What Role Jason Jitoboh Could See This Year

One of the negative storylines that has plagued the last few years of Florida basketball is the lack of depth in the frontcourt due to injury. John Egbunu, Gorjok Gak, Chase Johnson, Keith Stone, and Isaiah Stokes have all missed significant time in the last couple of seasons as players that should have factored into the rotation and their absences left the Gators undersized and thin at the power forward and center positions.

This hole was obviously filled this season mostly by Kerry Blackshear Jr., the best available graduate transfer on the market who, at 6’11” and 250 pounds, looked like a godsend for Mike White and the Gators. Understandably so he’s the player most looked at as the answer to Florida’s frontcourt problems but he’ll only be offering his services for a single season before graduating and heading to the pros.

In terms of the long-term picture freshman Jason Jitoboh is at the center of Florida’s post playing future. Coming into Gainesville standing at 6’11” and weighing somewhere in the vicinity of 300 pounds he’s an intimidating presence and you can see why Florida’s coaching staff (particular post player focused assistant Al Pinkins) was intrigued with the chance at coaching him. At one point it looked like a redshirt was going to be in order for Jitoboh as he gets his feet wet in college and improves his physical shape but a relatively major shoulder injury to Gorjok Gak may have put him back into the rotation.

What exactly could Jitoboh bring to the gators if he gets in as a freshman? I found as much film of him in high school as I could to try and find out.

The Importance of Size

It’s clear that Jason Jitoboh is going to have a size advantage in pretty much every matchup he has, but exactly how much is that advantage going to be?

In the high major conferences the average height of a starting center is 6’9” and the average backup center is 6’8”. For Jitoboh, if he comes off the bench for the Gators that means he’s going to have an average of 3” on whoever his opposing matchup is off the bench, and that doesn’t factor in what’s likely to be a huge weight discrepancy (data on average weight wasn’t available). Let’s look at who Florida played against last year. In all 36 games Florida played there was only 4 players (well, maybe even three with one generous Cardinal add) on their opponents’ rosters that would have been bigger than Jitoboh.

Christ Koumadje (Florida State) 7’4” 268
Josh Sharma (Stanford) 7’0” 235
Jon Teske (Michigan) 7’1” 260
Dominik Olejniczak (Ole Miss) 7’0” 260

Florida played some really good teams and also played in the SEC, one of the biggest and most physical conferences in the country. Even with that being the case, Jitoboh is still one of the biggest players out there.

Let’s look at who Florida has coming up this year in terms of big, physical frontcourt opponents.

Raiquan Gray (Florida State) 6’8” 260
Balsa Koprivica (Florida State) 7’0” 240
Naheem McLeod (Florida State) 7’3” 230
Dominik Olejniczak (Florida State) 7’0” 260
EJ Montgomery (Kentucky) 6’10” 225
Nick Richards (Kentucky) 6’11” 245
Jeremiah Tilmon (Missouri) 6’10” 255
Reed Nikko (Missouri) 6’10” 250
Austin Wiley (Auburn) 6’11” 260
Khadim Sy (Ole Miss) 6’10” 245
Carlos Curry (Ole Miss) 6’11” 240
Abdul Ado (Mississippi State) 6’11” 255
Reggie Perry (Mississippi State) 6’10” 245
Maik Kotsar (South Carolina) 6’11” 260
Flo Thamba (Baylor) 6’10” 240
Neemias Queta (Utah State) 6’11” 240

And that’s only a bit of a sample size, there are plenty more bruising frontcourt pieces that will be looking to wear down their opponents. When you look ahead at Florida’s schedule you see a lot of monsters on their opponents’ front lines and Gorjok Gak remains sidelined and 6’9”, 235 pound Dontay Bassett is Florida’s primary reserve center the Gators could have some trouble matching up. There are definitely some matchups where Jitoboh’s size could be useful and looking at some of these big men coming up on the schedule, some of which players coming off of the bench, supports that.

