As impressive as the Gators' guards were in their first exhibition game Monday night, Florida's frontcourt play left a little something to be desired.
Praised as being the team's deeper and more versatile unit, UF's big men were mostly outplayed and overshadowed by a two-deep backcourt that features four underclassmen despite facing a team that started no player taller than 6 foot 7.
UF gave up 11 offensive rebounds to an undersized Saint Leo squad in the first half of the 95-46 exhibition victory against the Lions. Although the Gators went on to win the rebounding advantage 51-38, they trailed by one about two minutes into the second half.
UF coach Billy Donovan attributed some of his team's early rebounding struggles to his experimenting with a number of different rotations in his team's full-court press. In addition, the Lions missed 20 threes in the game, which resulted in a lot of long rebounds.
"We weren't boxing out," said junior power forward Alex Tyus, who led the team with nine boards. "They were shooting a lot of threes. We were just running in without touching our men, and the ball would go over our heads."
Tyus started the game at power forward, where he will likely see the bulk of his minutes after having to play out of position at center all last season. The preseason All-Southeastern Conference Second Team selection was also the team's only non-backcourt player to score double-digit points, finishing with 10.
Center Vernon Macklin struggled at times in his highly anticipated Florida debut, scoring 7 points, grabbing just four rebounds and recording no blocks in 23 minutes.
Macklin has been viewed as the solution to UF's low-post issues from last year, as his 6-foot-10, 240-pound frame gives the Gators a legitimate big man and frees up players like Tyus and Dan Werner to return to their more natural positions, as they did Monday night.
The junior said he didn't feel any pressure in his first game back after sitting out all last season, but he didn't look or feel entirely comfortable in his first organized game in more than a year.
"I'm sure for him it was a little bit of an awkward feeling, going out there in the starting lineup," said Donovan, who has repeatedly warned against expecting too much out of Macklin. "Probably the last time he started a game was in high school. But I think Vern will continue to get better."
Coming off the bench to fill in at center and power forward, freshman Erik Murphy showed the potential to be a key role player for the Gators. He put up nine points and grabbed six boards while appearing to already be one of UF's most physical, athletic rebounders.
Sophomore Kenny Kadji also saw time at center, adding six points, five rebounds and a team-high three blocks, but he racked up four fouls and three turnovers in only 14 minutes of play.
"If you look at Kadji, Murphy and Macklin as a committee, in terms of their points, rebounds and what they did, I thought it was pretty good," Donovan said.
