After watching his team squander a 16-point, second-half lead against LSU, coach Billy Donovan wasn’t surprised UF let another Southeastern Conference team avoid a blowout — just disappointed.
The problems that led to the Gators struggling to put the Tigers away began during their bye week, well before Saturday’s 76-64 win.
“There’s a maturity level that goes into it sometimes, where you have two ways of looking at the week off — ‘Oh my gosh, we have to practice for a whole week before we play again,’ or, ‘Wow, we got a chance to really get better. Let’s utilize this time,’” Donovan said.
Donovan said Florida was the former, the one that saved a single strong effort in practice for Friday — the day before playing LSU. And much like their scrimmages, the Gators had trouble maintaining their intensity against the Tigers this weekend.
Florida’s full-court press was able to force 10 LSU turnovers en route to a 12-point halftime lead. Tigers head coach Trent Johnson said his team wasn’t prepared for the Gators’ almost constant pressure.
“The intensity of their defense, especially their full-court pressure made it hard for us to get in a rhythm on offense; the crowd also made it hard for us to come back,” LSU point guard Anthony Hickey said.
But poor shot selection and mental mistakes on defense neutralized the Gators’ pressure after halftime. The Tigers escaped the final 20 minutes with just one turnover and improved their 39.3 shooting percentage in the first half to 48.6 percent in the second.
“Give [LSU] credit, they continued to play hard, but we had about four or five possessions up 16 where we just caught it and shot it — even like, no pass just shot,” Donovan said. “And what it did was it ignited them in the fast break, it got them in the open floor and it got our defense really, really scrambled.”
For the second straight home game, Florida allowed an SEC team to go on a long scoring run in the final 20 minutes to steer clear of an embarrassing loss. Eleven days before LSU’s 16-8 streak, Georgia outscored the Gators 16-4 in a second-half span.
While Florida would go on to double-digit victories in both games, Donovan said the next six weeks of SEC play look daunting after his team’s most recent performance. After opening their league slate with four unranked opponents, the Gators will face two ranked teams in their next five games.
“As of right now, we’re 15-4; that’s not a bad record,” senior guard Erving Walker said. “But I mean, it’s only going to get tougher from here. We got to continue to work hard.”
Though the Gators seemingly broke their own momentum against the Tigers, Donovan blamed his players’ lack of concentration in the second half, and during practice, on human nature.
“We have to have a better understanding basketball IQ-wise when you’re up 16 how to handle the next three or four minutes,” Donovan said. “And I thought we played in a way that enabled them to get back in the game because we gave them opportunities to do what they do well.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida coach Billy Donovan said his team didn’t utilize the bye week to improve in practice leading up to Saturday’s game against LSU.
