NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Barely 24 hours after the numbing collapse against sixth-ranked Kentucky, the Florida basketball team had finished its post-mortem film session Sunday afternoon and wrapped up weightlifting groups. Out on the practice court, though, a couple youngsters stayed behind for some extra work, the likes of which was sorely needed.
Associate head coach
Al Pinkins, who oversees the team's post players, was drilling freshmen
Omar Payne and
Jason Jitoboh, both individually and against one another. At times, it got a little heated. That was a good thing. Maybe a one-day-too-late thing.
"I thought about it a bunch after the game, and thought about it a bunch after watching the film," Payne said of his battlefield promotion Saturday that elevated him from seldom-used reserve and pitted him against one of the best big men in the country. "If I had boxed him out, just done my job, my teammates would've gotten some more rebounds."
The "him" referenced by Payne was 6-foot-11, 240-pound forward Nick Richards, who absolutely dominated the low post in the second half in leading the Wildcats back from 18 down to a 71-70 road victory and punch to the gut of the Gators. Payne, the 6-10 freshman, along with 6-11, 300-pound classmate and center
Jason Jitoboh, plus 6-9 fourth-year junior forward
Dontay Bassett, were needed for extended minutes against UK after grad-transfer starting forward
Kerry Blackshear Jr., the club's top rebounder, suffered a sprained left wrist and could not continue.
Minus Blackshear and his 134 games of collegiate experience and savvy, Richards beasted on the block. After going 1-for-8 from the floor in the first half, he was 7-for-10 in the second, scoring 17 of his 19 points to go with seven rebounds. His dominance, though, was only half the story (and problem) for the Gators, who fell prey to a lack of fundamental basketball plays; specifically an inability and/or unwillingness to box out on the defensive glass. Not just the bigs, either. Everybody.
Dontay Bassett (21), who is second on the team in charges taken despite playing in just 17 games, had some nice moments in the postseason last year.
Freshman wing
Scottie Lewis scored a career 19 points, but beat himself up in the aftermath for failing to rebound down from the perimeter, as Kentucky feasted on 21 second-chance points, courtesy of 14 offensive rebounds.
"Our bigs were down there fighting against Nick Richards and [6-9 forward] EJ Montgomery and [6-8 forward] Nate Sestina, and their guards were crashing down, as well," Lewis said. "We needed to help those guys get rebounds so [Kentucky] didn't get as many offensive putbacks as they did. It was a game-changer."
Now Florida's players need to collectively decide if what played out Saturday will become a season-changer.
Or a season-ender.
Though X-rays and MRI results came back negative, Blackshear has not practiced this week and his availability for the SEC Tournament is questionable. The Gators (19-12, 11-7), the tourney's No. 5 seed, won't know until Wednesday night if they'll face 11th-seeded Ole Miss (15-16) or 12th-seeded Georgia (15-16) in Thursday afternoon's second-round action at Bridgestone Arena. They won't know until game time if Blackshear can go. They do know, however, they better be more fundamentally sound on the defensive end when the ball goes up.
Be it Payne or Jitoboh or Bassett, they'll need to do their part.
"That's what we have. It's going to be one of those three guys, two of those three guys, maybe all three of those guys getting opportunities," UF coach
Mike White said Tuesday. "I don't know that 'KJ' plays, [but] we can't sit here and whine about it. We didn't respond really well, especially defensively. I say that, and we had the drought offensively as well. But the defensive rebounding, to me, was the biggest key down the stretch. We'll have to be a lot more sharp this week if he's not able to go. Those freshmen, one of those two guys or both, have to step up. Dontay will get an opportunity. We'll see."
Freshman center Jason Jitoboh worked hard to put himself in position to contribute in what was expected to be a developmental season.
It's been two months since Payne had what looked and felt like a breakout game in UF's 22-point blowout of then fourth-ranked Auburn back on Jan. 18. That day, Payne went 9-for-9 from the floor, scored 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, both career highs, over 32 minutes. HIs performance began a run of five straight games when Payne logged at least 24 minutes, but his productivity began going south, along with his minutes, and, in the view of the UF coaches, his motor. Blackshear's backup reps began going to Jitoboh, with decent results. Payne, in fact, played consecutive games of seven, three, three and zero minutes, respectively, before being called on for 20 against UK.
Along the way, all Payne could do was watch and wonder what went wrong.
"I don't think [the Auburn game] blew up my head, if that's what you mean, but I think maybe I stopped doing some of my routine; maybe the work ethic part of it. I don't think I was going upstairs as much to talk to the coaches and that probably messed me up — with the mental part of it — of not watching more tape and stuff," said Payne, who got a crash course in readiness Saturday and being on the details in bodying up on Richards, the All-SEC selection, for half a game. "I learned about situations. When it comes down to the end of games, the close games, the little things matter as much as the big things."
Bassett, the 6-9, 236-pounder and most experienced backup to Blackshear, missed seven mid-season games with a nagging leg bruise that set him back. Bassett has had his moments over the last couple seasons (no one on the team draws charges better) and doesn't mind mixing it up inside, but tends to get in foul trouble. Jitoboh has come a long way since reporting to UF at 330 pounds last summer and got himself into good enough shape where he can be counted in for incremental minutes. He remains a work in progress on the defensive end.
Omar Payne throws down a lob off baseline out-of-bounds play against Kentucky.
In the run-up to their first tournament game, the UF coaches will take every practice, every film session and, obviously, the opponent into consideration when determining which of the three gets tagged in the event Blackshear can't go.
"It may come down to the matchup, based on who we play," White said.
On Monday, the team's day off, Payne was back in the gym, this time on his own, working on his game. He came in early again Tuesday for extra work, as well.
Sometimes, exposure to something — or being exposed — can be an eye-opening experience. Sometimes in a good way.
"I'll just take what I learned from the last game and try not to overthink, and just go in with the attitude to play hard and do what I have to do for the team," Payne said. "That's the main thing. Do it for the team, not for you."
