GAINESVILLE, Fla-- Florida basketball is heading into a tough stretch. The Gators will now play on the road four of the next five games, beginning with Auburn on Tuesday.
"This is about just trying to be competitive on the road, hoping Auburn doesn't get a hundred on us," Mike White told reporters about the Tigers. "They are so good offensively, unbelievable mix of being a top-10 offense, complemented with leading the nations in blocks and turning you over. It's pretty rare."
“It’s going to be a really tough war for us," freshman guard Andrew Nembhard said. "For any team in the NCAA to be honest. They’re really fast, score the ball a lot, play really good defense. So it’s going to be a really good test on Tuesday for us.”
"They might be the best backcourt in the country," added White. " They, definitely in my opinion, are the most underrated backcourt in the country."
The Gators will also need to hit an extra gear mentally. White has yet to have a consistent, productive bench this season, so the head coach has often had to rely on his starters.
Which means after an overtime game against Ole Miss and then a late loss against a defensively elite Kentucky side, White is worried about his players' legs.
“[The legs are] a little tired," said Nembhard, "but I mean everybody’s going through the same thing we’re going through. SEC is a grind.”
“It’s a concern," said White about fatigue. "We got to adjust, but we’ll be OK. We barely went yesterday [Sunday] and we’ll be quick today [Monday]. It would be nice to play a little deeper. We’ve got to find some bench production from somewhere. That would possibly help down the road, if we could get a guy or two going a little bit.”
Freshman guards Andrew Nembhard and Noah Locke have both averaged over 30 minutes the last five games. With players playing such high minutes consistently, it is no wonder why Florida seem to fall short in the final stretch.
The Gators have been close - going toe to toe with several top-ten teams this year, but in the end that mental wall is reached.
“I think it can give us a little bit of confidence that we can be in all these games but we just have to finish a couple of them out a little bit better, and our season would be turned around in a whole different way," said Nembhard. Think it gives us a bit of confidence.”
"We all know what the negatives are: To find a way to close, to hold on," White said. "Thought we played tired at end of the (Kentucky) game a little bit. I thought we got a little discouraged in our last one against Kentucky as we struggled to score against an elite defense and gave in a little bit defensively. But we are who we are defensively. If we don’t make jump shots, it’s hard for us to score."
As always White is steering his team to focus on its most immediate challenge, the Tigers.
"We've got our hands full with Auburn," said White. "That's all we can do. If our focus is anywhere else, we'll be non-competitive. It's going to be a rabid environment, but a great opportunity."
