Once the Gators leave Gainesville, their entire focus changes.
Everything becomes simplified as the distractions of a spirited college town are left behind, and the team directs all its attention toward basketball.
This shift has vaulted Florida (16-4, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) to a 7-1 record away from home, a mark it will look to improve upon as it travels to Starkville to face Mississippi State (10-9, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday at 1 p.m.
“When we’re on the road, we’re focused,” senior forward Chandler Parsons said. “There’s a pattern to what we do.”
Last season, the Gators struggled when they had to play on the road, going just 8-9 in games away from the O’Connell Center.
Florida entered many of those contests lacking effort and focus, something that has not been a problem this season.
“On the road, it’s a lot easier to narrow your focus,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Because you’re out of town, because you’re in a hotel, you’re totally focused as a group. There’s a lot of unity and togetherness there.”
The Gators also attribute their road success to maturity. The current starting five has been together for more than a season and a half, and with every game, their understanding of how to handle the hostile environments improves.
“As a group, we weren’t connected as a team as we are now,” junior guard Erving Walker said. “I feel like we grew up, and now we understand what it takes to win on the road.”
With each passing contest, Florida’s starters become more desensitized to the mocking trash talk rowdy SEC fans hurl their way.
“It’s ridiculous,” Parsons said. “They say some things that are out of this world. Being a senior, I think it’s kind of funny what they say, but I can’t imagine being 18 years old and going in there.”
While road crowds present an entirely different environment, the differences leading up to the game affect UF the most.
Playing in an unfamiliar city forces the team into a regimented schedule featuring a night at a hotel, a pregame meal, film sessions, a shootaround and little else.
Games in Gainesville are much easier and more relaxed, according to Walker.
Donovan feels the pregame ritual of road contests forces his team to avoid distractions and have a greater focus on the game.
For this reason, the coach opted to have his players spend the night in a hotel before their blowout win over Arkansas last Saturday in Gainesville.
With his team in one location, Donovan was able to host film sessions Friday night and Saturday morning, which would have been difficult under normal circumstances.
“If we practice on Friday and then all of a sudden you go back to the dorm and they’re doing their thing, there’s just a lot of distractions,” Donovan said. “I just thought we needed a focus period of time there.”
