Following their first win of the SEC season the Gators will look to keep the positive momentum rolling against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Florida’s win over South Carolina was a chance for a breath of relief after dropping their first three conference games, something that had a lot to do with their quality of play, but also wasn’t helped by the schedule of Alabama, Auburn, and LSU. After getting a win against a projected bottom of the league team in South Carolina, the Gators (10-6, 1-3) will now see a Mississippi State (12-4, 3-1) team that looks NCAA Tournament quality.
This is an important game for the Gators as so far this SEC season their games have kind of gone to script–they’ve lost to the teams they were projected to lose to and they beat a South Carolina team they were projected to beat. Had they been stellar in the non-conference season that may have been good enough, but after taking some questionable losses just holding serve and winning the games they should win isn’t going to be enough to make the NCAA Tournament. Mississippi State is a team that was expected to finish right around where the Gators were in the SEC, and a game like this defines just where the Gators are in the league’s pecking order.
Florida’s 1-3 start to the SEC season has a good bit to do with the schedule they were faced with, and Mississippi’s 3-1 start also has a bit to do with the schedule. They opened the season against an Arkansas team that has been playing poorly and got that win easily, and also got to see lowly Georgia at home and landed that win. Their most recent game was against Alabama who had just had two disappointing losses and the Bulldogs smelled blood and gave them their third in a row. Their one loss is to Ole Miss who caught fire from three, hitting 11-23 attempts and overwhelming the Bulldogs.
This isn’t to take anything away from Mississippi State’s quality start to SEC play, but they definitely had the benefit of catching some teams at vulnerable times, and to their credit, they got those wins with authority.
Mississippi State is led by 6’3” junior Iverson Molinar, who could very well be the most underrated player in the country. The Panama native is averaging 18 points and 4 assists per game and is the focal point of the offense, constantly able to stress defenses with his lightning quick first step and ability to get into the paint. He’ll be a difficult matchup for the Gators who don’t really have a guard built like Molinar to guard him. Molinar’s game is all athleticism, attacking the paint with pace and hovering in the air to finish with a creative array of layup packages. There is also a supreme physicality to Molinar’s game who will use his torso aggressively to create space, and he’ll be a tough matchup for anyone in Florida’s backcourt.
One of the ways Mississippi State gets Molinar going downhill is the “Blocker Mover” offense they are utilizing this season. It hasn’t been a regular part of head coach Ben Howland’s playbook during his time at Mississippi State but he has always been a very good, adaptable offensive coach and this year he has used it to feature the athleticism of his guards and the size and strength of his frontcourt pieces. The blocker mover isn’t as common nowadays in college basketball as it once was but it is still utilized by a few high profile teams, most notably the Virginia Cavaliers who have become the keepers of the blocker mover offense. In the most simple sense, it’s an action with two “blockers” and two “movers” in constant motion, setting a pin down screen on one side and a flare screen on the other. The motion is circular and constant, and for that reason it is also sometimes referred to as “wheel” action.
The criticism of this offense is that it can be rigid and predictable, but Mississippi State uses a few counters out of it to keep it fresh. In the base action, the pin down allows a player like Molinar to get the ball with the chance to go down hill, and the two screeners are constantly able to screen and then open up to the ball where they can be available for an interior pass.
Here are some clips of Mississippi State using the blocker mover offense.
Mississippi State featuring the blocker mover offense this year. Somewhat of a dying offense in college basketball but one they have implemented and are having great success with. pic.twitter.com/z6UaRpgpvE
— Eric Fawcett (@Efawcett7) January 16, 2022
Tolu Smith and Garrison Brooks are two tremendous bigs that thrive in this offense, setting huge screens and then opening up to the ball for the opportunity to receive the ball. Tolu Smith will probably be a familiar name to you as last year he torched the Gators for 27 points and 14 rebounds. He did that while shooting an efficient 11-13 from the field. It was one of the most dominant performances by an opposing player in a number of years for the Gators, and they’ll be hoping to keep him from having a similar impact. He’s a physical 6’11”, 245 pound center who moves well and has great hands, so he’s built for modern basketball. Smith has missed a bunch of games this year due to injury which has been part of the reason the Bulldogs haven’t performed quite to their ceiling, and when he’s back to full strength they could be a very dangerous team. He played a slightly limited role in Mississippi State’s last game so he should be available against the Gators but luckily for Florida he may not be at full strength. Garrison Brooks is a seasoned college basketball veteran, utilizing the extra year due to COVID and transferring from North Carolina to Mississippi State. The game against Florida will be his 150th career game, something that very few college basketball players are able to see, so you know he’s got plenty of experience and veteran savvy. He’s not particularly skilled on the inside but he’s smart and physical and is excellent in Mississippi State’s offensive scheme.
The Bulldog’s weakness comes on the defensive end where they have been less than stellar. During Ben Howland’s tenure he has been known as an offense-first coach that isn’t as good on the other side of the ball and this year is no different as Mississippi State is much better offensively than defensively. They’re a straight man-to-man team whose only real wrinkle this year has been an occasional press mixed in. You would think with the athleticism they have on the wings they’d be a bit better at point of attack defense, but so far this season they’ve struggled containing drivers and that has put the team in rotation and while scrambled they have given up a lot of threes, something that has ultimately been their defensive demise. Howland also likes to play two bigs at all times which has it’s advantages offensively but doesn’t help them defensively, especially when they’re in rotation trying to scramble to positions.
With the Gators’ biggest problem being their offensive ability, they’ll be happy to see a team that struggles defensively. The Bulldogs have made a lot of mediocre offensive teams look a lot better than they actually are, and the Gators may be able to put up a lot more points than they’re used to.
A big concern for the Gators will be on the glass. They have been hemorrhaging offensive rebounds to opponents over the last few weeks, and Mississippi State might be the best offensive rebounding team they’ve seen so far. That’s awfully concerning for the Gators, and they’ll have to find a way to find bodies and box out in a better way than they have so far in SEC play. Even if their first shot defense is good, if they aren’t able to end that possession with a rebound it won’t matter.
Florida versus Mississippi State takes place on January 19th at 6:30 ET and will be televised on SEC Network.