Florida’s opening to the PK85 Tournament didn’t go as planned as they fell to Xavier, pushing them to the losing side of the bracket while lowering their record on the season to 3-2. Now they’ll take on Oregon State, also 3-2 on the year, to try and salvage the Tournament with a chance to play a quality opponent in their third game of the season.
If Florida was to win against Oregon State, which will take place on Friday, the expected opponent will be either Purdue or West Virginia, giving the Gators a chance at a resume boosting win. If they were to lose, it would almost certainly mean they’d play Portland State who would not offer a chance at a quality win.
It all starts with the Beavers of Oregon State, a team that will be very difficult to prepare for on short rest. Oregon State is coming off one of the worst seasons a high major team has ever had, finishing 3-28 on the year with a 1-19 record in conference play. Things are already off to a better start for them with 3 wins under their belts including a victory over a very good Tulsa team. They have, however, already lost to Portland State by 13, an outcome which certainly gives shades of the team that was dreadful a year ago.
Going into the PK85 they were slated to take on Duke, which in the eyes of many meant the Beavers walking into a slaughter. According to the sportsbooks, Duke was favored to win by over 21 points. However, Oregon State didn’t go down easy, keeping the game close the entire way and only losing 54-51 which should be considered a tremendous accomplishment for them. Given that Duke is considered one of the best teams in the country, Florida should have a lot of respect for the Oregon State team they’re about to see.
As you can tell by the score, Oregon State is trying to slow the game down to a pace that’s as slow as possible in order to limit possessions and increase variance, something they need to overcome the talent deficit when playing most other high major opponents. Looking at how they played against Duke, this is a strategy that can very much work for them. The Beavers seldom run in transition, something that will be music to the ears of a Florida team that has struggled greatly in transition defense. Perhaps the Beavers’ coaching staff will see how poor the Gators are in transition defense and decide they want to try to run a bit, but that would go against their identity so I wouldn’t expect it.
Defensively, they slow the game down by largely playing a 2-3 zone and mucking things up, and they’ll also mix in a 1-3-1 to continue to try to confuse their opponents. Florida will have to be prepared for this compact zone that will look to clog up the paint as much as possible, something that Oregon State will likely exaggerate as they try to keep the ball out of the hands of Colin Castleton on the inside.
It can be difficult to rebound out of the zone and that’s an area where the Beavers can be vulnerable and the Gators can look to aggressively hit the glass offensively knowing that Oregon State won’t look to punish them by running out in transition.
A player to watch for Oregon State is Jordan Pope, a player that Todd Golden will be very familiar with. Golden recruited Pope while at San Francisco, with Oregon State just edging them out for his services. Pope has had an excellent start to his college basketball career averaging 16 points and 4 assists per game while bringing the Beavers 40% three-point shooting which has been extremely valuable to them given that they were one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country a year ago.
Another player that Golden will be very familiar with is Dzmitry Ryuny who spent his first four seasons of college basketball at San Francisco, all with Golden as a head coach or assistant, before transferring to Oregon State. Ryuny has good size at 6’9” and 220 pounds and is a stretch big who will look to punish Florida’s drop pick and roll coverage with the threat of a catch and shoot jumper.
Oregon State’s leader is Glenn Taylor, a 6’6” wing who does a little bit of everything, though he’s at his best putting his head down and getting to the rim and finishing. He’s averaging 16 points and 3 assists per game and is one of Oregon State’s few returning players which makes him knowledgeable about the system and a valuable piece of their 2-3 zone.
This game is going to be a fascinating one, though almost certainly not an aesthetically pleasing one. Oregon State’s number one goal is to make the game as ugly as possible–slowing the game down to a snail’s pace and making it play in the trenches. They want the game played in the 50’s and 60’s, while Florida would much prefer the 70’s and 80’s. The zone is going to be a challenge for the Gators to prepare for, and while Oregon State wasn’t able to get a win against Duke the way that they were able to play them close will give them a ton of confidence.
Florida and Oregon State are slated to tip off at 6 PM ET and it will be shown on ESPN U.