Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators didn't pound their chests after pounding Florida A&M by 40 points Wednesday. No one figured they would, any more than they should've curled up in a fetal position after the 29-point blowout loss against West Virginia three nights before. 

The college basketball season is a process. And when a program is in its first year under a new coach and has a roster dotted with new players the process is as much about fact-finding (as in rotations) as it is about resilience amid adversity or level-headedness in the good times. 

"We're more pleased with how we competed as opposed to how we executed," UF coach Todd Golden said of his team's last outing. 

That's because 72 hours earlier — and three times zones away — the Gators showed next to no fight against the Mountaineers at the Phil Knight Legacy. Florida's players got caught up in the officiating, let themselves get bullied by a more physical team and the result was predictable. 

UF's performance against severely overmatched FAMU was probably predictable also, but what Golden liked most about the 102-62 victory was that his players seemed to flush any residual effects of the PK85 (the lopsided nature of the loss; a 1-2 tournament performance; the Kowacie Reeves saga) and let it rip. 

Now, the Gators (5-3) need more of the same Sunday in a matinee meeting against Stetson (4-2) at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. The Hatters, out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, may not be WVU-like, but they're much better than the Rattlers and last month went to Florida State and shot the lights out in a road upset of the Seminoles. 

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

UF needs to build on the energy and competitive spirit it showed against FAMU and replicate (better yet, double it) against Stetson, what with a looming home date Wednesday night against eighth-ranked and unbeaten Connecticut, which went to Portland and (unlike the Gators) dominated the competition in winning its tournament. 

"We all know what we did wrong and that it was just a horrible performance," fifth-year forward  Colin Castleton said of the WVU outing, when he equaled his UF career-low of just three points. "Moving on from that and being able to just get a win is like the biggest thing — and focusing on ourselves. That's what Coach Golden preached the most; just being able to look at things we need to improve on, get ready for our next couple of games and just come into practice every day and fix those things."

They did so against FAMU with two starters, sophomore guard and No. 2 scorer Will Richard (knee) and fifth-year point guard Kyle Lofton (back), sidelined with injuries. Richard practiced full-go Saturday and likely will be cleared to play against Stetson, while Lofton's availability is questionable. 

Last Tuesday, the team's first practice after the West Virginia debacle, Golden went at his guys hard and they responded. A similar energy, this time coming off a win, was rolled out in the two practice since the rout of the Rattlers. 

"No matter the opponent, we just have to focus on things we need to work on internally with the group of guys we have, our coaches, and we need to figure out certain things that we need to move on from and get better at," Castleton said. "That's the biggest thing. Being able to just adjust throughout the season, because we're playing for down the line. We're not playing for right now. Even though we had a terrible loss and it's super sour to lose like that — like the worst loss in my career, which sucks — you've got to be able to move on from that and see what went wrong, how you can execute going forward."