Grad-transfer point guard Zyon Pullin (0) has 24 assists and just four turnovers in UF's six SEC games.
Pullin Protecting Ball, Playmaking for Gators,
Friday, January 26, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – It's been 11 days since since the debacle at sixth-ranked Tennessee, a 19-point blowout loss where the Florida Gators did very little right, never led and, basically, were never in the game.
UF, however, responded to that poor performance by winning its first road game of the season, a 79-67 victory at Missouri last weekend, followed by Wednesday night's 79-70 home triumph against Mississippi State, by metrics the best win of the season. The Gators were in control pretty much throughout both games – they led for 27 minutes at Mizzou (to the Tigers' 11) and 29 against the Bulldogs (just 6) – and a big reason for that was the way they took care of the basketball.
Just 15 combined turnovers in the two games; eight at Missouri, seven against Mississippi State.
That's an impressive feat when considering the athletes in the Southeastern Conference and the transition Pullin had to make in coming cross-country from California-Riverside and the mid-major Big West Conference to one of the most powerful leagues in college basketball.
How's he done it?
"Make my mistakes in practice," Pullin said, maybe joking, but only half-joking, given the emphasis he and the UF coaches put on ball security. "Just try to value the ball. Try to make the right play and limit the riskiness a little bit, but still try to get others involved and take the plays they do give us."
Florida coach Todd Golden's thoughts on this matter: More of the same, please, with the next ask coming Saturday when the Gators (13-6, 3-3) take on vastly improved Georgia (14-5, 4-2) in a high-noon date at sold-out Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. The Bulldogs are not as athletic or handsy in the passing lanes as UF's previous two opponents – two that really thrive on turning foes over – but they're disciplined in what they do and check in at No. 49 nationally in defensive efficiency and that will call for Pullin and the Gators to "make the right play."
[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]
For the most part, Florida has done a pretty good job taking care of the ball this season. The Gators have turned it over on 16.1 percent of their possessions. That ranks 48th nationally (out of 362). It's also a big improvement from earlier in the season when they had 16 in a bitter, two-point neutral-court loss to Virginia (though Pullin did not play that game) and 15 in a road defeat at Wake Forest. UF had 20 and 18 turnovers in victories over Florida State and East Carolina, respectively.
Heading into SEC play, Florida was averaging 13.5 turnovers per game. That number is 10.3 in SEC play, with back-to-back single-digit efforts. Not so coincidentally, back-to-back wins, also.
Pullin's league stat line shows 24 assists and just four turnovers. That's a 6-to-1 ratio.
In additon to his point-guard duties,Zyon Pullin (1) has hit some big shots in his short time as a Gator.
"He's done a fantastic job, but really our whole perimeter has done a great job taking care of the ball - our whole team. It's been a big strength of ours over the last couple of weeks," Golden said in praising his floor general, who is also scoring at 14.6 per game, assisting at 4.6 and grabbing 3.8 rebounds per game. "If you can take care of the ball in this league you're going to give yourself a chance. A lot of teams pride themselves on turning you over and that's how they generate offense. It's trend I'd really appreciate seeing continue over the next couple of weeks."
Preferably, the next couple months.
UF director of player development Taurean Green started the last 79 games of his career during the 2005-06 and '06-07 seasons when the Gators won back-to-back NCAA championships. Green had five turnover-less games during his two seasons as a starter, once doing so in consecutive SEC games. Pullin, a sturdy 6-foot-4 and 206 pounds, has five such games through his first 16 in a Florida uniform. Two weekends ago, in a rout of Arkansas, Pullin had eight assists and just one turnover. And he's doing in as engineer of an offense that rates 20th nationally in pace of play.
"The SEC is one of the most physical conferences with a lot of ball pressure going on out there, so that's just a testament to ZP's poise," Green said. "He's very calm, very in control and doesn't do anything that's out of character. That's what makes him really good. Either he's going to get someone a shot or he's going to get a shot he wants."
A third of the way through the SEC schedule, UF ranks fourth in the conference in offensive efficiency and 11th on the defensive end, but Golden talks both internally and externally about growth and believes his players are going through a collective spurt on that front.
Against Mississippi State, the Gators were cruising, up 17 with about seven minutes left, when the Bulldogs unleashed a full-court press the home team did not handle very well. There were a couple turnovers (none by Pullin, obviously), but the Gators appeared out of sync on a couple possessions and maybe got a little passive when attacking the back end of the press was exactly what was needed.
In the end, UF hit free throws to the ice the win (another area of growth, by the way), but the takeaway from the game against the last set of Bulldogs needs to carry over against this next set of Bulldogs.
"It was definitely something to learn from. We watched film on it [Thursday]," Pullin said. "Just [not] taking our time and also, I think, we took our time a little too much. Just keep being aggressive, especially. What was working early was our aggressiveness. That's something we definitely learned from and we'll implement in the next game."
