Florida Gators

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Florida Gators were a day removed from getting manhandled at Tennessee, so Monday's most likely scenario, certainly the most expected, was getting back and gym and beating each other up while attempting to correct the multitude of mistakes that reared themselves in Sunday's regular-season finale. 

But that's now what happened. Not even close. 

"We tried something a little bit different," UF coach Mike White said Wednesday. 

Nope, the Gators basically took a day off. Not in the dictionary sense, however. Players had individual instruction sessions on the floor and the entire team sat through a lengthy film-and-meet session that addressed the frustration of the week before (back-to-back losses that followed three consecutive wins) and what was ahead (as in the postseason). They fully processed the situation, but with less stress on their bodies. 

"It's definitely disappointing," junior forward Colin Castleton said. "Nobody's happy about losing. It kind of sucks we couldn't get the job done those last two games, but in the end you got to move on. You got to get ready for what's ahead of you. So we're just preparing for our [next] game — whatever that may be. We're just ready to compete."

As it turns out, the game will be a Southeastern Conference matchup between Florida (13-8), the No. 5 seed in the field, and Vanderbilt (9-15), the No. 13 seed, in Thursday's 2 p.m. second-round action at Bridgestone Arena. Should the Gators advance they'll get an immediate opportunity to atone for that Sunday dude by facing fourth-seeded Tennessee (17-7) in Friday afternoon's tournament quarterfinals. 

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

UF swept its regular-season series against Vandy. The Gators opened the SEC slate on Dec. 30 — the team's first game since Keyontae Johnson's harrowing collapse Dec. 12 — and smashed the Commodores 91-72 on the road. UF won the rematch in Gainesville 78-71, a game the Commodores made much closer than it should've been with a trio of back-to-back-to-back late 3-point shots that got them within four inside a minute to go. 

Vandy is as close to a one-man show as it gets in the SEC, with sophomore guard Scottie Pippin Jr. one of the most dynamic scorers in the league. Pippin is averaging better than 20 points per game and does it all facets; shooting, driving and especially from the free-throw line, where he went 15-for-15 in Wednesday night's 79-68 upset of 12th-seeded Texas A&M. The Commodores are a guard-oriented bunch — they lost star forward Dylan Disu to a season-ending knee injury last month — that has been in a slew of close games this season. If Vandy is hitting outside shots, it'll make defending Pippin's drives all the more difficult. 
 
All that said, frankly, the opponent is not so much the Florida concern as the Gators themselves. Their issues are multiple, so take your pick of the big ones.

* Turnovers — The Gators had 18 in the loss to Missouri eight nights ago, including 15 in the first half to help dig a 10-point deficit. Those turnovers led to 25 points. They have had fewer than 16 turnovers just once the last six games (and even that number was 14). 

* Defense — Save the week before last, when UF won road games at Auburn and Kentucky, the Gators just have not put up much of a resistance when it comes to man-to-man defense, surrendering far too many straight-line drives to the bucket. They had a multitude of opportunities in the second half against Missouri to come up with a big stop in a game the Tigers led by either one or two possessions most of the second half. They couldn't do it, and it was costly — on the last defensive possession, especially.

* The two E's (effort and emotion) — Anyone watching the Tennessee game saw Florida doing a lot of watching as the Volunteers crashed the glass and fought for loose balls harder than the Gators did. And when plays (be it missed shots by UF or made shots by UT) didn't go their way, chins went to the floor. The inability to maintain a next-play mentality has haunted the Gators all season. And while it's difficult to think that can suddenly change, a tournament format is a different animal. Who knows how this group might react if it strings together a few good possessions, a few good runs, maybe even a few good defensive thwarts? 

Maybe as much as anything, though, the Gators need to rediscover that connectivity that produced four straight wins to end January and three straight to exit February. They need to remember what that felt like, along with finding the fun in playing again. The fun in competing, and, hopefully, the fun in winning. 

"I feel like we moved past it, but we learned from it," said first-team All-SEC sophomore guard Tre Mann, who did not play against Tennessee when he was struck by a migraine on game day. "I think we'll be better this time."
 
So the Gators went a little lighter this week in hopes of getting where they need to be. They did so knowing it's win-or-go-home season. They're only so many chances to left. However this season is to be remembered likely will be determined the next two weekends.  

"Fatigue is often physical. I think the mental fatigue is just as important. Sometimes that mental fatigue can make guys look physically tired and banged up, and not have the pop that they normally have physically," White said. "I do hope with the way that we've rearranged these last couple days will give us a little bit of added extra pop, as opposed to if we'd really gotten after it. So, hopefully, it balances out, and hopefully it's very little of a factor in that it's do or die [format]. It's a chance also on the flip end of that to compete for a championship."