Following an emotionally charged win over Ohio State to win the Fort Myers Tip Off the Gators now get to return to the comfy confines of Gainesville to take on the Troy Trojans on Sunday.
Florida has had a stretch of games with a decent level of importance over the last few weeks. First, a rivalry showdown with Florida State. Then, they welcomed future NBA lottery pick Patrick Baldwin and Milwaukee into town. Next, they headed to Fort Myers where they saw two high major opponents in Cal and Ohio State. Troy might be an opportunity to take a little bit of an exhale, though they certainly wouldn’t want a Thanksgiving hangover to put a scare in them against a Sun Belt opponent.
Troy is 3-2 to start the season against D1 competition. They opened their season against Butler and hung with them for most of the game before losing 70-59. They also have a tough loss to North Dakota (74-72), a team expected to finish near the bottom of the Summit League.
Their wins have come against Jacksonville State (a triple overtime thriller), Tennessee Martin, and most recently against former Florida assistant coach Dusty May and Florida Atlantic. FAU had the lead for much of this game, and untimely misses from the free throw line pushed the game into overtime where Troy was able to take control and come away victorious.
Florida is Troy’s last high major team on the schedule and their last opportunity to get a major upset win, so certainly they’ll be playing with some burst.
The Trojans will certainly be in tough against the Gators, and not just because of talent. Troy is also one of the youngest teams in the country, ranking 308th in experience. They often start two freshmen in point guard Duke Deen and center Nate Tshimanga, and with point guard being one of the most important positions for offense and center being one of the most important positions for defense, there are certainly times they can look young on both sides of the floor.
Duke Deen has arguably been the Trojans’ best player to start the season and it’s impressive to watch as the freshman only stands 5’8”. You can tell that he plays with a competitive fire that comes from defying the odds as an undersized player, and seeing his talent already through five games this could be a classic example where a player maybe should have ended up at a higher level but was under-recruited because of his height. He’s averaging 13 points, 4 assists, and 5 rebounds per game while also contributing 1.5 steals. Florida is going to be aware of his impact all game as much of what Troy does on both ends revolves around Deen. In transition he is trying to get to the rim and finish or draw fouls, while in the half court he will sit behind screens and pull deep threes. Behind the arc he is only shooting 31%, but he has attempted 7 triples per game so he clearly has the green light and against the Gators he is certain to let it fly.
Forward Efe Odigie is right there with Deen in terms of importance, but he contributes in a much different way. Odigie stands 6’9” and 240 pounds, legitimate size to hang with a high major opponent. He’s averaging 13 points and 5 rebounds per game, and while for most mid-majors he’d be playing center almost exclusively Troy will play big and have him at power forward which can provide some mismatches. The Trojans will post him, alongside other bigs in 6’10” Nate Tshimanga and 6’9” 190 pound Zay Williams, sometimes with the intention of going one on one, but often to set up one of their favorite offensive actions.
Troy’s favorite play, a misdirection stagger out of a post up. pic.twitter.com/DCDOu8kErC
— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) November 26, 2021
Going through the film I saw this play a number of times and it’s something they’ll definitely go to against the Gators.
As you can see, when they get that post up, they are mostly looking to find a three-point shooter. They have run it a number of times and the Gators should be prepared for it, and hopefully they can stay glued to the shooter coming off the screen looking for an easy look.
Defensively Troy is a man-to-man team primarily, though they will sprinkle in a bit of 2-3 zone. Oftentimes during the non-conference schedule a team like Florida is going to see a lot of junk zones against smaller conference opponents, but so far against Elon and Milwaukee and now Troy they are getting a good bit of man-to-man which is likely helping their rhythm.
For Florida, continuing to build their offensive system should be a priority in this game. They started the season well against Elon, FSU, and Milwaukee, but since then their offense has slowly gotten a bit stale. They have put in an entirely new system from what White is used to running and the Gators obviously have a number of new pieces all over their roster so they are far from a finished piece offensively, and they need to continue to build that chemistry. We have seen that they are already pretty far along defensively, so if they can continue to grow offensively they will be even more dangerous.
The Gators have also played their starters some heavy minutes recently (a definite change from recent seasons where Florida has gone to their bench often) and you have seen some fatigue from a few of those players recently. With Florida next having a stellar opponent in Oklahoma on Wednesday, they’d love to keep their starters fresh and healthy.
Florida versus Troy takes place Sunday, November 28th at 12 ET and will be televised by SEC Network.