Over the past two weeks, the Gators have seen major improvements in their ability to find the open man and score the basketball.
But Coach Billy Donovan knows it’s one thing to look good against American and Kent State, and quite another to put it all together against a top-10 opponent.
Florida (7-2) will have every aspect of its game tested today as it travels to Sunrise to take on No. 6 Kansas State (8-1) at 3:30.
After two muddled and disconnected offensive showings yielded a loss to UCF and a close call against FSU, the Gators worked on finding their flow and functioning together as a team.
“I think we’re getting better in those areas,” Donovan said. “I don’t think we’re there yet, but I think we’ve made some positive strides.”
There may be no better test for an offense than a team like Kansas State, which thrives on forcing turnovers with its aggressive, full-court pressure defense.
The Wildcats have masterfully disrupted their opponents’ offensive rhythms all season long by contesting every pass and challenging individuals to make plays in one-on-one situations.
“They’re a team that is going to want to force us to speed up our offense and not let us do what we want to do,” senior Chandler Parsons said. “But I think we just have to play under control, keep making good decisions and not get sped up so much that we turn the ball over.”
While turnovers have been Kansas State’s gift on defense, they have also been its curse on the offensive end.
Preseason All-American Jacob Pullen leads the team with 16 points per game, but he also commits a team-high 3.3 turnovers per contest.
The turnover struggles have not been his alone, as the Wildcats have more turnovers than assists this season — a trait rarely exhibited by a top-10 team.
“Even though he’s a great player, he can still get pressured like everybody else,” sophomore Erving Walker said of Pullen. “We’re going to try to wear him down like we do most teams. We know it’s not going to be easy, but it can be done.”
Wearing down a physical Kansas State team will be a theme for UF as it looks to exploit the Wildcat’s 54.9 free-throw percentage.
That abysmal performance from the line ranks 343th out of 345 Division I teams, according to Kenpom.com.
Although the Gators have put opponents to the line less than any team but Ohio State on a per-shot basis, they are prepared to make the Wildcats work for their points.
“We have that in the back of our mind,” Parsons said. “I don’t think we’re going to go in there and start intentionally fouling or anything like that, but if they have an easy bucket we aren’t going to give them anything easy. We’re going to make them earn it.”