Rebounding

I recently wrote about the importance of rebounding for the Gators here. If you haven’t read that yet I would invite you to as it helped quantify just how important rebounding is. Florida is a team that has struggled on the glass under Mike White and I’m sure it’s going to be something the team is looking to turn around with more healthy frontcourt bodies available. Here is how the Gators have fared in defensive rebounding under Coach White.

2019: 313th
2018: 256th
2017: 193rd
2016: 162nd

Obviously you’d like to see the Gators reverse the trend that has them rebounding worse and worse every year and if Jitoboh can prove himself as someone who can control the glass he’ll demand minutes. Last year Dontay Bassett had a defensive rebounding percentage of 13%, and I know that number probably doesn’t mean much to you so I’ll point out you probably want your center to be closer to 17 or 18% (though I’ll note there are some definite flaws in evaluating a player’s rebounding based on their rebounding percentages). In a small sample size in the games Gorjok Gak was healthy in 2018 he was at 16.4% so he was a decent rebounder but not someone who is going to be a game changer on the glass. Simply rebounding the ball effectively would be a good path to Jitoboh getting minutes and with his wide frame that is a good possibility.

Scoring

Jason Jitoboh’s 8.7 points per game as a senior in high school may not jump off the page at you but watching the tape he does some things well that could help the Gators offensively. First of all, he sets really good screens. This shouldn’t be a shock due to how large he is but that isn’t all that there is to his ability to set a pick, his timing and the angles he uses are actually quite good for a player in high school and with the coaches he has now at Florida he could be even better. As a devastating screen setter the Gators could use him to screen a player like Noah Locke off the ball to free him up for a catch and shoot jump shot or have him set a pick for the ball handler before rolling to the hoop. Using his supersized frame to wipe out a defender could get Andrew Nembhard the space he needs to get to the middle of the floor and pick apart a defense or give Tre Mann the window to simply pull up and drill a three. One thing I noticed watching Jitoboh is that he also has really good hands for a player that big and if he rolls hard to the hoop he’d be sure to catch a pass before finishing strong. When you’ve got a player of his size rolling to the hoop it’s tough for a defense to react and considering the Gators haven’t had a lot of pick and roll success recently he (alongside Kerry Blackshear Jr.) could change this.

Imagine if Blackshear Jr. is in the game setting ball screens and then popping out and drilling threes and then Jitoboh checks into the game and starts rolling hard. Teams will have to start making difficult adjustments mid-game and while they are worrying about the screen setter the ball handler Nembhard or Mann could start going off.

The other role Jitoboh could play on offense is simply in the “dunker” spot, what coaches call the short corner along the baseline. In this role that dunker doesn’t often get the ball but simply sits behind the defense ready to run to the hoop the moment their primary defender has to slide over to help on a drive. Considering the gravity Kerry Blackshear Jr., Scottie Lewis, Tre Mann, Andrew Nembhard, and Keyontae Johnson are going to get Jitoboh would have the opportunity to sit near the hoop, catch the ball with his soft hands, and get a dunk. Kevarrius Hayes struggled at times in this role last season and Jitoboh can get used to finding the creases in the defense before catching and finishing he’d be a productive player.

Final Thoughts

Jason Jitoboh would be a matchup nightmare for a lot of teams, and that doesn’t just include mid-majors or the less quality teams in the SEC. There are some really good teams that Florida faces that wouldn’t have a big off the bench to match Jitoboh’s size and if they have to bring a starter back earlier just to deal with his physicality then that’s a win right there. Being able to play some bully ball and control the glass would be really nice for a Florida team that has been undersized as of late and it’s entirely possible Jitoboh works himself into a place in the rotation.

Eric Fawcett
Eric is a basketball coach and writer from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His work has been found at NBA international properties, ESPN, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, Lindy's and others. He loves zone defenses, the extra pass, and a 30 second shot clock. Growing up in Canada, an American channel showing SEC basketball games was his first exposure to Gator hoops, and he has been hooked ever since. You can follow him on Twitter at @ericfawcett_.