The Florida Gators are midseason interruption veterans at this point in the 2020-21 season. Between the break following Keyontae Johnson’s collapse and COVID-19 protocols, the Gators have had 10 games canceled or postponed so far.
Most recently, the virus and contact tracing amongst the team forced Florida to postpone games at LSU and Tennessee. Then, an outbreak within Texas A&M postponed the contest scheduled for last Saturday.
While this two-week break between games was far from ideal, it is something Florida has experience with, and handled well previously.
“We’ve all kind of been here and done that,” said head coach Mike White. “It’s a crazy year of college basketball, but at this time of the year, heck it seems like our third, fourth, fifth time in this situation where it seems like we haven’t played in a little bit. Our guys are anxious but our concerns should be on what we’ve got to get better at more than anything.”
For several days during this pause, the Gators practiced with just five scholarship players and two walk-ons while the rest of the team quarantined. Only over the last few days did Florida get its full 14-player roster back on the court.
The only question that still remains is Colin Castleton, who White said would be back with the team on Monday, but a game day decision for the upcoming trip to Arkansas.
Despite the lack of bodies, Florida continued its day-to-day just as it would at full strength. Even the quarantined guys got in on practices, being able to watch live on their iPads and ask questions throughout.
It might take some time to get back to normal physically, but mentally, the Gators never skipped a beat.
Through all of the craziness in this new world of sports, White actually thinks the ups and downs have helped his team mature.
“These guys have faced so much adversity,” he said. “I like to think optimistically that it’s helped our guys grow as young men, learning how to deal with stuff that they can’t control, that’s outside of what they can control.”
Still, it is difficult to maintain full focus while practicing only to continually have games pushed back. White said Florida has had a few average days on the court over the last two weeks, and it cannot afford to have another night like it did in the 72-66 loss to South Carolina last time out.
The Gators are ready to erase that memory and get back to playing the way they were in the four-game win streak prior to that.
“It’s definitely tough,” said junior guard Noah Locke. “I mean, having that bad taste in our mouth. But it makes us just want to go harder and be ready for the next game. That’s pretty much what we’ve been doing. Just continuing to get better every day and preparing for the next game we have.”
Florida doesn’t get any kind of warmup time either, with a road trip to Fayetteville. The Arkansas Razorbacks are the hottest team in the SEC, on a six-game winning streak and fresh into the Top-25.
The game will air on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.