Gators Potent On Offense Taking Down Oregon State At The PK85

After a tough loss against Xavier to open up the PK85 Tournament the Gators were able to bounce back with a much improved effort on Friday taking down the Oregon State Beavers by a score of 81-68. Coming out hot from the start the Gators blitzed the Beavers to a 31-9 lead early and were able to coast the rest of the way coming out with an easy victory. Florida once again got quality contributions from Trey Bonham, Riley Kugel, and Will Richard, shouldering a lot of the offensive load and giving the Gators a chance to win without having to run everything through Colin Castleton. Florida’s next opponent and tip off time are yet to be announced but it will take place on Sunday giving the Gators a break on Saturday to rest, recover, and prepare.

 

Staying Hot

 

Once again Trey Bonham was dominant leading the Gators with 19 points and 3 assists providing an offensive boost that Florida likely did not see coming entering the season. His ability to create shots was on full display as he had a trio of threes fall in only a couple of possessions and you could see right away that the VMI transfer was locked in. This is two consecutive starts for Bonham and two games where he has been excellent so you can likely lock him in for a starting spot not just on Sunday but for the near future at least.

 

Coming Together

 

Florida’s offense to start the season was somewhat disjointed but they started to find their rhythm against Xavier and took another step on Friday scoring their 81 points efficiently shooting 57% from the field and 42% from three. Oregon State is a team that likes to muck things up defensively, mixing in compact 2-3 zones and frustrating 1-3-1 zones and the Gators made easy work of it, dicing up the defense and finding open shots nearly every time down the floor. This is a credit to the players as well as the coaching staff who came into this game with a great idea of what to run and how to execute. There is still work to be done on the defensive end but it’s good to see Florida making improvements on offense.

 

Back In Action

 

After four consecutive halves of not playing Kowacie Reeves got back on the floor, though it wasn’t for long in the second half. It’s clear that the emergence of Trey Bonham and Riley Kugel (who had 10 points off the bench) is making the competition for minutes at the wing difficult and right now it’s Reeves who is unfortunately finding himself on the bench. He made his arrival known as he had a monstrous reverse dunk–the kind of angry dunk that suggests he hasn’t loved being on the bench for so long. Florida’s wing rotation is going to continue to be a topic of discussion, though luckily it’s because they have a bunch of guys playing well that are commanding minutes. 

 

Final Thoughts

 

It would have been very easy for the Gators to roll over and not give much of an effort after dropping their first game of the PK85 but that didn’t happen. They came into this game focused and with a lot of intensity and grabbed control of the game before it seemed Oregon State even had a chance to blink and functionally the Gators had this game won halfway into the first half. Considering the Beavers just held Duke to 54 points the night before this was an excellent offensive showing for the Gators who can hopefully carry the positive momentum into Sunday to finish the tournament off with a win. 



Eric Fawcett
Eric is a basketball coach and writer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His work has been found at NBA international properties, ESPN, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Lindy's and others. He loves zone defenses, the extra pass, and a 30 second shot clock. Growing up in Canada, an American channel showing SEC basketball games was his first exposure to Gator hoops, and he has been hooked ever since. You can follow him on Twitter at @ericfawcett_.