Gator Basketball Faces An Offensive Onslaught

The Gators (2-0) have struggled to score this season and tonight's matchup with Troy (2-0) will make scoring a must. The Trojans lead the nation with 105 ppg. Granted, this was against Piedmont and William Carey. In those games, the Trojans were 45 of 81 and 37 of 71 from the field in those games. It doesn't matter who you play, when you take that many shots, you force other teams to deal with your pace. Contrast this with the Gators last time out against Georgia Southern when the visitors were able to slow the game down. UF's young lineup was frustrated with the pace. Speeding it up may help, but not if UF continues their poor shooting.

Florida 3-point struggles (3 of 29 shooting) are an early season slump, unless this continues through the end of the month. If that is the case, the Gators have to keep going to the hoop, and need to rely on Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus, who are UF's most efficient shooters. Macklin, in the process of ramping up his game, is shooting 13 of 18 for 77%. But, he is terrible at the line (under 20%) which is why we've seen Chandler Parsons getting quality minutes. Parsons looks extra goofy now with his hair grown out, but he is more active now and willing to go to the goal hard. It is a huge bonus to have him as the sixth man, especially since he can handle the ball. Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton might get in foul trouble facing bigger guards and Parsons is serviceable in bringing it up the floor and setting the offense. But if Dan Werner continues stinking up the building (2 games started, 4 points, 5 rebounds), Parsons could get on the front line.

It will be interesting to see how UF deals with Troy's smaller lineup and if they will run with them. Expect UF to win, how they will win is anyone's guess.