For Kasey Hill, the Time is Now
The Kasey Hill you saw the last three seasons is long gone. Well, that’s what Kasey Hill wants you to believe. Last year, Hill lost his starting job to teammate Chris Chiozza after struggling early in the 2015-2016 campaign. He finally gained some rhythm late in the season – leading Florida in scoring, averaging 15 points a game, over the last five games.
The primary source of Hill’s struggles last season was his shooting percentage. In what should have been a year of progress, the point guard shot 36% from the field and 27% from three-point range in SEC play. Even after a down year, the Montverde Academy Alumnus will not let the people who have been critical about his shooting get to him.
“I’m not getting tired of it at all. It’s something I’ve dealt with my whole life”, Hill said. “People have labeled me as ‘not a shooter’ but I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses and I just have to deal with it.”
Late last season, Hill was hitting the practice courts and that work resulted in fantastic play from the guard down the stretch. In the off-season he has committed himself once again to changing the narrative of not being able to shoot the ball well consistently.
“Throughout the season, I just stayed in the gym as much as I could, through the good and the bad. Then in the summer it was a great opportunity for me to get in the gym even more because I had a lot more time so I just worked on the things that I needed to work on”, Hill said.
Gators head coach Mike White has noticed his senior point guard’s dedication to getting better, but tried to temper expectations.
“I think that he's very similar to what he was last year other than the fact that he's shooting the basketball better”, said White. “Same routines in terms of ball handling, same amount of film watching, same amount of time spent in the weight room working on speed, quickness and strength. All of those things. He's very similar.”
One of the issues that plagued the Gators basketball team as a whole last season was free throw shooting. Florida ranked 12th in the SEC in free throw percentage. For a point guard, Hill definitely underperformed from the foul line. He shot 53% from the line, which was the same percentage as center John Egbunu.
Needless to say, in order for Hill to take the next step, he has to take advantage of the free points via the charity stripe when he can get them. Hill is counting on the work he put in over the summer will pay off come the regular season. “we'd like to think the work he's put in will pay off in terms of his percentage going up a little bit to try to help this team, to try to help himself, and he's shooting it well from the foul line in practice as well with our pressure free-throw shooting drills”, coach White said.
As the only team in the SEC with six returning players who have started at least 10 games, this veteran laded team shouldn't have leadership issues.
Florida will have to rely on an improved Kasey Hill early on as they start the season as road warriors who won’t play their first home game in the newly renovated O’Dome till December 21st.
If the Gators are to get back to where they want to be they need the Kasey Hill who scored 18 points a game in last years SEC tournament, not the one who had more turnovers than shots made at home against Florida State.
Florida basketball fans have waited three years for the McDonald’s All-American to put it all together, it’s now or never. Hill has seen the Gator basketball program transition from the Billy Donovan days to the Mike White era. He has gone from becoming only the fourth freshman to have 10 assists in a Sweet Sixteen game to being eliminated by George Washington in the NIT. This is his last opportunity at leaving an imprint on the program many thought he would help get back to making deep NCAA tournament runs.
Kasey Hill has put in the work in the summer, now we await the results.
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