TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It’s been a long and sometimes painstaking process.
But heading into March, Florida basketball coach Mike White has transformed the Gators from a team in which defense was an afterthought to one that is capable of shutting down a team on any given night.
Florida is entering March ranked 21st in the nation in Kenpom.com’s adjusted defensive efficiency ratings and is coming off one of its best defensive efforts of the season, limiting Alabama to 30-percent shooting from the floor and 20 percent from 3-point range in a 73-52 win over the Tide on Tuesday night.
The Gators have given up an average of 59.7 points over their last three games.
“He deserves a ton of credit,” an NBA scout, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said of White. “He took a bunch of guys who were selfish and he has them playing hard and playing together, on offense and on defense.”
Against Alabama, Florida set the tone early, holding the Tide to 18 points in the first half on 4-of-30 shooting.
“Defensively, we’re trying to figure out how we can be consistent, play every possession one at a time without losing focus, not taking a few steps back, back and forth,” Florida senior guard Egor Koulechov said. “Right now we just have to keep working at it, keep putting it together. If we play defense like that, you give yourself a good chance of winning every single game.”
White said one of the biggest factors in holding Alabama to 52 points was the ability to get back in transition and set its defense. Florida failed to do that in a 68-50 loss to Alabama on Feb. 3 in Gainesville.
The Gators also kept Alabama freshman phenom point guard Collin Sexton in check, limiting him to 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
“We did a better job, led by our guards, keeping him out of the paint and then walling him off in transition with the help of the closest teammate,” White said.
The Gators will try to maintain their high-level play on defense Saturday in their regular season finale at the O’Connell Center against Kentucky.
“We can’t be satisfied,” Koulechov said. “It’s got to be the standard. We’ve got to keep stringing it together.”
Resume builder
In improving to 19-11 and 10-7 in the SEC, Florida’s win at Alabama may have secured an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Gators have nine Quadrant 1 wins, third most nationally behind Kansas (11) and North Carolina (10). A Quadrant 1 win is defined as a win against Top 30 RPI opponent at home, a Top 50 RPI opponent on a neutral court and a Top 75 RPI opponent on the road. The nine Q1 wins are Gonzaga and Cincinnati on a neutral court, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Alabama on the road, and Auburn and Arkansas at home.
With five road wins and eight road/neutral court wins before the SEC Tournament, the Gators certainly have proven they can win anywhere, even against high-level competition. Those are the kind of wins the NCAA Tournament selection committee values when determining at-large berths.
Vying for the double bye
Florida is currently tied with Arkansas for third in the SEC at 10-7, with Kentucky a half game back at 9-7. The Gators can secure the number three overall seed in the SEC Tournament and a double-bye with a win Saturday against the Wildcats.
If Florida loses, the Gators can still get a double bye as the No. 4 seed if Arkansas loses on Saturday at Missouri. Florida owns head-to-head tiebreakers against Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi State. Missouri and Mississippi State are both 9-8 and can improve to 10-8 in the league with wins Saturday.
Injury update
Freshman forward Dontay Bassett will be checked by trainers Thursday. He took a blow to the face in the first half against Alabama and sat out the second half.
Up next
Who: No. 23 Kentucky vs. Florida
When: 12 p.m. Saturday
Where: O’Connell Center
TV: CBS
Radio: 103.7-FM, AM-850
Good article & a quality schedule from start to finish with the current SEC competition. Nine Quadrant 1 wins for our Gators is excellent. Perhaps one more on Saturday vs UK. Go Gators!
I agree, nice job Kevin. Very informative. I saw some other posts about the quad system but wasn’t familiar with the details. And of course, the positive vibes stories always go down better. Go Gators!
Funny how BF disappears with his BS when it starts to stink to high heaven.
BF stands for BASKETBALL FOOL
What these guys and Coach White have done without a true center and with three of them sitting on the bench the entire season is remarkable. This has been especially difficult because I’m sure they were thinking they would have gotten one or more of them back by now.
Agree 100% on what White has gotten out of this bunch. bf is full of it…there isn’t one coach in the sec that has done more with less. Hopefully we get some favorable matchups in the big dance and can make amother run.
I hope those kids don’t let the praise from these articles go to their head. Every time I read an article about how great they are, they proceed to lay an egg in the next game. They are a great offense, then they can’t even hit 35% of their shots the next game.. In other words, if Kentucky proceeds to score 80 on them, then that may be consistent with how the season has been going. 🙁 That said, I really hope they can prove me wrong!!!
Go Gators!
The Gators have 9 Q1 wins. 3rd most nationally.
Arguably this is one of the most confusing NCAA teams ever! I’ve read what national writers have said about the Gators, I’ve studied them from the perspective as a former bball coach and I listen to what Mike White says. Here’s my take: This team is consistently inconsistent. Duh, that’s not news. They could get whacked in the first round of the Big Dance, they could end up in the Final Four and win it all. Take your pick. We just don’t know if this team is going to continue to be consistently inconsistent, or if it’s turned the page to be consistently consistent, Chiozza is the spark plug. When he’s walking the ball up, dribbling around and trying to penetrate a zone, the Gators are woeful. When he’s passing and cutting to the basket, then rolling through a back door screen, good things happen.