It’s the top-10 showdown nobody saw coming.
Florida and Syracuse began their seasons unranked and with unclear expectations, both seemingly somewhere in the rebuilding process. But each has reeled off huge nonconference wins and worked its way into the top 10 just four weeks into the season.
The two surprise successes will meet Thursday in Tampa, as the No. 10 Gators (8-0) will take on the No. 7 Orange (8-0) as part of the Southeastern Conference-Big East Invitational in the St. Pete Times Forum.
“We definitely know we’re not the greatest team in the world, and we even feel like we haven’t even come close to playing our best ball,” sophomore point guard Erving Walker said. “It would be foolish to think like that, especially playing a team like Syracuse who has done just as much as us right now, if not more.”
Syracuse edged out Florida 89-83 last season in Kansas City, Mo., but both squads are vastly different than the ones that met over a year ago. UF is without guards Nick Calathes, who scored 19 points and added seven assists against the Orange in 2008, and Walter Hodge, while Syracuse lost starters Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris and Eric Devendorf.
The Gators have since added guard Kenny Boynton and transfer center Vernon Macklin to help ease their losses, and the Orange brought in a transfer of their own to fill the void in junior forward Wesley Johnson, who is averaging 17 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game for Syracuse after spending two years at Iowa State.
UF coach Billy Donovan said Johnson’s talent and versatility will present a unique challenge to forwards Dan Werner and Chandler Parsons, who will likely match up with Johnson on defense.
“He’s a terrific player, but the one thing that’s been good with Dan and Chandler is both guys do have range and size,” Donovan said. “Dan has played post defense throughout his career here. Now, being more of a small forward, he’s had the opportunity to play a lot of guys on the perimeter.
“Dan’s gonna need help from the rest of the guys on our team, but he’s a guy that can do it in a lot of different ways.”
Werner and the rest of the Gators, who have built their identity around their defense so far, will face their biggest test yet against an Orange team averaging 90.4 points per game.
Syracuse has been nearly as impressive on defense, however, only allowing its opponents to score 61.6 points per game compared to Florida’s 57.9. The Orange’s combination of man and zone defensive schemes has given Donovan plenty to prepare for during his team’s longest layoff so far.
“We’re gonna have to do a good job playing against man and zone on the offensive end of the floor, make sure we’ve got good ball movement, good spacing,” Donovan said. “Against a lot of zones, you can get caught just shooting 3s. I think we’re gonna have to shoot 3s, but we’re gonna have to find ways to get the ball into the teeth of their defense as well.”
