Things won’t get any easier for the Gators this week following their blowout loss at Kentucky over the weekend.
First up is a road game at Texas A&M on Tuesday night, which can be a tough place for opponents to win. Then No. 1 Auburn visits the O’Connell Center on Saturday afternoon.
The Gators are at the point where they’re going to have to win games like this just to make the NCAA Tournament. Their resume features only one signature win in Ohio State.
Unfortunately, it what’s become a familiar refrain for this team, they might not be at full strength for this pivotal week. Point guard Tyree Appleby is questionable after reaggravating a left thigh bruise early in the Kentucky game. He didn’t practice on Sunday or Monday.
The Gators (16-9, 6-6 SEC) have been most effective on the offensive end when Appleby uses his outstanding speed and quickness to either get into the paint and kick out to open shooters or lead a fast break. He’s also the team’s fourth-best three-point shooter at 32.6 percent.
The Gators don’t really have a true point guard behind him. If he’s unable to go, Brandon McKissic and Myreon Jones will likely split time at the point, but both of them are better suited on the wings.
This is a really bad time for the Gators to have point guard concerns. Texas A&M ranks second in the SEC with 10.5 steals per game. Taking care of the ball was going to be a challenge even with a healthy Appleby; that will especially be the case now.
“I think they’re second in the country in turnover percentage,” Florida coach Mike White said. “They’re really active with their hands. Quick, fast team that swarms to the ball. They just create havoc. They create turnovers. Whoever we’ve got out there, we’ve got to handle the ball with poise and maturity.”
The Aggies (15-10, 4-8) have had a weird season to this point. They started the campaign 15-2, including wins in their first four conference games. Then, as the competition stiffened, they fell apart. They’ve lost eight games in a row.
While the Aggies likely won’t factor into any postseason discussions, they still shouldn’t be overlooked because of their long losing streak. Six of those eight losses came by 10 points or less. This team is very capable of beating the Gators on Tuesday night.
“Basketball is such a funny game of streaks within games, game to game,” White said. “When they’re playing well, they’re really good, and our league is just very, very unforgiving. We’re all playing incredibly difficult schedules, and they certainly have recently.”
Guard Quenton Jackson is arguably Texas A&M’s best player. He’s averaging 13 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He’s shooting 33 percent from beyond the arc and 83 percent from the free throw line, which ranks fifth in the league.
“Really good in the passing lanes,” White said. “He’s really good with his hands defensively. His speed, his creative ability in the open floor, and then, in the halfcourt, he’s a guy that can get it off the catch, and he can go get it off the bounce, too. His ability to go create going either way, create jump shots, get into the paint. He’s a very good player.”
The Gators are disappointed about losing to Kentucky as badly as they did, and they’re sad to see Appleby battling through an injury, but they don’t plan on getting bogged down by the past.
“We’ve got to watch the film, know what we did wrong, take from that film and just put it into practice,” McKissic said. “You can’t dwell on a bad loss. We’ve got to move forward and get ready for the next game.”