Gators Take Step One; Auburn Next
by mlmintampa on Mar 13, 2009 2:03 AM EDT
in Basketball
4 comments
The Gators' 73-58 win over Arkansas Thursday in the SEC Tournament First Round was expected. It should not be looked at as anything more than that. Florida (23-9) has to do a lot more than defeat a SEC weak sister and they can do that Friday night against Auburn (21-10).
Against the Tigers, Walt Hodge will have to keep going to the basket and drawing fouls. Hodge was a man possessed against Arkansas. He led all scorers with 16 points and added 3 assists and 3 steals. Hodge was also willing to bang down low with Arkansas' Michael Washington, who had 15 points and 18 rebounds.
Florida will have to do much better inside against the Tigers, the SEC's best defensive squad. The Gators are still too willing to take deep shots early in the possession, rather than be patient and look to moved the ball around. When Florida opened it up against the Razorbacks, it was when plays developed and guys moved without the ball. Nick Calathes is still struggling a bit (11 points on 5-10 shooting, 5 turnovers) but finding ways to get stuff done (7 assists, 6 rebounds). Calathes needs to get over the slump because Auburn does not have the offense to match their defense. Not only will Auburn control Florida's best player, they will drag the Gator offense down to their level. Florida cannot win 58-55 games.
This might be a win-and-in game for both Florida and Auburn. It will be interesting to see how each team responds with their backs to the wall.
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Hodge was great – particularly in the run that put the game firmly in UF’s hands, which was an excellent demonstration of small, fast guards using the press to generate easy baskets off of back court turnovers. (Hodge and Walker combined for 8 steals and went 10/10 on free throws.)
Now, can we have a – tiny – round of applause for Werner? His 3pt percentage was pretty poor by the end of the game (a team-wide phenomenon, bucked only by Walker), but he was the only guy who seemed at all comfortable shooting in the first half, he was far and away the team leader in rebounds, and he even contributed a couple of blocks; 15/13/3/2 is a pretty solid line.
Who
was that guy wearing Werner’s jersey last night?!?!
One big positive from the game is our 88% shooting from the free throw line. That is a great way to win close games in the postseason.
Decent results from our perspective in the first two games of the day. Kentucky is pretty much gone now, it seems, and South Carolina’s position is precarious, given how very crowded the bubble is this year – I think we have a chance to move past them in the SEC pecking order with a win tonight. (Of course Miss St is on the move themselves, but everything I’ve seen put them well behind us nationally.)
Hoping for Bama to spring the upset in a few hours – I don’t believe they’re a threat to us (in the sense of being able to play their way in without the auto bid), and we’re clearly cursed against Tennessee.
UT
Not a curse – just the fact that they are big and athletic, which happen to be our two biggest weaknesses. But let’s just concentrate on Auburn and take them one at a time.
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