From the opening tip it was clear that Florida was outmatched by Tennessee with the Volunteers taking an early lead and never relenting, ultimately winning 85-66. With the loss the Gators fall to 11-6 and 1-3 in SEC play with the #6 ranked Volunteers improving to 13-4 and 3-1 in the league. Entering Tuesday’s game Tennessee was known as one of the top defensive teams in the country and they backed it up making things difficult for the Gators the moment they crossed half and Florida was never able to generate any sustainable level of offense. While the inability to score was Florida’s main issue they also won’t be happy with their defensive effort as the Volunteers were able to get just about everything they wanted shooting 52% from the field. There was a bit of a strange feel to this one beginning with a tip time that was pushed two hours early due to concerns with the weather and the Gators were not favored to win on the road against an excellent Tennessee team, but this is yet again a blowout loss the Gators have suffered where they were not competitive.
Career Nights
Florida’s porous defense allowed for a couple of career nights for Volunteers players including 39 points and 8 rebounds from wing Dalton Knecht and 19 points and 10 rebounds from post player Jonas Aidoo. From the jump it was clear that Tennessee had a clear advantage in the size category and they were going to go to it over, and over, and over again. Without any big wings on the roster the Gators didn’t have anyone capable of guarding Knecht in the mid post area and he repeatedly hit turnaround jumpers and if any of Florida’s frontcourt players had to match with him it was game over. Tennessee also liked their physicality edge on the inside and repeatedly posted up Aidoo who is not known as much of a scorer but who was able to repeatedly get deep post catches and finish hook shots against the Gators. Ole Miss was the first team to really try to bully the Gators on the inside and Tennessee took the cue and did the same thing and as of now Florida hasn’t shown any ability to adjust.
Stagnant Offense
You always knew this was going to be a tough game offensively for the Gators as they have shown struggles to create open looks and now they had to go against arguably the best defense in the country with the Volunteers. Usually an up-tempo attack the Gators were slowed by Tennessee’s defense who made it a half court game and when that was the case Florida wasn’t able to create any clean looks, ultimately shooting 30% from the field. Players didn’t seem confident with where they needed to be on the floor and actions were not run crisply and many possessions ended with tough looks–exactly what the Volunteers were hoping for. The Gators were able to grab 18 offensive rebounds, a miraculous feat against a very good rebounding Tennessee team, but they weren’t able to convert those second chances into points.
Changing Things Up
In nearly every game this season Todd Golden has started the second half with the same group that started the game but that finished against the Volunteers. Frustrated with the effort from his starters in the first half he took Will Richard and Micah Handlogten out of the starting group and inserted Riley Kugel and Alex Condon. Kugel has shown some flashes of returning from a cold streak and while he had some tough moments with turnovers he did finish 12 points. Condon has slowly but surely earned the trust of the coaching staff and he managed the physicality of Tennessee much better than Handlogten did–punctuated with 3 huge blocks at the rim. This new “starting” group that began the second half played fairly well but the Gators already seemed out of the game by this point, but it’s something to monitor moving forward.
Final Thoughts
This was somewhat of a “scheduled loss” for the Gators–a game you could have circled on the calendar the moment the game was announced and known it was going to be a challenge. Tennessee is talented and old and with the game taking place in Knoxville you always knew it was going to be a challenge for the Gators, but still–you would have liked to see a far more competitive effort. From the opening tip there was a clear game plan from the Volunteers to pound the ball inside and Florida never really had an answer and you would have liked to see some adjustments to try to keep Tennessee from doing whatever they wanted. Additionally, many problems that have plagued the Gators this year such a poor half court offensive scheme, a lack of wings that can hang with elite perimeter scorers, and interior bulk were once again issues and all of these attributes will be continued concerns moving forward. Florida will get an easier challenge on Saturday when they take on a Missouri team that has been struggling to find an identity.