Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan credits the strength of Florida’s pre-conference schedule with teaching his team the hard lesson he couldn’t quite communicate to his players.
"I don’t think those guys came into the season with the right mental approach," Donovan said, "and as hard as I tried to get them there, we were not there."
The list of necessary improvements was a tall order for a young team that lost four starters from last year’s team to graduation.
And as expected, the Gators struggled.
Against Miami, against Georgetown, against No. 5 North Carolina, against No. 11 Kansas, against Florida State and against defending national champion UConn — Florida struggled.
But the Gators are starting to buy in, and Donovan is seeing the development he has wanted since the beginning of the season.
Now riding a two-game winning streak, Florida (9-6, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) remains undefeated in the SEC after a blowout 72-47 win against Mississippi State (7-8, 0-2 SEC) in the O’Connell Center on Saturday night.
Florida’s confrontation with its own weaknesses is proving positive dividends on the court, but the Gators aren’t quite there yet.
Florida’s most apparent flaw this season has been failing to show up strong for the second half of a game — whether they held a lead at halftime or not.
The Gators first two conference wins, Wednesday’s 72-68 nailbiter against South Carolina and Saturday’s blowout victory over Mississippi State, have proven Florida is capable of securing SEC wins.
Consistency remains the next challenge, however, along with a stacked schedule of ranked conference opponents.
"We’re just trying to take it one day at a time," redshirt junior Dorian Finney-Smith said. "Everything that happens before tonight’s game, you can’t do anything about it."
Donovan was quick to assert that the daily process is necessary for the team’s development and chemistry, with the Gators attempting to learn from the losses and move past them as Florida’s competition continues to increase.
"We are not going to be able to out-talent people, we’re not. We’ve got to become a really good team," Donovan said. "It’s got to be a team that the sum is greater than its parts and their focus needs to be not on how am I doing but how do I make the other four guys around me better."
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Billy Donovan looks down the court during Florida's 72-47 win against Mississippi State on Saturday in the O'Connell Center.
