After taking on arguably the best team in the country in unbeaten UConn and falling 75-54 the Gators (6-4) will have a chance at a different caliber of opponent Wednesday when they take on the Ohio Bobcats (5-4).
Ohio was picked to finish 5th in the Mid American Conference and currently sits at 138th in the NET rankings.
This game will be considered a “semi-home” game for the Gators as it will take place in Tampa at Amalie Arena.
Ohio’s best win of the season came on Sunday as they took down Youngstown State on the road with a buzzer beating layup by center Dwight Wilson. They also took down another Horizon League opponent in Cleveland State by a score of 81-70.
They were extremely close to getting a huge upset over Michigan in a game they took to overtime, though the Wolverines were ultimately about to sneak out the win. However, taking the Wolverines to overtime shows the caliber of team the Bobcats are.
The Bobcats’ worst loss so far is to Detroit Mercy by 14, though it was on the road.
While many mid-major teams have played multiple high major buy games at this point of the season that isn’t the case for Ohio who have only played Michigan–and their ability to play that game down to the wire shows they won’t be scared of a team like the Gators.
For the hardcore Gators basketball fans reading this, you might remember the name Dwight Wilson who now leads the way for Ohio. Three offseasons ago Wilson entered the transfer portal after starting his career at James Madison. Florida had interest, but ultimately backed off. He ended up going to Ohio where he has had a successful three years, and this year as a sixth year senior (after getting the extra COVID year as well as getting a year of eligibility back after an injury) is averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds per game. It was his incredible rebounding numbers at James Madison that had the Gators interested in his services and he has continued to be a menace on the glass at Ohio, currently 30th in the country in offensive rebounding and 49th in the country in defensive rebounding. He will make things difficult for any Gator tasked with boxing him out, especially in switching situations.
Another player to be aware of is guard Miles Brown who is currently avering 11 points per game, second on the Bobcats, while shooting 47% from three. He is a big shot maker who has hit some huge threes at the ends of games and keeping track of him will have to be a goal for Florida’s defense.
Point guard Jaylin Hunter is also putting together a solid season for the Bobcats contributing 10 points and 4 assists per game. Hunter will get a steady diet of high screen and roll and will look to get into the teeth of the defense before finding an open shooter. He’s undersized at only 6’0” and struggles to finish at the rim, so when he gets downhill and gets a paint touch he is looking for the kickout much more than the finish.
Kickouts have been a key element of Ohio’s offense and they’ve had success from behind the arc shooting 36% as a team. Florida has struggled to keep teams from getting hot from behind the arc so far this season so they might have some challenges against this Bobcats team.
Florida’s defense is well-suited to take away some of the three-point attempts that Ohio has lived on. The Bobcats run a structured pick and roll attack that’s geared towards finding three-point shooters when help collapses, but the Gators have done well to not over-help pick and rolls within their “drop” pick and roll coverage, a style of defending the pick and roll that allows players away from the ball to stay at home on shooters. Ohio also generates a lot of threes out of posting up Dwight Wilson and waiting for double teams, but Florida has largely guarded one-on-one in the post without overhelping and opening themselves up to inside-out threes.
Defensively, Ohio is primarily a man-to-man team though recently they have increased their usage of a 2-3 zone. The Bobcats roster is a bit atypical, largely playing three guards at once that are 6’2” or smaller. However, in the frontcourt, they often play two centers together. This three guard, two big lineup that doesn’t feature a wing can make for some fascinating matchups, and one of their ways of making up for some deficiencies defensively is by going to a zone. The Gators have done very well against zones this year and not so good against man defense, so it will be interesting to see what Ohio does to try and slow down Florida’s attack.
This game will take place exactly one week after the blowout loss the Gators took to UConn so they will have had plenty of time to think about this game. Something to watch will be the health of Kyle Lofton and Will Richard who were able to get into the game against UConn, though neither completely looked like themselves. Their health will be highly important for the Gators to reach their ceiling this year so just how much they can be utilized against the Bobcats will be a storyline to monitor.
Florida and UConn playing in Tampa will take place on Wednesday, December 14th at 7 PM ET and will be televised on ESPN 2.