GAINESVILLE
After the 68-66 home loss against Vanderbilt on Jan. 21 — the game that put Florida at a crossroads and had the potential to cause a successful season to spiral out of control — coach Mike White approached his players in the locker room.
“Guys,” White said, “let’s pull up a chair and let’s just talk.”
White, the second-year UF head coach who was tasked with replacing Billy Donovan, talked.
Kasey Hill, the senior point guard and the lone player on the team who has ever played in the NCAA Tournament, talked.
John Egbunu, the normally quiet 6-11 center whose loudest contributions generally come when his powerful dunks nearly take a rim off the backboard, talked.
By the end of the conversation everyone talked. About their frustrations. About the positives. About what they needed to do to get back on track.
“Things needed to be said,” Hill told reporters Monday, “and we said them.”
Since that conversation on that day in January, the Gators have won four straight games by an average of 32 points culminating — for now — with an 88-66 upset win Saturday over then-No. 8 Kentucky.
In that span, Florida has shot 48.2 percent from the floor and made a blistering 44.4-percent of its three-points attempts — a more than 10-percent increase over the regular season average of 33.8 percent from beyond the arc leading up to that point. UF is now up to No. 17 in the Associated Press poll.
“They just recommitted to each other,” White said, “to play for each other.”
And now, less than 48 hours after celebrating the biggest win of White’s career to this point, the Gators (18-5, 8-2 Southeastern Conference) are already back at it, ready for the next opportunity to play for each other.
That opportunity comes on Tuesday night against Georgia. It will be Florida’s third game in six days and the first of those three away from the O’Connell Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Stegeman Coliseum and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
The Gators needed overtime to take home an 80-76 win over the Bulldogs, which was also Florida’s last win before the two game losing streak that brought along the talk. Canyon Barry scoring a career-high 27 points, including a pair of four-point plays, and .
But for most the game, UGA looked like the better team. Georgia’s JJ Frazier dominated on both ends of the floor, scoring 25 points and adding five assists and four steals. The Bulldogs (13-10, 4-6 SEC) made 48.3 percent of their shots and outrebounded the Gators 41-32.
“We didn’t play well,” Hill said. “… We just have to keep in mind that they almost beat us here at home and we have to go to their place.”
So while White is happy with the way his team has played over the past two weeks and acknowledged the success and consistency up and down the lineup, the coach isn’t ready to make a declaration about his team just yet.
There are still games to play.
“The only goal I have, I promise you, is hoping we're right there with Georgia at the first media timeout,” White said. “That’s it.”
Etc.
Backup point guard Chris Chiozza was named the SEC Player of the Week on Monday. The junior notched the fourth triple-double in UF history on Thursday with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in the 93-54 win against Missouri. He also chipped in nine assists and nine rebounds against Kentucky while being tasked with defending freshman phenom Malik Monk, the SEC’s leading scorer who was held to 0 points in the first half on Saturday. … Redshirt freshman Keith Stone, who missed the past two games with an ear infection, was cleared to return to practice on Monday. White said he is questionable to play against Georgia. … ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi has Florida as the Midwest region’s No. 3 seed in his latest NCAA Tournament bracketology, which was updated Monday. If his rankings were to hold, UF would open the NCAA Tournament in Orlando and face 14th-seeded Bucknell. The other two teams currently in UF’s quadrant are sixth-seeded Creighton and No. 11 seed Wake Forest.
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