Gators Look to Regroup in Tampa

Wednesday, December 14

Tampa, FL

7 PM

Florida Gators

Ohio

Will Richard (5) was a marked man by the UConn defense in going scoreless with just two field-goal attempts in UF's last game.

Gators Look to Regroup in Tampa

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

TAMPA — It's been seven days since Connecticut, now the No. 3-ranked team in the country, came to Gainesville and waxed the Florida Gators by 21 points on their home floor. The Gators (6-4) have had four days of practice, plus a couple off days of rest, to recover from that thumping and after Wednesday night's semi-neutral site date against Ohio (5-4) at Amalie Arena they'll have another six days before the next game — vs. Oklahoma in the Jumpman Class at Charlotte on Dec. 20 — and then another eight days before the Southeastern Conference opener at Auburn.

So two games over 20 days (with a min-Christmas break in the middle). That's a lot of time to reset and fix what's broken.

"You always think you have a decent idea of where your team's at and what you're doing, and then it's been six of seven games and two weeks and you're like, 'Alright, we definitely have to adjust this and get better here and get better there,' UF coach Todd Golden said Tuesday. "From the end of the UConn game through when we go home from Oklahoma, I feel like we have some time to get better."

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

Getting drummed by UConn was cause for concern, of course, given the Huskies shot 52 percent from the floor (64 in the second half), while holding the Gators to 30 percent and just 4-for-15 from the 3-point line (27 percent). Concern, yes. Panic, no. Florida was the fifth power-conference team to be manhandled by Connecticut (all by double digits), as the Huskies now sit atop the overall KenPom.com advance metrics rankings. And deservedly so.

As Golden made clear after the game, if a team is going to have any chance against an opponent as formidable as UConn it's going to have to make shots. The Gators didn't.

In fact, two of the team's best players, guard Will Richard and fifth-year point guard Kyle Lofton, both went scoreless in the game; Richard, the transfer from Belmont, for just the second time in his 43-game career, and Lofton, the transfer from St. Bonaventure, for the first time in his 123 games.

**Will Richard** (left) and **Kyle Lofton**

Both, however, were on the back end of recovering from injuries — Richard (knee), Bonham (back) — coming out of UF's three-game tournament in Portland over Thanksgiving weekend. Though both played, neither was 100 percent and the Huskies, maybe the most aggressive and handsy defense Florida will face all season, refused to let either player get settled. Heck, they never let any Gator get settled.

The last few days have helped on that front, with Richard going as far as calling the last week one of the most intense practice runs of the young season.

"We're definitely working on all our weaknesses," said Richard, the team's second-leading scorer, who managed just two field-goal attempts over 25 minutes off the bench against the Huskies. "UConn showed us a lot about ourselves."

Including some good things, starting with a willingness to fight. Ten days earlier, the Gators didn't show that in a humbling 84-55 loss to West Virginia in the final game of the Phil Knight Legacy in Oregon. Golden was disappointed in his team's lack of competitiveness that day — among other things — and was encouraged by improvements in other areas (transition defense, rebounding) in wins over out-manned Florida A&M and Stetson that preceded the game against the Huskies.

While the score wasn't close, Golden never thought his guys backed down from the challenge.

"I thought we competed," Golden said. "Not well enough, but better than against West Virginia."

So the last several practices have been about building on the positives and addressing the negatives, all the while trying to figure out what combinations need to be on the floor. And for how long.

Here's a bet: Richard and Lofton, now healthy, will be out there from the start, urged to assert themselves and play to the strengths the Gators chased when the two were among the most attractive players in the transfer portal last spring.

The season is a process and it's early in the proces, with some very mixed results to date against a schedule that's included three of the top 10-rated teams (four of the 40) in the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings (NET) that ultimately will seed the postseason tournament. But progress needs eventually to show up in the process.

"People, they tend to forget, that you play 31, 32 games, it's a long season," Golden said. "But you've got to be mentally tough and you've got to believe because it's easy to crack, as well. I think, for the most part, our guys have bought in and done what we've asked them to do, continued to practice really hard, which I think is a big part of getting better. I think we'll start seeing the fruits of that over the next couple of weeks."