Since @akaGatorhoops isn't here tonight, here's what Coach Golden said to Lee Humphrey on the radio post-game (mostly exact but, technically, paraphrasing): You win big on the road 77-67. Coach, your thoughts? Really proud of the way our guys have stuck together. It's been a challenging couple of weeks since Colin went down and we knew it was going to be tough down the stretch to reinvent ourselves and find ways to win these games. Our guys did a great job. Obviously, we made some mistakes tonight. It wasn't perfect but over the course of 40-minutes, I thought we were the more competitive team both physically and mentally. * * * Huge night tonight for your back-court. Myreon Jones, Will Richard, Riley Kugle combined for 57 points, 69% from the field. Talk about their performance. Yeah, I mean to a man all three of those guys were fantastic in their roles. I thought Kyle (Lofton) played a great floor game. He didn't score very much but to be out there as much as he did and the way he defended . . . I can speak about all those guys. Will was fantastic knocking down shots. I thought Riley attacked the rim really well, made great decisions. Myreon had 12 rebounds from the guard position. They, all four of those guys, played great, winning basketball. They were the reason why we won tonight. * * * What did you do offensively to get them looks? 7 3s on the night. I thought they were really efficient in attacking Georgia. Yeah, I thought it was more of our guys just making good decisions on penetration. They were able to get downhill, play off 2 feet, and then they made the right plays. A lot of times Georgia was converging on the bigs and the drop-off to protect the rim and our guys threw out to find open shooters and our guys stepped-up and knocked them down. * * * Defensively, back to what we saw early in the conference season, Georgia shooting 33% from the field . . . Yeah, you know, we went to the zone a lot. I thought obviously that worked out in our favor. I think they were 1-for-15 from 3 in the second half. Teams, once they get in that little moment where they're not very comfortable or confident and you're kinda' daring them to make shots . . . I think they only made 1 FG in the last 5 1/2 minutes so, proud of our guys for stepping-up in a tough environment, tough game, to find a way to get this win. * * * You went to Alex (Fudge) more tonight without a true big in there . . . played with a long, athletic lineup. Talk about the decision there and if you expect to do that against LSU? Yeah, you know, I thought he gave us good minutes and did a really good job of keeping us in our stuff from the 5. Obviously, he doesn't get a lot of reps at that but he played within himself. He did a great job of getting downhill on some penetration, that big finish he had on the spin was huge, kinda' iced the game, and then he found some guys and did a good job on the back line of our zone. He stepped-up and gave us some great minutes at that spot tonight. * * * * *
We went zone for only a few fleeting moments this season, but have used it a good deal since CC went down. We're not great at it but I like the move. JJ simply can't match up man-to-man with quick players and we were letting teams run layup drills for a while. The zone allows him to just eat space in the lane and move with the ball rather than the man. Not as many drive-through aisles to get your fries and Coke. Plus he is less likely to foul in the zone.
Three kids now that is tough! I had two grandkids, 1 & 3 here in Nashville while I watched the game. Never a dull moment. I didn’t get in the game thread during the game, but I was feeling we might lose when Jones and Fudge both missed a couple of chucked threes (thinking multiple curse words in my mind, not around little kids) in the second half. Will Richard is our best three point shooter hands down and carried us to the win. Go Gators! * Not the same as watching with some Gator pals! LOL
He is so big and strong, they call fouls on him that any other bigs get a pass on, just due to his girth. He had an about seven blocks last night and they called fouls on all except four, I believe. I’ll take it!
I noticed he mishandled the ball a few times so maybe he isn't sure-handed enough to pass it in deep (usually can't lob it there). The mishandling could be as a result of his ongoing vision trouble or may be what a lot of really big kids go through learning touch. Good question.
Watching last night's game I thought Jitoboh played better and actually helped the cause offensively setting screens. Defensively is called for fouls because he is slow and does not move his feet at times. He gets into defensive position late and unfortunately this creates contact with the opponent. He and Shimmy are all we have in the blocks. Both of them need to do a better job rebounding on the defensive end. It would be nice to get a win over a hapless LSU team and finish the season at 500 in the SEC.
I would like our offensive rebounding to improve as well..many times we shoot it up, miss and the other team rebounds it..1 shot , however on the other end, the other team seems to get multiple chances at scoring
Because Fudge and Jones are heaving wayward threes! Karoom another miss. These two and JJ should only be shooting twos, it would help the team be more consistent!
Yeah . . . except the Florida shots are often early in their possession and our players are at least 3-out and usually 4-out so there is nobody but 1 to crash the boards. Also, Coach Golden has said he prefers dropping into transition defense to avoid giving-up fast breaks (and making the other team earn their points through a possession). Not sure if he still wants this team to do that as much though without CC protecting the middle and the rim. JJ protected the rim well last night. Anyway, once Florida gets another big (or two) we should see a different look on rebounding. Just my 2-cents though.
Maybe my crappy memory but I don't remember a UF team in decades that could go from WOW to WTF so easily on every other possession. I guess the fact that a freshman is the guy to step up late in the season with so many experienced guys says it all. Glad to see some smiles though.
He's got a great touch on short shots in the paint, better than Colin ever had. But Jason is not ready a lot of times when someone passes him the ball, and he fumbles it. I've noticed a bad habit of holding his hands down and by his side rather than up and ready to receive.
Yeah those "shot put" shots the announcers keep talking about are great. I hadn't noticed what you did with his hands though and will be looking for it. Thanks!
If you watch the old Celtics, every guy on the court was ready for a Larry Bird pass because you never knew when he'd find you with a fantastic no-look. Gotta be ready. If you're ready, you'll score a lot of easy buckets.
