Florida showed the ability to dominate a middling SEC team when they dismantled Arkansas 90-68 in their previous game but the test will get much harder on January 16 when the Gators (11-5, 1-2 SEC) take on the Tennessee Volunteers (12-4, 2-1 SEC). As of January 14th, before the poll updates on January 15th, the Volunteers are ranked #5 in the AP Poll and while there is a chance they drop a spot or two after going 1-1 last week they are still going to be a top-10 opponent for the Gators and taking down elite competition has been a challenge for the team the last year and a half. With the Volunteers currently 6th in the NET and this game taking place in Knoxville it’s about as valuable of a game from a resume standpoint you can get–NCAA Tournament committee members would refer to this not only as a quad-1 game but a “quad-1 A” game–and the Gators would love to get a win like that on their resume.
Head coach Rick Barnes has turned the Vols into a perennial power in the SEC. The last three years they have been #4, #3, and #5 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, and while their inability to go on deep runs in March has made them the butt of jokes–nearly every program in the country would love to have that kind of consistent success and nationally relevancy to get those seeds over and over again. This year looks to be no different for Tennessee as they were picked to win the SEC regular season in the preseason poll and there hasn’t been a lot to change those perceptions.
Coach Barnes always likes to play a challenging non-conference schedule and is willing to take losses in the process for opportunities to build a resume and toughen up his guys for SEC play. This year was no different as the Volunteers took three losses–though none of them are going to hurt them in the resume department. Those losses came at the hands of Purdue, Kansas, and North Carolina, all of which were on neutral floors or road games. Considering those three teams are projected to be in the mix for the Final Four–no harm, no foul. It wasn’t just “quality losses,” however–the Vols got big wins over Wisconsin on the road, Illinois, Syracuse, and NC State, all of which have made for a robust resume.
So far in the SEC Tennessee has a blowout 90-64 win over Ole Miss and an 85-79 win over Georgia that was a little bit too close for comfort. Georgia actually had an 11-point lead late in the second half but went the final seven minutes of the game without a field goal allowing the Volunteers to fight back and win the game by multiple possessions. This came on the heels of a 5-point loss to Mississippi State, so while Tennessee has been tremendous this season–they might not be playing their best basketball at this exact moment.
As has always been the case with the Volunteers under Coach Barnes it is defense first and they have been absolutely suffocating teams. Currently they are 3rd in the country in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric which won’t come as a surprise given that last year they were 1st in the country and the prior two seasons they were 3rd and 5th. Barnes always recruits physical, athletic, defensive-minded players and is willing to play defense-first lineups no matter what’s happening on the other end, so you can see why the results are there. Scheme-wise, Tennessee is a pure man to man team and has always been–focusing on ball pressure to disrupt the offense’s game plan while they load to the ball with the other four players on the court. If an offense does somehow get the ball inside they’ll be swarmed by length and active hands trying to poke the ball away. It’s incredibly difficult to get buckets inside against the Vols and opponents have had to hope their shots fall from the perimeter if they’re going to make anything happen. Rebounding has also been a focus and Tennessee has been one of the top defensive rebounding teams in the SEC–so this will be a challenge for the Gators to see if they’re able to continue to pound the offensive glass against a team with a lot of stout rebounders.
One of the biggest stories in college basketball this season has been the play of Dalton Knecht, a player who has turned out to be one of the best transfers in the country. Every high-major coach tries to identify which mid-major players can have an impact in the best leagues and many fail–but when Coach Barnes grabbed Knecht from Northern Colorado he got a stud. Perhaps in some ways it could have been predicted that the 6’6”, 215 pound do-it-all wing would figure out how to get things done in the SEC as he has excelled everywhere he has been in his basketball journey. Knecht started his college career at Northeastern Junior College where he was a junior college All-American before transferring to Northern Colorado. There, he was able to score at will culminating in last season where he averaged 20.2 points per game giving him the ability to transfer to Tennessee. Now, there have been a lot of players to put up huge numbers in leagues such as the Big Sky and not translate to the high-major level–but Knecht is different. In Tennessee’s first marquee game of the season Knecht led the way with 24 points against Wisconsin, and after consistently being a top scorer he put an exclamation point on his strong start with 37 points against North Carolina. Since then he’s shown no signs of slowing down, averaging 17.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists while hitting 40% of his threes. Knecht is as talented a player as there is in the country when it comes combining skills of moving with the ball, footwork on the block, and decisive dribble combinations on the perimeter. You could argue he’s the most polished scorer the Gators have seen this season and slowing him down will be at the top of the scouting report.
A familiar face to Florida fans will be guard Santiago Vescovi, and if you feel like you’ve heard that name a lot in recent years–you have. Vescovi has done something very few players have–stuck around at the same program for five seasons. This will be Vescovi’s seventh career game against the Gators and he usually plays a big role, whether with his ability to score, pass, or get under the skin of opponents. Overall Vescovi’s numbers are down this year as he’s averaging 7.7 points and 2.8 assists and while he’s never been a massive scorer he always finds a way to put his fingerprints on games.
Another player known for getting under the skin of opponents is 5’9” guard Zakai Zeigler who might be undersized but plays fearlessly. Averaging 10.5 points and 5.1 assists per game he has taken most of the lead ball handling duties and his ability to knife through defenses makes him a difficult cover. Florida has been playing a Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton backcourt in recent games with great success but neither of these guys are particularly equipped to stay in front of an electric 5’9” guard so this matchup could be a concern. Zeigler is a decent scorer on the inside but he’s at his best collapsing a defense before finding an opponent for an open dunk so perhaps even more so than the player guarding Zeigler the other Gators need to be locked in on his drives to make sure there aren’t easy drop off opportunities.
If there is a weak point for this Tennessee team it’s their offense. Saying that Tennessee is elite defensively and not so good offensively might sound like a broken record at this point as it’s been the case for multiple seasons but this year looks no different. They’re not bad by any stretch, and the play of Dalton Knecht has completely changed their shotmaking explosiveness offensively–but there are still a lot of times they can get stagnant and it cost them against Mississippi State and nearly cost them against Georgia. Florida just had arguably their best defensive game of the season against Arkansas and if they can carry that over to Tennessee they could keep this game close and hope the shotmaking of their guards can be the difference.
Florida and Tennessee will tip off at 7 PM ET on January 6 and it will be televised on ESPN.