The Big 12-SEC Challenge has provided a number of entertaining games over the past few years and the Gators will be hoping to come up on the right side of another classic on Saturday when they take on the West Virginia Mountaineers.
West Virginia has looked fantastic this season with wins over Texas Tech, Georgetown, VCU, and a very good Richmond team. While they weren’t able to come away with the win, a game that established just how good the Mountaineers are was a battle with Gonzaga. If you’ve been following college basketball at all this season you know that Gonzaga has been dominating just about everyone, but their closest game came against West Virginia. It was close for much of the game, with West Virginia actually leading for a good stretch of it, but ultimately the Bulldogs came away with a 87-82 win. That is the closest any team has come to Gonzaga as the Bulldogs have beat Kansas, Iowa, Virginia, and BYU by double digits. The ability for West Virginia to hang with Gonzaga speaks to just how good they are, as does their #11 ranking in the AP Poll. With Tennessee floundering recently it looks like West Virginia could very well be the best team the Gators have played this season meaning it could be an extremely tough game.
From a resume standpoint, a tough game is actually what the Gators need right now. Some might say it’s too early to start talking NCAA Tournament bracketology and that would be a fair statement, but your resume is what it is and right now the Gators could use a boost. Losing to Kentucky looks like it could be a quadrant-3 loss, about as bad of a loss as you can take, and the Mississippi State loss isn’t looking much better. Now, normally the SEC would offer plenty of opportunities for resume boosting wins, but this year that simply isn’t the case. Kentucky went from a team you’d usually be certain would offer the chance at a quality win to one that’s only a chance for a bad loss, and Tennessee isn’t exactly looking like the team they were at the start of the year either. The league on a whole is down, and that means the Gators need to capitalize on this opportunity against West Virginia if they want a resume boost they may not have another opportunity to get.
When you hear West Virginia you probably have a certain style in mind and that’s one that coach Bob Huggins has built over the last number of years. Tough, in your face, physical defense. They have been one of the only teams in the high major ranks to full court press with regularity and their success with the style has made them one of the toughest teams in the country to play against over the last couple of seasons. Their reputation as bullies on the defensive end has been a positive one, but they haven’t exactly been as well regarded on the offensive end. Prioritizing size and defensive toughness has paid dividends on their own end, but those types of players haven’t always been particularly efficient on the offensive end. For that reason West Virginia has been known for a team that isn’t particularly explosive offensively and oftentimes their best offense comes on a missed shot and an offensive rebound from their patented tall trees in the middle.
Of course, that was up until this season.
In 2020-21, the Mountaineers look a whole lot different. Yes, they’ll still press you and play pretty good defense and yes, they’ll fight you on the glass, but in a lot of other ways they look like an entirely different team. For once, Huggins has started to sacrifice a bit of size and physicality in recruiting, instead going for some scoring juice and electricity in the backcourt. Offensively the Mountaineers have come alive, and have been winning games with their ability to score as opposed to the last decade when they have had a defense first, second, and third mindset.
Offensively they’re led by Miles McBride, a 6’2” guard averaging 16 points and 4 assists per game. He still has a lot of the Bob Huggins toughness and loves to get into the teeth of the defense and finish strong but also has shooting touch you don’t normally see from West Virginia guards. He’s hitting 47% of his threes, something the Gators will have to be aware of as they try to slow him down.
Another player capable of hitting from deep is Taz Sherman, a gunner hitting just under 40% of his threes. Sherman isn’t anywhere near the finisher that McBride is on the inside and is a pure catch and shoot threat, one the Gators will need to try to stay glued to.
West Virginia’s offense is all about moving the ball side to side and trying to generate gaps for their guards to drive through. McBride is the main beneficiary of this offense, though there is another player who also thrives in it.
Center Derek Culver.
Culver is a 6’10” defensive monster, an intimidating shot blocker that locks down the paint and allows West Virginia to press as they know if they get beat over the top Culver will be there to meet them and mop up mistakes. While he has been known as a defender most of his career, his offense is finally starting to open up.
Playing the 4 out, 1 in style that West Virginia is now employing after years of 3 out, 1 in, Culver is now in a position to catch lobs and dump off passes once his teammates get into the paint and command help. Culver is up to 13 points per game this season and if he catches the ball on the inside, watch out. Florida may need the 10 combined fouls of Colin Castleton and Omar Payne to keep him from feasting on dunks, and Jason Jitoboh and Osayi Osifo might have to chip in as well.
Another skill that makes Culver so dominant is his rebounding. Averaging over 10 rebounds per game he is arguably the best rebounder in the country and that could mean serious problems for a Florida team that hasn’t been very good on the glass this season. Whether it’s on the offensive glass where he uses his length and leaping ability or the defensive glass where he uses his strength and positioning he takes a high level of pride in securing missed shots and he’s going to be a load to handle for Florida. The Gators have switched a lot this season which has often left their guards battling with opposing centers and if they’re left to box out Culver, they will have very little chance.
An X-factor for Florida to be aware of is junior Sean McNeil, a streaky scorer who will occasionally go quiet but will also occasionally explode for big games. He’s only a 33% three-point shooter but he has had a number of games where he has hit three or more threes, and the Gators will have to hope he has one of his 0-6 games as opposed to his 4-7 games.
The one area West Virginia is vulnerable is defensively. It’s crazy to think that West Virginia, a team with arguably the most established defensive culture in the country, is struggling defensively despite having a #11 ranked team but it’s truly the case. Their lack of defensive quality has forced them to press less and even play a bit of zone, something that hasn’t been the case in recent history as they have been a physical man to man team.
When in their man defense they will apply heavy ball pressure while players one pass away try to deny their checks and force the ball handler to score one on one. This style of defense has caused all kinds of problems for the Gators in recent history but this year they are far more equipped to handle it. Tre Mann has as good a handle as anyone in the country and if defenses want to crowd Tyree Appleby he’s more than capable of getting out of trouble as well. One of the keys for the Gators will be to keep Noah Locke out of situations where he needs to be a driver as he has had all kinds of problems when facing tight man to man defense.
There have been plenty of teams capable of putting up points on West Virginia and the Gators could very well be one of them. Florida’s three-point shooting has remained hot and with Derek Culver patrolling the paint for West Virginia the Gators will be happy to try to get outside shots as opposed to challenging him on the inside.
The Gators looked far from crisp against Georgia and Vanderbilt despite getting wins and they’ll need to play much better if they want to take down West Virginia. However, the Mountaineers are vulnerable defensively and Florida’s offense has been good this season and you can see a roadmap for how the Gators could come away with a win. This should be a fantastic game and one you’ll want to tune in to on Saturday at 2:00 PM ET.