GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida basketball (18-11, 10-6 SEC) is looking to bounce back after faltering on the road to Tennessee.
"We struggled in the first half to find any offensive rhythm," Mike White told reporters on Tuesday. "Credit Tennessee. They’re one of the best defenses in our league. We just had some empty possessions early that contributed to the hole that was dug that we couldn’t completely climb out of of."
The Gators only managed 17 points in the first half.
"We had a few missed opportunities for sure," said guard Noah Locke about the loss to the Vols. "There was a few shots we should have taken that we didn’t take. We, like I said, missed opportunities because sometimes we passed the ball, ball was going down to our feet a few times. Extra passes or just getting to the rim and not finishing, and I just feel like we have to convert on those. That was just something that we messed up on in the first half.”
"We made it really interesting late," added the Gators head coach. "We’ve got to be more sound with our feet. We had three travel calls. Step-out-of-bounds call. We had a couple other possessions where we passed up some really good looks and ended up getting a worse look late clock. Those six, seven possessions, if you score on three of those it could have been a different story. Maybe we find our offensive rhythm earlier. But Tennessee is very good and they played better.”
The Gators have rallied a few times this season after not so impressive starts. Actually, Florida will travel to Athens, Ga. to face a team that it was forced to rally from a huge deficit just a few weeks ago.
White's men is set to travel to Georgia (15-14, 5-11 SEC) for their last road game of the regular season.
With 16:43 to go in their Feb. 5 matchup, the Gators had to mount a 22-point come back, matching the largest come back in school history, with Andrew Nembhard scoring 14 of his 25 points in the final seven minutes of the game.
"Just unfortunately dug ourselves too big a hole," White recalled. "Georgia was a crazy game. The biggest takeaway from watching that film a bunch (and) the last couple games was they’re so much improved since then.
"I think we’re a better team since that game, as well, but they’re playing their best basketball of the year, in my opinion. Three of the last four, they’ve won, and lost to South Carolina in overtime. And coming off an Arkansas performance -- and I thought Arkansas was good, too -- where they just scored it at such a high rate, got off to such a great start; they’re in a good rhythm and playing with a lot of confidence, with a bunch of guys making shots to complement one of the most talented guys in the country."
In that win over the Bulldogs, the Gators struggled to contain star UGA freshman Anthony Edwards, who netted 32 points in Gainesville.
"We obviously did not do a great job on him,' said White. "I thought late in the game zone was effective for us. We had a couple of possessions when Andrew and KJ [Kerry Blackshear] were matched up to him and did a pretty good job on him. He also missed a couple for us, and you need that to happen.
"He has the ability to go off a pretty high percentage shot, 1-on-1 versus anybody, just anybody in college basketball. But they have got it going now with other guys to where you can send two guys at him, which some teams have tried to do, and the way that some of these guys are attacking the paint making shots, and offensive rebounding and the way they cut, I’m not sure that’s the recipe.
"We really have to step up and be able to defense him better 1-on-1, pick him up higher on the floor, guard him without fouling, it’s easier said than done though."
As White points out, it's not just about Edwards.
"I think (Sahvir) Wheeler really got them going against Arkansas," White said. "The level that he is attacking the rim is high. I mean it’s just high level what he is doing right now to complement Anthony Edwards, the toughest cover in our league and possibly the country. ... They are really playing offensively, shots are going for them right now. They are one of the toughest covers in our league right now."
According to White, his team had a sloppy start to its practice on Monday. Although the team ended on a good note, a team looking to perform well in the season does not perform poor in practice.
"It’s just about being focused from the beginning, and that’s honestly something we kind of struggle with even in the games," Locke said. "Sometimes we start off slow, and then sometimes we start off good and then don’t play as good in the second half, so it’s just about us being consistent and playing with that edge throughout the whole game and even in practice."
"It all starts with myself and our staff. We self-evaluate every single day what we’re telling these guys and what we’re not, how long practice was, how short it was, the level of physicality in practice. We’re constantly having conversations," said White.
"This team, again, we can be an immature, emotional team and sometimes we can play with a really high level of confidence and sometimes, for whatever reason, we just go through these lulls. We can’t have that to have success in Athens.”
The Gators' second half performance against the Bulldogs saved a win. But this time Florida does not have a luxury of playing in the O'Dome.
"Value the ball. Most possessions, we got a shot. We played downhill," White said of how the team managed to turn things around against UGA the last time. "Played with confidence. Our spacing was really good. We really shared it. That was really the start of a renewed level of ball movement there in the second half against those guys. We weren't quite as sharp and they were really good."
Florida and Georgia are set to play in Athens on Wednesday with tip off set for 7 p.m.
