Playing in front of a pro-Gators crowd in Tampa the Gators took care of business, bludgeoning the Ohio Bobcats 82-48. Florida came out from the tip with a clear plan of attack and overwhelmed the Bobcats with their size and athleticism, functionally controlling the game for all 40 minutes and not allowing any runs against. The Gators improve to 7-4 on the season and will look to continue to gel as their non-conference slate starts to wind down.
Leading The Way
It was only a few games ago that sophomore wing Kowacie Reeves couldn’t even see the floor for the Gators but since he has re-entered the rotation he has shown just how important he is to this team, leading the Gators with 20 points off the bench Wednesday. It wasn’t the starting role he was used to from the beginning of the season but when Reeves got into the game he made his presence felt with some dead-eye threes from well behind the arc, something he has proven to be able to do. After tonight’s 4-7 performance from deep Reeves is now shooting 45% from three with a mounting sample size, making him one of the best shooters in the game.
Back In Action
Point guard Kyle Lofton and wing Will Richard have been nursing injuries suffered while in Portland at the PK85 and hadn’t looked like themselves until Wednesday’s game against the Bobcats where they started to look back to form. Both were able to start with Lofton having 15 points and 7 assists while Richard had 3 points and 4 rebounds while providing quality defense. Lofton was as good as he has looked in a Florida uniform, while Richard looked capable but wasn’t quite as quick laterally as what he was to start the season. The Gators will have another several days of recovery before their next game and hopefully the time will be good for Richard’s knee injury.
Suffocating Defense
Florida’s defense hasn’t exactly been a strength this year but they clamped down on Wednesday holding Ohio to only 31% shooting from the field. The Gators’ excellence defensively started on the inside with Colin Castleton who was a brick wall around the rim, making sure there was nothing easy for the much smaller Bobcats team. Even though he was only credited with 1 block, Castleton was a force around the rim and forced a number of off-balance, erratic attempts as Bobcats tried to avoid his outstretched arms. Great defense often starts in the paint and Castleton single handedly locked down that part of the floor which allowed the Gators’ defense to look a lot better than it has to this point in the season.
Final Thoughts
It’s always tough to know exactly what to take away from a buy game situation like this but let’s start by contextualising the opponent. Ohio is a team picked to finish in the top half of the Mid American Conference, a quality mid-major league, and the Gators made them look like a low-major team. This wasn’t even close, and the Gators dismantling a decent mid-major team should be taken as a positive. The Bobcats have also proved to be a pretty good offensive team this year but the Gators looked tangibly better on the defensive end, particularly with how they guarded off ball actions. This will hopefully be a start of a momentum-building run the Gators can take into conference play.