GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- No. 6 Florida basketball is being hyped as a Final Four team. The Gators, however, are more concerned about Sunday's opponent, Florida. State.
"It’d be nice. It’s always nice to beat an in-state rival," said Mike white. " It would be a break-through opportunity for us."
The Gators head coach has yet to beat his rivals out west. The Gators hope to end a five-game skid against the Noles this weekend.
Not a premium subscriber? Use "GT30" and receive FREE premium access for 30 days!
"As of late, They have, obviously, as of late, dominated this series and we’ve got a chance to end it,” White said, “I don’t know how dissimilar it is to just beating an ACC opponent or an SEC opponent. We’ve got a ton of these opportunities all year. This is the first one. If we’re thinking about streaks and rivalries, and adding noise to the fact that we’re already trying to decrease the level of noise that we’re dealing with in our locker room, than I think we’re doing ourselves a disservice. It’s about which team plays better Sunday afternoon.”
Last season, the Gators opened up against the in-state rival, falling by 21 points. One year later, and Florida still has the bad taste in their mouths.
“I just feel like last year our focus wasn’t good at practice, so it carried over to the game. I think that’s why the outcome went that way,” said sophomore Keyontae Johnson. "They deny every pass — like certain teams play different — so it was just shocking to see how hard they play defense-wise and how much they gamble for loose balls and rebounds.”
Florida State, just like Florida, saw a bit of a turnover from last season's side, welcoming six new faces to the team. While the Gators opened up with a double-digit win over North Florida, the Noles went to the wire with ACC opponent, Pittsburgh, but ultimately falling 63-61.
They do, however, return one familiar name, Trent Forrest. Forrest has stepped up as a leader, scoring 19 points in FSU's opening loss.
Trent Forrest is a monster," said White. "He’s a guy I have a lot of respect and admiration for, the way he approaches the game, offensively and defensively. He’s gotten better and better. Changes the game defensively, on and off the ball.
"And then offensively, he has developed throughout his career. I don’t know this about him, but he seems to lead by example with his toughness and motor. Puts pressure on the defense every position," added White. "He seeming, at least one game in, to be taking on a much larger role with this current Seminole team. He’s got a great ability to get to the rim, draw fouls and, again, just put pressure on a defense."
The Seminoles will have the height advantage this weekend and White nows they need to work the glass to have any sort of success against the visitors.
"Defensively they always play very physically. They always play extremely hard. Their rebounding responsibilities, the level of accountability, who's supposed to go to the glass, they just do it. They do it," said White. "They're great on the defensive glass as well. It's a concern of ours, for sure.
"Our defensive accountability, especially off the bench, is a huge factor. And really one through whoever plays, one through 10 rebounding. A huge concern right now, especially when we're playing small. We got beat to a couple offensive rebounds early in the North Florida game that won't translate to beating a high-level team, period. And some of it's a one-on-one fight that a guy loses. And some of it is guards just watching. We can't be watchers."
The veterans know how physical the Noles can be, but the Gators are ready for the challenge.
“We’re going to go in to practice (Friday) and tomorrow and prepare for it, but it would be amazing to be a part of (snapping the streak),” said freshman guard Tre Mann. “Me, Andrew (Nembhard), Keyontae (Johnson), Noah (Locke) and (Gorjok) Gak, we went out to watch Florida State play the other night. And, I’m a freshman so I didn’t really know what it was like last year, so I asked them. They were like ‘Yeah it’s going to be crazy. They’re going to be denying, playing physical.’ So I’m ready for the challenge.”
The game is set to tip off at 1P.M.
