Florida men’s basketball coach Billy Donovan said it best Wednesday night after his team had been put in a tough situation in beating Alabama, 83-74. Donovan readily admitted his team isn’t as talented or as deep or as big as most of the teams in the Southeastern Conference. Combine that with the loss of guys like Adam Allen, Mareese Speights and Jai Lucas and you’ve got a team that hasn’t much room for error when trying to when ball games.
“This group has been thrust into a situation that to be quite honest with you has been unfair,’ Donovan said. “There are areas that they definitely can get better in. There are areas they are trying to get better in. But, fatigue and size and strength are always going to be an issue and a challenge.”
The Gators have had no trouble jumping out early on teams this season – they were up by as many as 15 points in the first half Wednesday against Alabama. The difficulty comes late in games when their lack of depth becomes apparent and they can’t put teams away.
Last month in Columbia, they lost on a last second layup to South Carolina because Chandler Parsons couldn’t hit from the free-throw line. Last week at Kentucky, star guard Nick Calathes had three free throws to tie the game with one second left and missed all three.
With the game on the line last night and Alabama nearly erasing a 12-point halftime deficit, the Gators were able to come through late in the game and make those pressure shots. In the final 2:15 of the game, they went 8-for-8 from the foul line and put the Crimson Tide down for good.
That kind of performance under the gun is necessary for the Gators to start winning big games down the stretch, but it something they’ve been working on, trying to amend for the mistakes that have cost them.
“I know I’ve been in there pulling late nights,” Parsons said. “It’s something you got to control; I mean they’re free shots. You just got to go up there, block out everything and shoot the ball with confidence.
Even Donovan has said that he’s tried to prepare his players for what they’ll face in those late game scenarios.
“You got to recreate those situations in practice,” he said. “You put a guy on the free-throw line in practice, right in the middle of practice and you say OK right now you’ve got a 1-in-1 and if you don’t make it the whole entire team has got wind sprints. That’s probably the closest thing I can do to try to recreate the level of pressure that’s in the game.
“It’s a little bit different when you’re at Rupp with three seconds to go down three with three free throws. Hopefully, it puts them in the position where they get a little bit better.”
As senior guard Walter Hodge has been fond of saying lately, “it’s just you and the basket.” That seems easy enough. But when you combine the fatigue that the Gators face at the end of a game with the pressure that comes with hitting big shots, especially on the road, the equation is far less simple than just putting the ball in the hoop.
It’s not as easy as just flipping a switch, according to Donovan. He keeps stressing that it’s a process that includes a lot practice and maturing for his guys to learn what it takes to put games away and win.
“They’re trying to understand and learn how to become a team and understand how to win,” he said. “They’re going to have to go through ups and downs. I think they’ve concentrated more on trying to get better at free throws in practice. They’ve worked hard at getting better in certain areas.
“I think as a coach when you see a group of guys working and confronting the issue they’ve got to get better at, you feel better about them as a group.”