Foul Play: Fine-Tuning on Defense Starts With Wildcats

Saturday, January 9

Gainesville, FL

5 PM

Florida Gators

Kentucky

Mike White, a pretty good defender in his day as a guard at Ole Miss, is looking for more attention to deal -- and way less fouling -- from the Gators.

Foul Play: Fine-Tuning on Defense Starts With Wildcats

Saturday, January 9, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Scottie Lewis, Florida's best defender and second-leading scorer, was whistled for two fouls within 20 seconds during the first half of Tuesday night's game at Alabama. The second was an offensive foul at the 12:56 mark, with the Gators leading by one. Lewis went to the bench for the rest of the half. UF trailed by seven at the break.

The Gators, with Lewis back on the floor, scored the first seven points after intermission to quickly tie the game, then trailed by just two when Lewis was hit with his third foul at the 17:28 mark. Mike White motioned to his bench to sub out his 6-foot-5, quick-twitch sophomore, but Lewis quickly got his coach's attention.

"I'm fine! I'm good! Keep me in!

White was skeptical, but opted to go the trust route, He kept Lewis in the game.

Foul No. 4, of course, came just 77 seconds later when Lewis hacked John Petty Jr. on a driving, converted layup. Petty converted the three-play that started a Crimson Tide's run of 15 of the game's next 17 points on the way to an 86-71 victory and on a night when sole possession of first place in the Southeastern Conference was at stake.

When Lewis checked back in the game, the Gators were down by 18.

"That one's on me," White said Friday in recalling the story.

That's all fine and good. Yes, coaches are supposed to take responsibility, but Lewis had a different take on the developments of that night when he talked about them after Thursday's practice. A very different take, especially on the blame-game front.

"I put that loss completely in my hands. That's my loss," Lewis said. "It was extremely frustrating. I've never been a guy to reach, but we've been playing so freely and playing so much faster tempo that I've been trying to speed my guy up and force them into making bad plays. I have to do a better job of sticking to what I'm supposed to do and make my guy take a tough mid-range shot. That's our defense. No rhythm 3s, no layups or dunks, show hands and force tough shots. I have to lock back in."

All the Gators (5-2, 2-1) have to, and just in time for a visit from Kentucky (3-6, 2-0), which has shaken off an historically poor start to the 2020-21 season by winning its first two SEC games and will ride an air of confidence into Saturday's showdown Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.

They'll be even more confident if UF's penchant for hacking continues.

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]

"Fouling, for us, has been our biggest defensive deficiency by far this year," White said. "We can't talk about any more than we're talking about it and we can't call it any closer than we do at practice."

Added sophomore point guard Tre Mann: "It's the thing the coaches have stressed the most with us on defense. We better get it right now, then be dealing with it down the road."

UF needs sophomore Scottie Lewis (23), the team's best defender, on the floor and not on the bench in foul trouble, as he was the most crucial parts of Tuesday night's loss at Alabama.

Eventually, the Gators, to a man, are just going to have to stop fouling as much. Easier said than done. Habits are difficult to break, especially on the fly.

UF is averaging 22.4 fouls committed per game, by far the highest number in the SEC. Missouri is next closest at 20.7, but no other team is above 18.6. Florida's fouling has helped opponents shoot an average of 24.0 free throws per game, also the most in the SEC (with only two other teams allowing over 20 per game).

Under Coach John Calipari, the Wildcats have always relied on playmakers, be it guys that take the ball to the rim attack with a drive-and-kick (or drive-and-lob) purpose, not to mention using their size to crash the boards. This year's team hasn't been great at any of those things — yet — but the talent level is there and the Wildcats appear to be figuring some things out.

That's what UF needs to do (figure some things out) with a defense that currently rates No. 61 nationally in efficiency. That's not awful, by any stretch, but White's goal going into every season is the top 25. What the Gators put on tape against the Tide, especially with regard to straight-line drives and so-called "blow-bys," was far from top-25 caliber.

Or as assistant coach Jordan Mincy put it, "We could've put five cones out there and been better."

The fix to the problem begins (and ends) with fundamentals. There are no secrets when it comes to playing solid defense in college basketball. Get in a stance. Show your hands. Move your feet. Don't reach. Violate any of those rules and the whistle is going to blow.

"It's discipline," said UF assistant coach Darris Nichols, who was an excellent defender in his days playing for John Beilein and Bob Huggins at West Virginia. "Don't give [offensive players] angles. Too many times, we're closing out on people and giving them angles and trying to make up for getting beat by fouling."

With regard to Lewis, Nichols said his angles against both Petty and Herb Jones earlier in the week were bad — and costly. In trying to make up for the bad angles, Lewis was lunging, reaching and gambling.

Lewis agrees. And it troubles him.

"Because I've taken on a new role offensively, I've allowed that to compromise my ability defensively," said Lewis, who was averaging 14.0 points (up from 8.6 his freshman season) and a team-high 32.4 minutes before scoring just two points in his foul-plagued outing against the Tide. "I have to get back to what I was doing my freshman year. Really lock in, recreate my technique in making guys bounce it, making non-shooters shoot and making shooters take tough ones. For the rest of the season, I'm going to show I can anchor our defense."

With a trickle-down effect being the goal.

"We're playing really hard, but we're playing differently, so there's a learning curve there," White said of his team's commitment to playing with a tempo that now rates as the 79th fastest in the country after running 339th last season and 346th in '18-19. "This team has not been extended [on defense], this program has not extended, for two or three few years. I think some of it is wind, honestly. I don't think we're in as a good a shape right now as we're going to be in a couple of weeks. With that comes poor decisions. Some of it is discipline, too. Are we undisciplined? No, I wouldn't say that. But we're not as disciplined as we need to be to compete for a championship right now. Hopefully we can get there."