In recapping Florida’s 2019-20 basketball season there are a lot of ways you could go with it, talking about broader program projections or macro topics like the Gators’ defensive identity or the pace at which they choose to play. Lots of those discussions have already taken place and while there is absolutely nothing wrong wrong with them I think they miss the most fundamental part of Florida’s basketball program
The players.
The time will come in the offseason for deeper conversation about everything that is Florida basketball, but for one article I thought we’d take the time to appreciate each one of the players, and to do so I gave my choice for the best game that each player had throughout the season. For many of these players there were multiple games that could be selected and choosing just one for each of them was a challenge, but it gives a great opportunity to look back on the season and remember some of the highlights.
Let’s take a look at some of the best single-game performances of the season.
Kerry Blackshear Jr.
Versus Miami, November 22
20 Points
11 Rebounds
5 Assists
1 Block
1 Steal
There are multiple games that you could have chosen for Blackshear, and I’m guessing this wouldn’t have been the game a lot of you would pick. He had more points in a few other games and more rebounds in some others, but this was the most complete game I thought we saw from Blackshear all season long. It was also the game where he looked the most unstoppable, a game where everything he did seemed to work. When he caught the ball on the block, he was overwhelming whoever guarded him physically. When he shot from the perimeter, they were splashing in. When he took defensive attention and passed it out to a shooter, they hit their shots. Plus, in a season where his defense wasn’t always stout, he performed excellently and helped completely lock down Miami’s offense. Blackshear was a dominant force in this game and that’s why I put it as his best performance.
Andrew Nembhard
Versus South Carolina, January 7
21 Points
10 Assists
3 Rebounds
3 Steals
1 Block
Nembhard is another player that had multiple performances that could have been chosen, including the game prior to the South Carolina contest where he ignited Florida’s major comeback against Alabama, but against the Gamecocks Nembhard showed everything he had in his offensive arsenal. His 10 assists came in all kinds of ways, including skip passes to shooters, pocket passes to rollers, dump off passers to cutters, everything. The reason all those passes were available? He was getting buckets on his own and forcing defenses to help. Going 3-5 from three it was one of his best shooting performances and going 5-9 in the paint he was able to get to the cup and finish too. There are times Nembhard gets pigeonholed as just a passer, but in this game he showed that he can be a one-man offensive force.
Tre Mann
Versus Kentucky, February 22
13 Points
2 Rebounds
1 Assist
1 Steal
Most of Tre Mann’s season was spent adjusting to high level college basketball but in the last quarter of the season he really found his way and was a valuable contributor off the bench, especially in Florida’s first meeting with Kentucky. Using their length and athleticism the Wildcats were clamping down on Florida’s normal offensive leaders and the Gators needed someone who could create off the bounce to come to the rescue and that came in the form of Mann off the bench. Going 3-4 from three he hit big shots that kept the Gators in the game despite not much going right for them, and might I remind you this was on the road at Rupp Arena. Showing the mental toughness to make big plays in the toughest road environment in the SEC showed the growth Mann went through from day 1 of the season and it was definitely his best performance of the season.
Keyontae Johnson
Versus LSU, February 26
25 Points
11 Rebounds
5 Assists
2 Blocks
2 Steals
For most of the Gators there were a few games you could have chosen as their best of the season but for Keyontae Johnson there was a clear winner. His performance against LSU was quite possibly the best individual game from any Gator this season and his stuffing of the stat sheet shows just how impactful he was. Those 25 points are impressive in their own right, but look even better when you see that he did it on incredibly efficient 11-15 shooting. Many of his buckets were on straight line drives with no Tiger able to move their feet with him, and LSU had plenty of elite athletes so it wasn’t like Johnson was doing this against scrubs. In addition to his scoring it seemed like he was grabbing every key rebound and on the defensive end he was getting his hands on balls and dominating that side of the floor as well. Keyontae Johnson had an outstanding season with all sorts of big games, but this was his biggest.
