Gator Country

After giving up 173 points in two games in Kansas City, Billy Donovan said he thinks his team is making the effort defensively but he is looking for a total team commitment to showing improvement. Donovan has no illusions that this team can be an in your jock, smothering defense but he does believe they can be much better than what they showed in Kansas City.

“I said before that there is a big difference between effort and commitment,” said Donovan Friday morning. “Our guys effort has been good since practice started. They’re giving a good effort and their work load has been very good but now the biggest part is do they want to get committed to really trying to defend better than we’re defending because right now we’re giving up about 49 percent from the field and we’re giving up 38 percent [from the three-point line].”

The 17th-ranked Gators (4-1), who face Missouri-Kansas City Sunday in Orlando (1 p.m., Amway Arena, Sunshine TV), held three straight opponents below 60 points in their first three games of the season but in the semifinals and consolation game of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic in Kansas City, they were lit up by both Syracuse and Washington. Donovan’s hope is that the two games in Kansas City will motivate the Gators to make a serious commitment to improving on the defensive end.

Coming into the season, Donovan knew the Gators would have to make some serious strides in their defense to improve upon last year’s 24-12 record that saw the Gators miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 10 years.

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About the author

Franz Beard

Franz has been writing sports for 42 years in various outposts like Gainesville, Jacksonville, Savannah, Richmond and Miami. He's been writing for Gator Country since 1999 and has served as the site's managing editor since 2004. He is also a contributing writer to Gator Country Magazine.

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