Florida Gators Basketball Exhibits “Frantic” Play in Exhibition Win

Frantic.

That’s the word head coach Mike White would use to describe the Florida Gators basketball 89-42 Exhibition win over Palm Beach Atlantic.

There are of course the first game jitters to factor in for a young team, and the pent up excitement of finally getting back to the hardwood.

And partly White is pleased with the frantic pace his players exhibited on defense, as they forced PBA into 30 turnovers.

“Good frantic defensively,” said White.

“We created a lot of havoc. 30 turnovers, we’ll take it. Pressure was really good. A lot of things defensively we need to clean up of course but we can’t be frantic offensively and be a good team.”

That’s the catch 22. As soon as the possession is flipped, the frantic play needs to slow down. This can be tough to do in what is designed as fast paced, tempo offense and players are still working on grasping the stop and go mentality. Versus Palm Beach Atlantic, it resulted in 23 turnovers and that’s a balance White can’t be happy with.

“Absolutely not,” he quickly stated. “23 turnovers, that’s scary. We weren’t very happy about that. I was really pleased with our energy level, our intensity level coming out against a division II opponent…I thought our guys played with a lot of maturity in that regard. To force 30 against anybody is a positive. Unfortunately for us, we played with too much intensity level when the ball was in our hands.

I like to think that some of it had to do with playing in front of our crowd for the first time. I thought our guys were really jacked up. I thought they were having fun and again it was a really fast paced game. Hopefully some of it was a first game jitter, but some of it was also decision making. Not coming to a jump stop and a guy gets in front of you and takes a charge. Five or six of our turnovers were just passes that should have not have been made at all. Some of it is just simple accuracy with passing where I thought we hit the right guy but just throwing it at his feet.”

Sophomore forward Devin Robinson went even further to say that the 47-point differential was too close considering what it could’ve been.

“The game shouldn’t have been that close. We made a lot of mistakes. We play somebody a little bit tougher then the outcomes not gonna be as pretty.

We had 23 turnovers all together. That’s way to many. We have 23 at Navy next week, we’re gonna lose by 20; so turnovers, not executing the offense well, not playing good defense, just all around.”

Florida shot 58% from the field and went 11-27 from beyond the arc, but there was still points left on the court as Robinson pointed out and many of them were at the free throw line.

Production at the charity stripe (which has been anything but charitable to the Florida Gators here of late) has been something Mike White has harped on since his arrival in Gainesville and there’s till work to be done as the Gators went 10-17 at the line on Thursday.

They have a week to shape things up before the regular season begins versus Navy in Annapolis, something that White thinks could be a great learning experience for a team that holds three freshman, three more players that have finally been granted eligibility and a couple of walk-ons that are seeing an increased role.

“Excited about the experience our guys will go through. We need to play in a tough environment against what we expect to be a tough nosed, disciplined team for obvious reasons.”

During the preparation for that tough nosed defense, White will have his men at the line while also working on reigning in that frantic pace.

“The game should be two speeds,” explained White.

“In our press we want to be in a mad panic defensively and we want to be flying around with unbelievably energy level and unbelievably communication level. But when we have the ball though we all need to take a deep breath and slow down a little bit and chill out a little bit. I thought we did a better job of that in the second half, still not where we need to be.”

Thus is the beauty of an exhibition game. It allows that litmus test and while the Florida Gators may have felt they didn’t measure up at first glance, there are still some things that can be positives moving forward. Keep the frantic pace on defense, lose it on offense, and find a balance in the turnover margin.

Do those things and the team will come a way with a 47-point win that they can be happy with.

The Gators travel to Annapolis to open their regular season versus Navy on Friday November 13. The game tips off at 9:30 pm on CBS Sports Network.

Kassidy Hill
Born into a large family of sports fanatics and wordsmiths alike, sports journalism came natural to Kassidy. It’s more than a passion; it’s simply a part of who she is. Hailing from Alabama in the midst of typical Iron Bowl family, she learned very quickly just how deep ties in the SEC could run. She came to Gainesville after college to pursue a degree as television sports reporter but quickly realized she missed writing. She’s excited to now marry the two aspects for Gator fans. She loves Jesus, her daddy and football; wants to be Billy Donovan’s best friend and firmly believes that offensive lineman are the best people on earth. Follow her on Twitter @KassidyGHill