The Adjustments Improving Florida’s Defense

Todd Golden is someone who has always shown immense pride on the defensive end whether that be back in his days as a player, an assistant coach, and most notably–as a head coach. For that reason, Florida’s effort on that side of the floor last year was a constant source of frustration, even when the Gators were winning games due to their turbocharged point production. 

Fast forward to the spring, and the coaching staff made it a priority to improve their defensive infrastructure. Florida Atlantic’s Alijah Martin was the first piece, providing a stopper in the backcourt that could take the opposing team’s best guard, insulating Walter Clayton from difficult matchups. Chattanooga’s Sam Alexis was picked up as someone who would primarily play the “4,” but was comfortable switching onto smaller wings and guards in the middle of a possession and holding his own. To improve rim protection the Gators got the longest, most athletic five man they could–Washington State’s Reuben Chinyelu. 

So far–the results have been positive. The Gators ended the 2023-24 season ranked 94th in the country in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric and this season they are already up to 32nd. Florida’s coaching staff believes they have top-25 or even top-20 upside so it’s not a finished product, but it’s a distinct improvement from a season ago. In their most recent three-game stretch against some of the better teams on their non-conference schedule so far the Gators held Wake Forest to 58, Wichita State to 51, and Virginia to 69–and while these teams aren’t particularly explosive, these are the kind of efforts for the Gators that build confidence as they get into more challenging games on the schedule.

Florida’s portal acquisitions have done the trick. While guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter threat Alijah Martin is giving up just 0.77 points per possession as the primary defender. That same number is just 0.72 points per possession for Sam Alexis. Reuben Chinyelu has been a deterrent in the paint, with opponents shooting 51% at the rim (which is below the national average which is hovering around 55%).

Walter Clayton, whose defensive effort was questioned last year by fans, the media, and Florida’s coaching staff alike, has also improved his work on that end. Clayton knows he’ll need to answer some defensive questions to reach his ultimate goal of playing in the NBA and he has taken the challenge to heart being much more locked in when opponents go into attack mode. A big part of the reason he’s been successful is his role as an off-guard defensively, often playing away from the ball and getting to work as a help defender. Clayton has incredible short area quickness which allows him to stunt at drivers and poke away basketballs, evidenced by his 1.2 steals per game. When he is involved in actions he is doing a much better job of navigating ball screens and avoiding contact, allowing him to recover and get back in front of his man before he can make a play.

It’s not just the personnel that has been added or the improved effort of some of the returners that has helped the Gators, it’s also a schematic change. Early in Golden’s coaching career he was all about playing conservative on the defensive end–staying at home on shooters to take away three-point attempts, and dropping pick and rolls to always keep a big man between the ball and the basket. This year there has been a distinct change to a much more aggressive style of defense. Florida is playing much more heavily in the gaps (as mentioned earlier with the play of Walter Clayton as a help defender) as the players away from the ball impact drivers and try to make them pick up the dribble. Last year the Gators weren’t a disruptive defense at all–ranking 318th in the country in defensive turnover percentage. Mind you, this wasn’t because the team was bad at creating turnovers and being disruptive–they simply didn’t even try. To try and create turnovers was to leave three-point shooters and to some extent “gamble,” and Florida’s staff didn’t want to do that. This year, armed with much more capable defensive players, Florida is loading to the strong side of the floor and playing heavily in the gaps, daring drivers to push towards the hoop where they’ll be met with immediate help from a stunt one pass away. This year the Gators are up to 86th in the country in defensive turnover percentage which points to the major change in philosophy, and it’s something that has made the team much more difficult to play against. 

The reason Florida was reluctant to help at all one pass away last season was because the team didn’t want to give up three-point attempts, and they did reach their goal–Florida was 36th in the country in limiting opposing three-point attempts. However, this year, all while being much aggressive helping off shooters–the Gators are actually up to 34th in that category.

This could be due to the simple fact that most three-point attempts in college basketball come when a defense is broken down by a driver getting into the paint and making the inside-out passes that are difficult for any defense to contain. Right now the Gators are finding that when you take away the drive with help one pass away those threes are much tougher to create. Right now the Gators are having their cake and eating it too–they’re taking away the drive in addition to taking away the ever-valuable three-point looks.

So far this season the Gators haven’t played an elite offense. Their fourth biggest wins were against Florida State (106th in adjusted offensive efficiency), Wake Forest (210th in adjusted offensive efficiency), Wichita State (133rd in adjusted offensive efficiency), and Virginia (157th in adjusted offensive efficiency). There are much, much bigger tests to come in the SEC that has firepower like the Gators haven’t come close to seeing, but so far against lesser competition Florida has been effective and will hopefully be laying the groundwork for what will need to be a stout defense to compete in the SEC. We will see what happens when they first face a quality offense (which won’t be until North Carolina on December 17th) but right now they are making huge improvements from the year prior, and right now that’s all you can ask for.