Well folks, it’s finally here!
Florida basketball finally kicks off on Tuesday, November 9th against the Elon Phoenix (who were once upon a time called the Elon Fighting Christians, a fact too fun not to share).
The Gators had a “secret” scrimmage against North Carolina and an open exhibition against D2 Embry-Riddle to shake off the rust, and now things are serious. Florida can’t really afford to stumble much out of the gates as their second game is a rivalry matchup against mighty Florida State, so they’ll want to come out firing on all cylinders from night one against the Phoenix.
Elon 10-9 in the 2020-21 season, finishing 8th in the Colonial Athletic Association. However, that number doesn’t tell the whole story. They had a number of devastating injuries, and struggled through multiple lengthy COVID pauses as they fought through the issues related to playing basketball through a pandemic without a large amount of funding. This was actually a talented basketball club that was near the top of the league in talent, and many of those players are returning.
In the CAA preseason poll, Elon was picked to finish sixth. It is a talented mid-major league that could go a lot of different ways, as evidenced by the fact that Elon, despite being picked sixth overall, actually received a first place vote.
The Phoenix are most talented on the offensive end where they have a number of proven scoring threats. 6’2” Junior Hunter MacIntosh is arguably the most talented returning Phoenix player after averaging near 16 points per game last season. MacIntosh is a tough shot maker, loving to get to his step back out of the pick and roll. Standing only 6’2” he knows he isn’t able to simply rise up and get his jump shot off against lengthier defenders, so he’s developed an ability to create space with dribble moves and footwork.
Wing Jerald Gillens-Butler is another name to be aware of, someone who was arguably the Phoenix’s best player in the first three games of the season before ultimately having his season ended to injury. He’s got decent size for a wing at 6’5” and is a slasher who can beat his man off the dribble and finish in the paint. Gillens-Butler also lives at the free throw line, a physical driver who invites contact and puts pressure on officials to make calls.
While he isn’t the most talented player on the roster, one of Elon’s most important pieces could be 6’6” Hunter Woods. Elon is a team that plays very small, and the undersized Woods is someone they rely on to take minutes at the power forward and center position. Even though he is often outsized he does well to rebound fundamentally and find bodies to box out, leading to him averaging 7 rebounds per game last season.
A couple of interesting names that may be familiar to you are two SEC transfers in Torrence Watson (formerly at Missouri) and Andrew Junkin (Mississippi State). Both of these players struggled to get on the floor in the SEC but could see a regular shift in the CAA. Torrence Watson is a 6’5” wing that will likely see some minutes at the four, and Junkin is a true 7-footer which the undersized Phoenix could certainly utilize, particularly in a matchup with the much longer Gators.
Someone else who could come in and compete in the front court is 6’8” sophomore Michael Graham. He was one of the top recruits in Elon history last year, and his number one skill is shot blocking. Obviously he’ll still be giving up size to Colin Castleton and Jason Jitoboh, but don’t be surprised if he comes out and surprises with a few blocks you thought would be certain layups.
While playing small might hurt them on the inside occasionally, Elon is able to put a lot of skilled players on the floor at once which allows them to run creative and efficient offense. They like to space the floor with five players outside of the paint, and they run a lot of sets. The Gators are going to see shooters run off a variety of screens, and once those screeners make contact they’ll be diving towards the hoop looking for a layup. Elon also has a large playbook of sideline and end line out of bounds sets and they’ll certainly go deep in their bag against the Gators to try to steal a few points.
When they’re not running shooters off of screens the Phoenix are going to run a healthy dose of pick and rolls. Pick and roll defense was a problem for Florida last season so this will be a great test for them early in the season. Elon doesn’t have an explosive diver off of the pick and roll, so much of this offense is about freeing up their guards. Will Florida change their pick and roll defense from the hedging scheme that has struggled the last two seasons? Perhaps, and this will definitely be something to watch for against Elon.
Defensively, Elon was a heavy man-to-man team with an occasional press last season so the Gators are unlikely to see some exotic zone defenses, unless the Phoenix cooked something new up in the offseason to throw Florida a curveball.
Florida’s gameplan offensively will likely be to feature Colin Castleton who should be guarded by a much smaller player for nearly the whole game. How much will 7’ Andrew Junkins play? It’s tough to say, in Elon’s exhibitions he came off the bench, and was seldom used. Perhaps he gets more burn to match up with Castleton, but whether it’s a player that wasn’t able to see the floor in the SEC or a talented but undersized CAA forward like Hunter Woods or 6’7” Chuck Hannah (who also played some minutes for them at center) Castleton should have a serious advantage.
Another player that should be set up for great success is Anthony Duruji. Duruji was dominant against the lesser athletes of Embry-Riddle in the exhibition and he should have some similar matchups against Elon. Whether it’s on straight line drives, in transition, or on the offensive glass, everything is set up for Duruji to be assertive in this game. Mike White has mentioned on a number of occasions that he has been one of the best players in practice throughout the offseason and he backed that up against Embry-Riddle, now it’s time to do it against D1 competition.
How exactly Florida’s rotation shakes out will be another storyline to watch Tuesday. Against Embry-Riddle, Florida started Brandon McKissic, Myreon Jones, Phlandrous Fleming, Anthony Duruji, and Colin Castleton. The most curious omission was returning point guard Tyree Appleby, but he ended up leading the Gators in minutes after coming in off the bench, so it wasn’t as though White sees him as anything other than an incredibly important player.
The frontcourt is another area where minute breakdown should be interesting. It’s fairly clear that Colin Castleton and Anthony Duruji and the clear starters, but past that it’s a mystery exactly what Coach White will roll out. Will the smaller and more versatile CJ Felder or the hulking Jason Jitoboh get the backup minutes at center? Will Felder be the exclusive backup power forward, or does Phlandrous Fleming end up playing some Egor Koulechov-esque minutes there? These are definitely some areas where you can’t be sure what you’ll see until Tuesday rolls around.
Just how much run freshman Kowacie Reeves gets is also up in the air. He looked a bit shaky in the exhibition, taking a couple of ill-advised shots and rushing his stroke leading to some poor misses. He also is said to be one of the best shooters in practice so that performance was likely nothing more than nerves. Veteran players might get their bite at the apple before Reeves, so he might be in a position where he needs to perform as soon as he gets on the floor in order to extend that shift and get called on quickly for the next one.
Florida is going to be the clear favorite in this game and they’ll hope to control the game early and get to work through a few lineups while they figure out just how they want to look. Not that they want to look past Elon, but Florida State is next on the calendar and if they have any cobwebs left to shake off, they’ll hope to do it Tuesday.
It would very much be helpful if you would include the date, time of the game and whether it is on TV and on what channel. I always read your column and enjoy it.