Florida has their first piece in place when it comes to building up their frontcourt with the commitment of Chattanooga forward Sam Alexis.
Alexis stands at 6’9” and 230 pounds and just completed his sophomore season at Chattanooga, leaving him with two years of eligibility remaining. A native of Apopka, Florida, Alexis is young for his class coming to Chattanooga as a young 18 year old and playing this year as a sophomore at only 19. This means he is likely still developing physically and growing as a player, and Florida’s coaching staff will expect a big leap in production as a junior.
In the 2023-24 season Alexis averaged 10.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. While those are decent numbers, what really jumps off the page are the advanced stats. Alexis was 43rd in the country in defensive rebounding rate and 94th in offensive rebounding rate, something the Gators have targeted as they look to continue their offensive rebounding dominance while improving their effort on the defensive glass. While Florida’s offensive rebounding was rightly praised all season long (8th in the country), it seems like there wasn’t a lot of attention on the fact that Florida wasn’t actually all that good on the defensive glass ranking 168th. Alexis is someone that both has the length and leaping ability to tap out missed shots on the offensive end while also bringing the bulk required to box out on the defensive end, and he should bring the Gators a positive impact on the defensive glass.
Another advanced number that jumps off the page is Alexis’ shot blocking as he ranked 37th in the country in blocked shot rate. Florida heavily targeted Micah Handlogten due to his advanced numbers on the glass and when it came to shot blocking and while Alexis is a different player than Handlogten he brings a lot of the same traits.
Offensively, Alexis is largely a post up player who is also very good in the pick and roll game. On the block he can overwhelm smaller opponents with his strength and length, turning over either shoulder and finishing over his defender. Overall Alexis shot 68% at the rim, making him one of the best finishers in the country. With 36 dunks on the season he can finish with power, and is sure to have a lot of highlight reel plays that will have fans in Gainesville off their seats. Near the end of the season Chattanooga started to use him more on the perimeter as a distributor and you could see his assist numbers going up, and he has a lot of potential as a pivot of the offense from beyond the three-point line. Three-point shooting isn’t a strength as he shot 28% from deep this season, but the Gators will hope he can improve in that area and provide some spacing from the power forward position.
While there are things to like offensively, Alexis’ biggest impact comes on the defensive end. He has great size at 6’9” and 230 pounds but he’s extremely light on his feet for someone with such a big frame and this helps him in a number of ways, whether guarding smaller forwards, containing guards in switch situations, or guarding pick and rolls. These three traits were not strengths of Florida’s frontcourt last season which was a big part of Florida’s defense struggling so mightily and getting a player like Alexis is a direct response to that issue. Alexis might not be the most dynamic offensive player at the position, but he will bring excellent defense right away with the potential to be one of the best defenders in the SEC at the position down the line.
Alexis played nearly exclusively center at Chattanooga, and Florida could use him at either frontcourt spot though as we saw last year the Gators liked to play two centers and ideally would like Alexis at the four. The two center alignment last season allowed the Gators to have some favorable one on one matchups with Tyrese Samuel getting to post up smaller opponents, but Florida was hurt offensively by not having shooting at the power forward spot and was hurt defensively by not having the foot speed to hang with smaller defenders. Alexis might not bring shooting, but he’s absolutely going to improve Florida’s defense at the power forward spot if he plays there while also having the size to play center at the SEC level. Exactly how much he plays at each position could be dictated by who else Florida is able to land in the transfer portal with multiple other centers still on the board.
With the Gators set to welcome a bunch more players on visits in the coming days and weeks, look for some more commitments to start rolling in.