Florida played 36 minutes of good basketball against Wake Forest on Wednesday but during the biggest possessions of the game they collapsed and the Demon Deacons came away with a 82-71 game. While the final score might look like it was a game Wake Forest controlled–that wasn’t the case. It was a close contest until crunch time with Zyon Pullin making a midrange jumper with 4:03 left to tie the game 64-64. At that moment, the wheels fell off. Florida couldn’t generate a good shot and started turning the ball over, and on the opposite side of the floor the Demon Deacons were scoring at will. Todd Golden and his staff won’t be happy at all with the team’s execution and what looked like a game that was going to be a coinflip turned into a resume opportunity that completely slipped through the Gators’ fingertips. Wake Forest entered this game 0-3 against high-major opponents in Georgia, Utah, and LSU, two of which are SEC opponents the Gators are predicted to finish higher than in the standings.
Exposed Offense
Overall the Gators have actually been an efficient offense this season ranking 16th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric entering Wednesday night. However, when you look at how the sausage is made, you’ll see there is one number completely propping up that efficiency–offensive rebounding. Florida has often struggled to create quality looks, but their sheer number of offensive rebounds (3rd in the country entering Wednesday’s game) allowed the Gators to put up points. Wake Forest, a team that has struggled to defensively rebound all season, actually was able to keep the Gators at bay (who were missing Micah Handlogten once again due to injury) with only 7 offensive rebounds allowed. Without a ton of extra offensive possessions Florida’s offense wasn’t able to put up points shooting 40% from the field with 15 turnovers and they particularly struggled to get anything going late in the second half when the Demon Deacons ran away with the game. Ultimately it doesn’t matter how you put up the points so if the Gators continue to mash the offensive glass there will be results, but on nights they don’t–they could lose to inferior opponents.
New Starters
With Micah Handlogten missing another game due to an ankle injury the Gators chose to start a little bit bigger than they did against Baylor when they started Zyon Pullin, Walter Clayton, Riley Kugel, Will Richard, and Tyrese Samuel. This time they chose to be a bit bigger, inserting freshman Thomas Haugh for Will Richard. Right away the Demon Deacons looked to attack this matchup putting the bigger Andrew Carr in isolated post ups and pick and pops against him, and while the young Haugh was working hard and largely in the right positions, Carr went off. He finished with 22 points on 8-13 shooting, his highest point total since mid-January of last year. Micah Handlogten has been missed greatly, and there is a chance the Gators give him a few more games off as they have reached a softer spot in their schedule. Tyrese Samuel did admirably playing the center spot as he did while at Seton Hall, but it doesn’t seem like Florida has other power forward spots they feel comfortable with.
Bright Spot
Riley Kugel is starting to come on and show why he was a projected first round NBA pick entering this season. Despite Florida’s struggles he finished with 24 points on 9-14 shooting, including a few step back threes that were his patented shot when he was going on a run last season. In the final minutes of the game he had some misplays he would certainly like back, but on the whole he was extremely efficient while showing the electricity that makes him special as a player.
Final Thoughts
Wake Forest entered Wednesday’s game 84th in KenPom, missing two key players due to an NCAA waiver situation and an injury. It’s quite possible they finish in the top-75 of the NET which would make this a quad-1 game for the Gators as a true road game, meaning it won’t be that consequential a loss. However, these are the games the Gators needed to take care of if they wanted this to be a successful non-conference season. Their slate wasn’t loaded with a bunch of tough games, meaning they would need to take care of games such as this Wake Forest matchup in the ACC-SEC Challenge. It’s clear Florida isn’t a finished product, but they still have a lot of opportunity to improve before league play.