Last year, the Gators allowed an average 49.4 points per game at home. They won every game in the O’Connell Center by at least 12. Only two of the fifteen visitors broke 60 points, with UCF peaking at 66 points.
But it only took until the season opener for No. 10 Florida to break the strong defensive trend as it pulled out a 77-69 victory over North Florida on Friday afternoon.
Coach Billy Donovan drove nearly every question during the post-game press conference back to the defense, which gave up the most points at home since Florida’s 74-59 loss to Kentucky on March 4, 2012.
He said the defenses of past teams had a basketball IQ at a completely different level than what this year’s squad shows on the court.
“The frustrating part to me is I can’t seem to get through to some of these guys,” Donovan said. “Like I said, when get a situation where you give up 13 3-point shots, now 9 3-point shots, it’s a constant theme. It’s not like, ‘OK it was an aberration, they happened to get hot, they made a lot of 3-point shots.’ It’s every day. We’re not figuring it out.”
After leading the game by as much as 18 with 6:04 until the break, the Gators allowed the Ospreys to go on a 16-4 run to close the half. Florida only outscored North Florida by two points in the second half.
Donovan said he was impressed by the Ospreys ability to come back without hanging their heads. But he said when the Gators were in a similar spot with a shrinking lead, his players had a different attitude that he said needs to be changed before their matchup with No. 20 Wisconsin on Tuesday.
“One thing that gets under my skin is this look of entitlement, (like) everything is supposed to go my way and if it doesn’t, I get deflated,” Donovan said. “(Where’s) our resiliency, our fight, our grit? Our team didn’t show remotely close to the grit that North Florida showed; so maybe our guys can learn something from them.”
With the defense showing cracks, Casey Prather stepped up offensively like he did against Florida Southern in the exhibition game last week. The senior forward led the team with 28 points, which shattered his previous career record of 14.
Prather went 10-of-15 shooting and added eight more points from the free throw line. In addition to the scoring output, he also added eight rebounds, which was more than Will Yeguete and Patric Young combined (seven).
Yeguete and Young scored all their points from the charity stripe as they missed a combined six shots from the field.
Donovan said Prather played well offensively and he added that the offense will progress with Yeguete and Young, but he immediately turned his attention back to the concern of the defense.
“We are light years away from even being a remotely good defensive team right now,” he said. “And we are light years away from even being a ranked team.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Senior forward Casey Prather dribbles down the court during No. 10 Florida's 77-69 win against North Florida on Friday in the O'Connell Center. Prather scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds Friday.
