The Florida Gators basketball team takes on a daunting road schedule to start the 2015-2016 season. The newly named Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center has been under construction throughout the offseason and renovations are scheduled to be complete in December.
Florida opens up regular season play on November 11 in Jacksonville to take on Florida Gulf Coast University. The team does not make their first home appearance until over a month into the season when they welcome Little Rock to Gainesville on December 21.
The road schedule includes the likes of Florida State, opponents including Seton Hall and other tough competitors in the 2016 Advocare Invitational Tournament in Orlando, and Duke in the Jimmy V. Classic in New York. To the Gators’ advantage, the only game played out of the state of Florida in the first stretch of the season is the game against Duke in New York.
The Florida coaching staff and players know there is a tough test ahead of them, but they are excited and ready to take on the challenge of playing away from home as the O’Dome is in its final stages of renovation.
“I’m pretty happy we get to play on the road in the fall, because that means we’re about to move into a beautiful facility,” said head coach Mike White. “Also, it gives you advantages, opportunities to grow, to become more cohesive as we’re traveling and coming together. Road wins are hard to come by away from home. Hopefully these experiences will pay off in conference play and help you become a little better road team.”
At media days on Thursday, White said he regretted not giving the team more days off last year, especially towards the end of the season when they were playing on the road for the SEC Tournament and the NIT. He could not remember any point last season when the team had two days off in a row.
White plans to change that this season in the early going to keep the team more rested and on track with their school work as they travel all over the state. “I’m going to try to give our guys a little more rest,” he said. “I think it will help physically, but I also think it will help mentally. A lot of times we’ll be traveling late this fall, and it will be in the crunch time of academics. We’ll have to be respectful to our guys’ position academically and the way that we want them to finish.”
Graduate transfer Canyon Barry is a newcomer to the program, but he is no stranger to the college game. He spent four years at College of Charleston before making the decision to continue his college career at Florida. Barry feels the road schedule will take team chemistry to a higher level and give the Gators an advantage as the season moves along.
“I think this road season is gonna be kind of a blessing for us, because we’re gonna get used to not always having that home court,” said Barry. “The first half of the season we’re gonna be playing on the road, kind of making the whole state of Florida our home court. It’ll be good for Gator fans all across the state to get to see some games, but at the same time it helps us, because it’s a neutral site. It helps the RPI and also just getting used to playing in adverse situations on the road, not always having that great O’Dome crowd around.”
The O’Dome brings one of the best home crowds in the country, and that crowd will be back in action in December. For now, the Gators will have to wait and look forward to the date when they can get back to their newly renovated facility.
“I know when we get back in the O-Dome, that place will be rocking,” White said. “It will be a significant home-court advantage for us.”
I hope the ncaa doesn’t try to count any of the neutral site games as home games cuz the games are in Florida