Noah Locke
Versus Vanderbilt, February 1
17 Points
3 Assists
1 Rebound
1 Steal
If you remember this game, you’ll remember that Vanderbilt went into the game on a year-and-a-half SEC losing streak, and this game was dangerously close to them breaking it as the Gators came out Flat. Florida only ended up winning 61-55 and Noah Locke was one of the only reasons why. Going 5-8 from three he hit big shots when nothing else was going right, but that wasn’t the only thing he did well. Normally not a distributor or someone who gets shots for his teammates, he made some timely plays and passes and ended up with 3 assists, each one being a dime that the team desperately needed. There were plenty of games this season where Locke shot the lights out but it was his ability to hit shots at key moments as well as get some clutch assists in a game where no one else really played well that makes this his highlight.
Scottie Lewis
Versus Kentucky, March 7
17 Points
1 Rebound
2 Steals
At the time we didn’t know this was Florida’s last game of the season but even still, Scottie Lewis played like it was his last game in a Gators uniform. Let’s add some backstory and context to this performance. Lewis, as we all know, was a 5-star recruit who could have played at any of the blue bloods, including Kentucky. That meant when the Gators did play Kentucky, a team with other 5-stars in Lewis’ class, the pressure would be on him to perform. In their first meeting, well…things didn’t go exactly as planned for Lewis. He finished with 2 points, and was essentially a non-factor. Considering he wasn’t able to showcase his abilities in game one of the series, he came out with a different energy in round two and played excellent offensive basketball, driving the ball ferociously and getting to the rim for athletic layups. Most of his points came in the first half and helped the Gators get a big lead, one that they unfortunately didn’t keep up, but still enough to make me feel it was Lewis’ strongest performance.
Omar Payne
Versus Auburn, January 18
19 Points
11 Rebounds
1 Assist
1 Block
You guys knew this one was coming, right? If you didn’t remember, this was a game where Payne was an absolute beast, grabbing 7 offensive rebounds and going a perfect 9-9 from the field. Auburn had no answer for his length and physicality on the offensive glass, and it seemed like every time he caught the ball anywhere near the rim he was dunking it on someone’s head. Not only was he getting his own offense but he was doing the little things that don’t show up on the boxscore to help his team win, such as setting excellent screens or sealing the help defender when a guard drove. Even though he only registered 1 block officially in this game his presence at the rim forced a lot of misses, and overall he was a monster in this game around both rims.
Ques Glover
Versus Marshall, November 29
14 Points
2 Rebounds
When the Gators landed the unranked Ques Glover in recruiting you weren’t totally sure what they were getting but against Marshall he showed why he can be a contributor for the Gators. If you recall, not many Gators were flowing offensively against Marshall but Glover’s speed was on full display as he had a number of layups that came off him blowing by his defender with the dribble. No one else on the team had speed similar to Glover’s so whenever he entered the game he offered a change of pace and when the Gators went from Nembhard to Glover the Thundering Herd wasn’t prepared for it. Glover’s minutes dipped near the end of the season but he was a valuable contributor early and the game against Marshall was certainly his best.
Jason Jitoboh
Versus Arkansas, February 18
2 Points
3 Rebounds
1 Block
Jitoboh didn’t have any stat sheet stuffers this season as a seldom-used big but against Arkansas he had a season-high 16 minutes and it was due to his defense. This season saw the Gators try to guard pick and rolls the same way they did with Kevarrius Hayes the last 4 seasons, an aggressive hedge and recover scheme. Kerry Blackshear Jr. and Omar Payne both struggled at this coverage, but Jitoboh was surprisingly skilled at moving his feet to the level of the ball, diverting the ball handler, and then recovering to his man. His defense kept him on the floor for big stretches against Arkansas and when I think of Jitoboh’s season this will be the game that comes to mind.
Dontay Bassett
Versus Marshall, November 29
6 Points
7 Rebounds
2 Blocks
As I mentioned in Glover’s write up, this game was not going according to plan for the Gators and their starters weren’t playing to the level you’d expect them to against a team like Marshall. Fortunately, the bench players stepped up and one of those was Dontay Bassett. Playing with the toughness we grew to love over Bassett’s time at Florida he played in the trenches and grinded for a bunch of key rebounds, an impressive feat considering he was matched up with Marshall’s 300-pound center Iran Bennett. Bassett also showed some nice touch around the rim finishing with 3 layups off nice sets, and he was active defensively with 2 blocks. If he didn’t step up this could have turned into a bad loss for the Gators and he definitely showed his veteran focus in this game.