. They have serious offensive issues. But they play really hard and know how to defend.
UF will have some scoring droughts (the Gators always do). What they can't have is the head-hanging during droughts like last time; and so many times before this season.
"We have to get past that and learn from it," sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson said.
That is a true statement (especially in mid-February), but unless the Gators truly act on it, it's merely a platitude.
White did not speak in platitudes Monday when assessing his team's on-going maturity issues. The subject certainly has come up before, but not as candidly. Or, frankly, as bluntly.
"We've got a certain level of leadership at times I think is really productive, and then we have times that we're … we've got some guys on the court that struggle to communicate with one another because of sensitivities. 'Because I don't like the way that he talked to me,' and that's just putting it out there," White said. "We've been struggling. We've been dealing with this the most — more so than offense and defense — the past six weeks. And we have our bright spots, when we have a practice or we have a half where we are pretty connected. You got to be connected in basketball, especially the guys on the court."
Blackshear will be one of those guys and he'll be out there with the teammates he chose to go to war with. If the Gators are going to find their way, Blackshear will be among the ones leading them.
"We talk about it all the time. You have to approach each day like it's your last, essentially," Blackshear said. "Trying to get better, first and foremost, and not necessarily focusing on the opponent so much. We feel that if we get to our ceiling, it won't matter who we're playing necessarily. We just have to get to that end goal, and to do that you have to take it one day at a time."
