We got KILLED on the boards, Young had 2 points and 3 rebs, Murphy had 3 rebs

[BLING]

Completely inept front court play today.

Now Murphy when he has an off night shooting, that's a big part of his game. So we can excuse his lack of point production slightly for being held under 10, but 3 rebounds in 32 minutes?

As far as Young. It's crazy that a guy of his stature can play 26 minutes, and get 2 points and 3 rebounds. Now he was battling and being physical out there on defense for sure, including taking some hard falls on the floor, but still... in terms of efficiency measures and all of that it's kind of ridiculous. The commentator during the game said that we were making an effort to get Young involved on offense, did Mizzou really do *THAT* good of a job taking him out of the game???

Could Yeguette have made the difference today? Maybe. I know he has nothing to do with poor shot selection though...

[gatordavisl]

And there is your blueprint. That's what it takes. Fortunately, not many teams have "what it takes."

[xenythx]

Young is not a very instinctive rebounder and not great at establishing inside position, which is a shame considering his physical gifts.

Young plays his best when he's just hustling his ass off.

[mac4lyfe]

There's plenty of teams that can kill us on the boards.

And there is your blueprint. That's what it takes. Fortunately, not many teams have "what it takes."

[HALLGATOR]

Casey got 7 boards which was a big help but I agree our bigs needed to do a better job rebounding

[BLING]

Young is not a very instinctive rebounder and not great at establishing inside position, which is a shame considering his physical gifts.

Young plays his best when he's just hustling his ass off.

It's kind of weird with Young, because at the start of both the last two years it seemed like he made some strides with his game (as far as his "touch" around the basket, and even knocking down the rare jump shot).

But each of the last two seasons i remember him hitting some real lulls as the season grinded on, and it seems like right now his free throw shooting is in his head. He does seem to be working hard out there, but you are right the game of basketball is not "natural" to him.

I said last year, he's probably the first Florida big man I remember in history that I hoped spent ZERO time in the weight room in the offseason :laugh:, and instead just shot a basketball and worked on his moves for 3 hours aday.

[bullish]

Bling, I am with you.

[HALLGATOR]

Keep in mind that it was posted, by AKA I think, that Missouri was the #1 rebounding team in the league. You couple this with WY being out and it is no surprise we got beat on the boards. Still doesn't mean we should not have done better but this was a strength of the Tigers.

[InstiGATOR1]

I do agree UF could rebound better and certainly should have tonight. Still many of UF's guard rebounds were on tap outs from the bigs. UF seemed to have tapping out contested rebounds as a strategy.

[tommyuf21]

I do agree UF could rebound better and certainly should have tonight. Still many of UF's guard rebounds were on tap outs from the bigs. UF seemed to have tapping out contested rebounds as a strategy.

Its about all you can do when you're out numbered. Every one of those tap outs saved us a rebound as we only had one post player in position to even make contact with the ball.

[gatormann]

40 to 28 on the glass. That's always going to be a big factor. Yugette could've helped not only be grabbing rebounds himself but by keeping Young and Murphy fresh.

[108]

one thing that needs to be mentioned, is that when you take a high percentage of 3 pt shots, rebounds tend to be out farther

that being said, he is a very poor rebounder for his size

[InstiGATOR1]

One additional think I noticed in the play by play, Missouri grabbed the last four rebounds of the game.

[gatormann]

While our front court did not score or rebound well, they played some very tenacious interior defense. Our guards did a great job helping out by stripping guys in the post, as well.

[akaGatorhoops]

Keep in mind that it was posted, by AKA I think, that Missouri was the #1 rebounding team in the league. You couple this with WY being out and it is no surprise we got beat on the boards. Still doesn't mean we should not have done better but this was a strength of the Tigers.

Yeah... I didn't expect us to win the battle on the bards, but there was a 22 rebound swing from last game to this one.
That is tough to overcome.

[tommyuf21]

Bowers made a big difference. Still, as much as we were dominated in that area, we still had a shot to win on the road.

[HALLGATOR]

^^
Agree, you add in Bowers and subtract Yeguete and that accounts for quite a lot. But once again, I agree we still should have done better on the inside. You can't have your center pulling down just 3 boards and expect to have good results against quality opponents.

[BLING]

While our front court did not score or rebound well, they played some very tenacious interior defense. Our guards did a great job helping out by stripping guys in the post, as well.

Yeah, I noticed Young out there especially. He was battling, and I know that isn't always appreciated.

Just talking about stats though, that was a terrible statistical game from our bigs in terms of rebounds and points in the paint. Points in the paint gets overlooked when you are shooting 40% from 3's and blowing teams out, but when you are in a see-saw game with a minute to go, you win those games by "points in the paint" and at the free throw line. (obviously Young's free throw struggles complicates that a bit, as hack-a-shaq becomes a viable option for opponents). But you have to find a way to get those high % shots in critical situations - and not "settle" for the three pointer. Even though we are always a high three point % shooting team, I bet if you analyzed shots in the last minute of games like that, that the shooting % goes way, way down.

[gator34654]

If we have to win games with our bigs forget about it. Lets start with PY, I love his energy but it's what he can't do that bothers me. He has muscles but can't jump very high, not very quick, has a VERY limited offensive game, is a poor ft shooter like most of the team, and apart from murph we really don't have any bigs. PY is tall but not that tall. We have trouble getting him the ball most of the time and when we do usually it's a hit or miss situation. He will probably opt of the NBA but for the life of me as a PF there what real benefit is he? The only thing i can see is he is a tall muscular guy who imo really doesn't use his strength well enough.
Murph had an off night shooting, he can post up but that's not his strong suit. He is typically not around or under the basket to get a lot of rebounds.

IMO if we had a better inside presence we win these close games. We have the outside shooting, we just lack inside presence and that will cost us down the road. Great to have a Horford and Noah again. Miss those days.

[gogators73]

Mizzou is like the #2 rebounding team in the country. Not that that should be an excuse but at least we weren't inept vs. a horrible rebounding team.

[phideltdj]

The team was good enough to be up 13 points on the road against a team that was undefeated at home and let it get away. We know they are capable of destroying teams so it comes down to the psyche for me. Are they tough enough on the road to overcome adversity when the home teams fight back?

[TampaGatorFan]

The team was good enough to be up 13 points on the road against a team that was undefeated at home and let it get away. We know they are capable of destroying teams so it comes down to the psyche for me. Are they tough enough on the road to overcome adversity when the home teams fight back?

^ this

We have more than enough physical talent to win it all. The big question is their mental toughness. It's easy to win by 21. It's tough to win by 1.

[gogators73]

They don't have any mental toughness IMO.

They are shocked when they get in close games and don't play with the same efficiency. They take bad shots because they are too afraid to go attack the basket.

Don't get me wrong. I wouldn't be shocked to see us win the national title by winning 5 blowouts and being fortunate that our "tentative" mode gets us 1 close win. But the chances of winning the national title would skyrocket if this team would just freaking calm down and focus.