After starting the season with a tough loss to Arizona the Florida Gators were able to land their first win of the season on Thursday as they went home to Gainesville and took care of business against the North Florida Ospreys winning handily 104-64. With the Gators opening the season with a marquee neutral site matchup, it was a comfortable change to head back home and take on a buy game opponent and after jumping out to an early lead they never looked back. The lopsided victory meant the Gators were able to empty the bench and give the first minutes of the season to Alex Lloyd, Isaiah Brown, Alex Kovatchev, Viktor Mikic, Cooper Josefsburg, and, to the absolute delight of the fans in attendance, 7’9” Olivier Rioux. Barely returning any talent from last year and filling up the roster with largely players from the non-D1 level, North Florida is projected to finish near the bottom of the sport, but the Gators played who was in front of them and got a win with zero drama which is about all you can ask.
Bounce Back Performance
Alex Condon didn’t play his best basketball against Arizona and he was eager to get back on track and he did so Thursday finishing with 25 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals to stuff the stat sheet in just about every way possible. Having a healthy size advantage over his matchup certainly helped, but Condon was able to showcase the touch around the rim and footwork that was so good for him last year and show fans once again why he got preseason All-American votes. Sometimes games like these can be big for the confidence of players, and the huge night for Condon should have him ready for some of the bigger matchups the Gators have upcoming.
Cleaning Up The D
Florida’s defense against Arizona left a lot to be desired and their inability to contain the pick and roll was a big reason why they ultimately lost. On Thursday the defense looked a lot tighter and it appears the Gators worked a lot on their concepts and communication and it resulted in a very good defensive showing, and one that could have looked a lot better if not for a number of North Florida players making incredibly difficult threes at the end of the clock. Given how many long balls North Florida shoots, Florida adjusted their defense to do a lot more switching in order to stay with shooters and they were able to execute the plan at a high level which will be good experience as the season moves along.
Area Of Concern
After going 7-27 from three against Arizona, the Gators had a poor shooting game once again against North Florida going 6-32. What makes matters worse is that the Gators were largely taking quality shots–open looks that they didn’t force up, and many of the misses looked terrible. There were a number of airballs, balls that slammed against the backboard with force, or shots that caught the far outside of the rim, and the ugliness of these misses suggests there are a lot of players that need to make adjustments. Entering the season one of the few concerns that Florida had was their ability to make threes, and the bigger lineup was going to make this even more challenging. Through two games the shooting has not looked good, so it’s something to monitor in the upcoming weeks.
Final Thoughts
It’s always difficult to know what to take away from buy games against teams at the bottom of the sport, but it did seem like the Gators were comfortable pushing the pace to their liking, and the defensive execution seemed tighter than what it was against Arizona. We’ll see how real both of these things are in their next game–a rivalry showdown with Florida State.