In what was a rocky performance that looked every bit like it was Florida’s first game of the season they were only narrowly able to escape abject disaster disaster with a 76-69 win over Army. The Black Knights hit the Gators in the mouth early, jumping out to a 12-2 lead, one that forced the Gators into taking two early timeouts. At the half they led by 8 but ultimately the Gators were able to get their footing and claw back into the game just in time to come away with a victory. This was a stressful game for Florida and their coaching staff as Army controlled the play for most of the 40 minutes but the team, led by Tre Mann and Tyree Appleby in the closing minutes, was able to grit things out when they needed to. Florida won’t have much of an opportunity to evaluate things as they play the Boston College Eagles Thursday at 9:30 ET.
Shaking Off The Rust
Plenty went wrong for the Gators and while it could be a sign of major issues moving forward you can hope that it was just rust from the opening game of the season. For starters, they had 14 turnovers. They also shot only 27% from three and a dismal 24-36 (67%) from the free throw line. Defensively they got lost in rotations especially when guarding the pick and roll, something that allowed Army to get a number of easy buckets. Shooting and turnovers are two areas that you’d expect to be a little shaky in the first game of the season, especially one in a bizarre environment with no fans, so you can hope that this was rust and not a sign of long term problems.
Making The Leap
Tre Mann had a disappointing freshman season for the Gators but over the offseason coaches couldn’t talk enough about the steps he had made. Luckily, in Florida’s opening game he backed up all the compliments he was receiving with a 19 point, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 5 steals performance. In high school Mann was known as a bucket getter, something that wasn’t realized in his first season in Gainesville. Fortunately it looks like he’s found that touch and when he was on he was hard to step. What was also encouraging was his defense where he had some great moments as a help defender stepping in to take charges on driving Army players. Florida needs leaders to step up and in this game it was definitely Mann.
Spark Off The Bench
Facing a double digit deficit in the first half the Gators couldn’t get anything going and the turning point was in the second half when they went to transfer Tyree Appleby. He came off the bench hot, hitting tough shots and driving the ball into the paint to draw fouls. Ultimately he ended the game with 15 points in limited minutes, also chipping in 3 beautiful assists that got his teammates layups. Appleby plays the game with incredible passion and joy and is a jitterbug with the ball in hands, and when defenders sagged off him he drilled some big shots. He may be undersized and have some defensive limitations but he’s as talented offensively as anyone on the roster and he’s going to be extremely valuable to the Gators this year.
Closing Thoughts
This game was ugly and quite frankly, a stressful exhibition of basketball that probably brought up some negative thoughts from disappointing years past. It’s tough to say for sure how much of this game was just rust from the Gators. This was Army’s fourth game of the season and they already had a great win over a good Buffalo squad, so they definitely deserve credit. We should really know more about this team on Thursday when they take on Boston College.