Four plays. Four made shots, four defensive stops or perhaps even something as simple as four rebounds in critical situations or boxing out instead of getting called for an over the back foul. That’s all that stands between a 23-2 record and a 10-1 mark in the Southeastern Conference for the Florida Gators.
For all their flaws and all the holes in their lineup, the Gators (19-6, 6-4 SEC East) are one play in each of four games from a record that would have them in the nation’s top ten and tied with LSU for the best record in the SEC. Instead of a team that has pretty much clinched its berth in the NCAA Tournament, however, Billy Donovan has a six-game challenge ahead of him that is far more daunting after road losses last week against Kentucky in Lexington and Georgia in Athens. Starting with a Wednesday night home game with Alabama and a Saturday homer with Vanderbilt, the Gators need to finish the SEC schedule with four more wins before the SEC Tournament to avoid a situation where they have to win two or three tournament games to get invited into the NCAA field.
Kentucky being Kentucky, with all its tradition and home court advantage of 24,000 packed to the rafters in Rupp Arena, wasn’t an unexpected loss although it was one the Gators probably should have won. The Georgia loss was a shocker. Florida blew out Georgia by 29 points earlier in the year in Gainesville and the Bulldogs were 0-9 in SEC play entering the game.
A loss is a loss and they don’t give you extra points for making games close, but the Gators did put themselves in position to win both the Kentucky and Georgia games just as they put themselves in position to win a non-conference road game at Florida State back in December and an SEC game against South Carolina in Columbia in January. Like the Kentucky and Georgia games, the Gators could have won the game at the end with either a shot or a defensive stop but there were so many other plays during the course of the game that could have been difference makers.
Against Kentucky, Jodie Meeks hit a prayer of a three-pointer with 4.7 seconds left in the game to give the Wildcats the winning margin but missed chances at the foul line (Florida was 3-9) and a couple of silly fouls that allowed the Wildcats to get four critical points from the foul line down the stretch were just as crucial.
Georgia got in a banked three-pointer by Terrance Woodbury and a turnaround three-point prayer answered by Ricky McPhee to go with 12 other shots from beyond the arc. Just like the Meeks shot, which Nick Calathes got a hand on but still went in from 25 feet away, there are shots that go in even if the defense is superb. Those things you can’t control and Donovan won’t lose sleep over them.
What does cause him to lose sleep are the things that are within the Gators control, like a stretch late in the game when the Gators committed three straight silly fouls that gave Georgia six easy points from the foul line.
“I was much more disappointed not with the fact they made some of those shots but I was more disappointed that up three we fouled three consecutive times,” said Donovan at his Monday morning press conference. “I was more disappointed that with two seconds in the shot clock, Woodbury has the ball and he’s in a bind and we have him kind of trapped, not even by the sideline but in their half court. And we bumped into him and we bailed him out and we fouled him. There were a lot of those plays.
“That’s the stuff that we can control. When the shot clock is winding down and a guy launches one like (South Carolina’s Devan) Downey did several times here and like McPhee or Woodbury did, sometimes there’s not a lot you can do but you can control your fouls and you can control your discipline defensively in trying to dictate the kind of shots you want a team to take.”
It is all part of a learning experience that has been ongoing for two years. Donovan knew that it wasn’t going to be easy after Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah and Taurean Green bypassed their senior seasons for the NBA. Considering where Horford, Noah and Green were rated as recruits, there was no way to foresee that they would ever be leaving early for the NBA.
Nor was there any way to plan for the departure of Marreese Speights to the NBA after finishing up his sophomore season last year. Like Horford and Noah before him, Speights was thought to be a player that would take three and possibly four years to develop when he was signed.
Had Horford, Noah, Brewer and Green stayed last year, there is no question the Gators would have finished much better than a 24-12 campaign that got them to the NIT semifinals. And, had Speights hung around one more year, there’s no question this year’s Florida team would be substantially better.
“One of the things I looked at and knew going into last year and the opportunity I had after 2007 was the challenge of taking on and knowing there was going to be a drastic drop-off in talent, a drastic drop-off in experience and a drastic drop-off in just having a lot of guys coming in and being thrust into situations with no level of leadership above them and having to go through it and figure it out and as a coaching staff help them figure it out,” said Donovan.
Without Horford, Noah and Brewer, Speights was left to fend for himself last season but he turned in respectable enough numbers and showed enough promise that he converted it into a first round NBA selection by the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, without Speights around to provide a 6-10, 250-pound low post presence at both ends of the floor, the Gators are playing with a much different deck of cards.
Not only are the Gators under-sized, but they also have players trying to play roles that are different than what was envisioned when they were recruited. Alex Tyus is playing center at 6-8, 225, but he is not a back to the basket player. Dan Werner is 6-8 and he’s bulked up to 230 to handle playing power forward and spelling Tyus at center, but he was a small forward when he was recruited.
“I think those guys are giving good effort, but there are cases and situations where their role is sometimes maybe larger and bigger and what we’re asking them to do is tough,” said Donovan. “For Dan to line up 30 minutes a night and expect him to go get 10-12 rebounds … it’s tough to do some of the things we’re asking him to do but inside of what his ability is I think he’s doing all he can possibly do.”
But in spite of those kind of physical limitations at several positions, the Gators have still put themselves in position to win games. Florida had the last shot to either win or send the game into overtime against FSU and Georgia and the Gators could have gone into overtime with three foul shots against Kentucky. If they hit their free throws in the final 10 seconds against South Carolina, then Zam Fredrick’s buzzer beater shot doesn’t even matter.
“You want to put yourself in position to win at the end and I think we’ have had an opportunity to do that but the things that come down during the course of the game that effect the end of the game are how well do you rebound the ball coming down the stretch and do you give up second shots?” said Donovan. “What kind of discipline do you have on defense to not break down? Then you have to take care of the basketball and make free throws.”
Obviously, those four losses have provided a learning lab experience for Donovan and his coaching staff but all the coaching in the world can only prepare a team for making plays in the final minute. It’s one thing to be prepared. It’s another thing altogether to execute in that situation.
“We’ve been in a position to win and now we have to learn how to go about doing it,” said Donovan.
GAME NOTES FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT: Wednesday’s game will have no live television. The 7 p.m. contest with Alabama (13-11, 3-7 SEC West) will be carried on tape delay by Sun Sports on tape delay … Nick Calathes is the only player in the country averaging better than 15 points, five rebounds and six assists. Calathes is scoring 18.6 points (fifth in the SEC), grabbing 5.5 rebounds per game (21st in the league) and handing out 6.6 assists (first in the SEC). Calathes is shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 41.5 percent from the three-point line. In his last 13 games, Calathes is averaging 21.9 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game … Walter Hodge is 47 points away from joining the 1,000-point club at Florida. Hodge is coming off a 22-point game against Georgia, the best scoring game of his Florida career. Hodge is hitting 41.2 percent of his three-point shots … Alex Tyus (12.4 points, 6.0 rebounds per game) is hitting 61.2 percent of his shots … The Gators lead the SEC in assists at 17.5 per game and they are second in turnover margin (+3.7 per game) … The Gators rank last in the SEC in rebounding at 34.6 per game.