Florida Gators Basketball Seeking a New Dynamic Duo

After opening the season with two wins, Florida Gators basketball head coach Mike White has had the ability to play with a lot of depth in his roster – but a certain combination has been missing from the floor. The dynamic duo that fans have been itching to see together in Chris Chiozza and Kasey Hill.

Typically the two point guards—who are pretty similar in size and play—are competing against one another for minutes. However, last season there were some instances where former head coach Billy Donovan put them together for quick, powerful ball play.

When asked how he felt about putting them back in action together Mike White said, “I’m not sure that we want to be small a lot, but that said, when those guys are in there together we would be really fast. It’s something to continue to consider.” However, he added that as of right now he likes that they are battling each other and making each other better every day through competition for minutes.

With Chris Chiozza emerging as a better shooter this season, leading the SEC in 3-point percentage (.667) he brings a lot more to the table than last year. Chris elaborated saying,“I’m a lot more confident, I’ve been putting in a lot of work and it’s been paying off. Hopefully I keep shooting it well the rest of the year.” Aside from his ability to take shots, he also is an attacking point guard with quick feet that knows when it’s time to distribute the ball as well.

As for Kasey Hill, he is one of the key players from last season returning for White. Known for his ability to read the floor, make snap decisions and the ability to explode down the lane with a fast break, Hill also brings a lot to the table.

Chiozza summed it up best saying, “We’re both good passers and we can both score when we want to, so when we’re on the court together it opens it up, makes it easier for us because we’re so fast one has to get the ball and go and the other one can just run the lane and get an easy bucket, but as far as us playing together this year, it’s up to Coach, really.”

Each point guard is explosive and plays around the same level, which is why Mike White is not necessarily looking to having them play together at the moment. However, he is not against the idea.

White spoke of the possibility of the two playing together saying, “You just never know throughout the course of the season with a flu here or rolled ankle there, you just never know. I feel like we’re in a pretty good place right now and I don’t want to change that right now but it’s easy to say because we haven’t faced any adversity yet either.”

See both Chiozza, Hill and the entire Florida Gators basketball team in play on Saturday November 21 at 1:30 pm when they will take on St. Joseph.

Jenna Ladd
Growing up, Jenna took more of an interest in cheerleading then what was going on the football field and basketball court. It wasn't until she attended her first Gator football game that she finally took notice of football. It was love at first down. (She also enjoys lame jokes). From there, Jenna decided to immerse herself in all things sports - never missing a home football game for all four years of college. During her junior year, she stumbled into the amazing opportunity to marry her love of writing with her love of sports and somehow was able to land an internship with GatorCountry. When she is not covering games, Jenna likes to box, binge-watch Family Guy and American Dad on Netflix and keep up with her fantasy football teams. She loves Jesus, all things sugary and funny snapchat filters, but her main goal in life right now is to find a job after graduating with a degree in sport management.

1 COMMENT

  1. So you like to box, binge-watch Family Guy and American Dad, play fantasy football, AND you’re a Gator?! Are you single too?? haha

    Great stuff though Jenna. I was actually wondering this same thing about Hill and Chiozza. I liked when they were on the floor together last year, and figured Coach White would too bc they both play so fast, but I hadn’t seen them out there together. I guess it is pretty tough to play two 6 footers out there at the same time though.

    I think it’s a little too early to tell how good we’re going to be this year, but during the Duke/UK game the other night the announcers were talking about how good we looked this year, albeit after the NCA&T game lol I was just shocked we were getting that kind of recognition though bc I sort of figured people would forget about us this year bc Billy is gone. At least until we started winning again that is.