Florida Gators vs. Navy Midshipmen preview

By Jenna Ladd

The official start to the Florida Gators basketball season has arrived. Florida will take on Navy for the first time since 1961 on Friday at 9:30 p.m. in Annapolis, Maryland as a part of the Veteran’s Day Classic. The team has been in Maryland since Wednesday, spending the past few days touring Navy’s campus and meeting Navy students and veterans.

Devin Robinson gets a tour of a Navy ship prior to the Florida Gators game against Navy. / photo courtesy of Florida Gators basketball Instagram
Devin Robinson gets a tour of a Navy ship prior to the Florida Gators game against Navy. / photo courtesy of Florida Gators basketball Instagram

Unlike Florida, Navy has not had a chance to take the court in an exhibition game before starting their season. The Gators have some valuable game-play under their belt, as every bit counts to a team experiencing so many changes from the staff to the players.

After defeating Palm Beach Atlantic 89-42 on Thursday, players have started to emerge and flashes of what this season could be littered the court. Some of Florida’s players, like Chris Chiozza, struggled to get their rhythm off of the bat, but in Chiozza’s case, he was able to work out the kinks for the second half of the game and finished out with a 75% FG and two rebounds. This just proves how valuable every bit of game time is for a team who just experienced an overhaul to grow.

Even in a game where Florida was struggling to find their tempo, four were able to end the game scoring in double digits (J. Egbunu, D. Robinson, D. Finney-Smith, K. Allen). These four have been identified from the pre-season as guys to look out for on the court, and now Gator fans are starting to see why.

An explosive first impression was made by John Egbunu for the Florida Gators as he lead the boards with 13 points and contributed on the defense with six rebounds. His height came into play as he put up three blocks, including one that sent the basketball down the tunnel of the O’Connell center.

Devin Robinson put up similar numbers against Palm Beach Atlantic, making 12 points and 10 rebounds on to the boards. His magic number of 3 came into play as he put up three blocks, assists and steals.

The Florida Gators basketball team tours the Naval Academy prior to their game against the Midshipmen. / Photo courtesy of the Florida Gators Instagram page
The Florida Gators basketball team tours the Naval Academy prior to their game against the Midshipmen. / Photo courtesy of the Florida Gators Instagram page

Not to much surprise, Dorian Finney-Smith was right up there with 12 points and eight rebounds. He one of the team’s returning starters from last year who had been given the role of a leader in both points and people from the end of the season in 2015. He seems to be taking to that role nicely, however Coach Mike White would like for him to be a little more vocal on the court with his teammates.

As for Navy, there is not a whole lot to go off of for their season as they have not had a chance to hit the court just yet. The Midshipmen lost their three senior leading scorers from last season – however the same could be said for Florida losing players like Horford, Carter and Frazier.

Navy does however have some good height on their side of the ball, with nine guys coming in at 6’6” or above. They also have four returning players who started at least ten games in seniors Tilman Dunbar, Will Kelly, Kendall Knorr and junior Edward Alade. Dunbar is the team’s leading returning scorer as he averaged 9.1 points for the Midshipmen last season.

Nick de la Torre
A South Florida native, Nick developed a passion for all things sports at a very young age. His love for baseball was solidified when he saw Al Leiter’s no-hitter for the Marlins live in May of 1996. He was able to play baseball in college but quickly realized there isn’t much of a market for short, slow outfielders that hit around the Mendoza line. Wanting to continue with sports in some capacity he studied journalism at the University of Central Florida. Nick got his first start in the business as an intern for a website covering all things related to the NFL draft before spending two seasons covering the Florida football team at Bleacher Report. That job led him to GatorCountry. When he isn’t covering Gator sports, Nick enjoys hitting way too many shots on the golf course, attempting to keep up with his favorite t.v. shows and watching the Heat, Dolphins and Marlins. Follow him on twitter @NickdelatorreGC