Florida Gators still learning under Mike White

The Florida Gators have started the Mike White era with some ups and downs on their way to a 9-5 start and 1-1 in SEC play with back-to-back games against potential number one overall draft pick Ben Simmons and LSU coming to town on Saturday. That will be followed up with a trip to 21st ranked Texas A&M before the Gators take on Coach White’s alma mater, Ole Miss, in Oxford. This will not be an easy stretch for a team struggling to score at times, especially from beyond the arc only shooting 28% on the year, which is down from the 32% they shot last year.

Florida was blitzed by Tennessee early and found themselves down by 22 at halftime. The Gators fall to 1-3 in true road games this season with the only win coming against Navy. In conference play it can be very difficult to win on the road. Dating back to last year the Gators have lost 6 straight road games in the SEC and are a combined 3-12 on the road since the start of last year.

Along the way Florida has lost some heartbreakers and played some of the top teams in the country very tough. If Florida is to right the ship and break out of mediocrity they are currently in, they will need to get senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith to playing like an all-conference player. Finney-Smith is shooting 30% from the floor in his last three games. Dorian leads the team in scoring at 13.1 and rebounds at 7.6, but his production will need to be better for this team to even think about smelling a spot in the field of 68.

Another player Coach White was depending on being a major contributor is senior Alex Murphy. Unfortunately due to injury Murphy has only played a grand total of 23 minutes on the season. He has only appeared in three games scoring a total of 9 points. His leadership is needed on the court and it will be a great addition if Florida can get presence back on the floor.

One of the bright spots as of late is the play of freshman guard KeVaughn Allen who is averaging 18.8 points per game in his last 5 games after averaging 4.2 points in his 5 games before that, going scoreless in two of them. He has seemed to have turned the corner and is starting to fulfill the expectations that were placed on him coming into the year.

I believe Florida has a good enough roster to find them in the tournament at the end of the year. Point guard Chris Chiozza has solidified the point guard position and Devin Robinson has improved his game, increasing his scoring average to 11. The one spot Florida lacked last year was a true post player. Transfer John Egbunu has come in and played admirably becoming a dunking machine. He struggled finding space inside against Tennessee, but has played well when has been on the floor. Fixing those fouling problems is a priority.

Coming into the season we knew there would be some growing pains. Transition from a legendary coach to an up and comer will always present its problems. Mike White is young, energetic coach that came into the league with seasoned coaches in Rick Barnes (Tennessee), Ben Howland (Mississippi State) and Avery Johnson (Alabama). He does not hold their reputation as coaches and will not have the cache they have on the recruiting trail. There is still some proving he will need to do, but his young energy will hopefully get the job done.

This Florida team plays hard and you see the energy from Coach White in this team. Right now Florida may lack the skill to compete with the top teams in the SEC, but they are good enough to make a run at the NCAA tournament. That will come down to them being consistent and getting better shooting from the outside. This will be an interesting ride for first year coach Mike White and a team that is building a solid core of players moving into the future.

We are already in SEC play and selection Sunday is just over 2 months away. Football season is over and we are coming to the end of the recruiting season. Time to set our eyes on the hard court and hope these Gators can fight their way back into post season play.