Gators fans, expect to be happy by the end of the night.
Your basketball team has no excuses heading into Auburn. They just lost their first conference game, so overlooking this one won’t be an issue. Plus, it’s Auburn, traditionally the worst team in the Southeastern Conference West, which is like being the fattest kid at Camp Hope.
The real question, however, is how will Florida celebrate this victory? Will your Gators buckle down, realizing those put-up-or-shut-up February and March games are around the corner? Or will they forget what happened last weekend, falling back into a lull until a legitimate threat wakes them up again?
Florida should have shown more urgency on defense Saturday against South Carolina.
In eight nonconference games against teams in the RPI top 100, the Gators were allowing 63.1 points per game on 39.9 percent shooting. But in the two SEC games prior to Saturday, Florida had surrendered 73 points per game on 47 percent shooting.
From the opening tipoff, the Gators tried to go shot-for-shot with the Gamecocks. It didn’t work. South Carolina shot 48 percent in the first half. Florida shot 27 percent and ultimately lost 72-69.
The defense didn’t improve sooner because it didn’t need to. The Gators were winning.
“When you lose, things get brought out a lot more,” junior point guard Erving Walker said. “So, you’re able to focus on what’s wrong a lot more than if you win. As a whole, I’d say with everybody that’s kind of human nature.”
But that shouldn’t be the case, especially with this group. Coach Billy Donovan starts the same number of seniors this season (three) as he has the last six seasons combined.
Anybody who has been in Gainesville since 2008 knows this team has a tendency to fade down the stretch.
In the past three years, Florida is 19-23 in February and beyond, including postseason games. From November to January in those seasons, the Gators are 51-13.
In part, Florida’s early season records are boosted by cupcakes. But the Gators are still a .500 team against opponents in the RPI top 100 before February.
Based on how it starts seasons, UF should be able to finish stronger.
The Gators were picked to do well in the preseason because of their experience. The juniors and seniors know how much it hurts to finish the year on a bad note. If Florida wants to avoid more late-season disappointments, it should address issues like its sagging defense before it’s too late.
Otherwise, the only changes will come after losses like Saturday’s.
“You have to look at where you need to get better,” Donovan said, “and I think that winning is the best ingredient. The best way you want to learn is through winning. It’s not fun having to learn through losing.”
Make no mistake: Florida will learn through its losses. But lessons can be learned in a less painful way if a veteran team plays with maturity, like it should.
The Gators won’t be back on the right track simply with a win tonight. They will be back on the right track when they watch film on Friday and become their own harshest critics.
If they don’t, everybody else will.
