Scouting Report: Florida Gators

Saturday afternoon in Gainesville is incredibly important for the Florida Gators. They are fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives as a team squarely on the bubble. A signature win over the Kentucky Wildcats would give them their 20th win overall, 10th SEC win, and likely move them to the right side of the bubble debate. The ‘Cats won the first meeting at Rupp Arena 78-57.

It has continued to be an up-and-down season for the Gators. The month of January saw a three-game losing streak immediately followed by a three-game winning streak. Then there was another four-game winning streak that ran through the first week of February until their trip to Lexington. There was also a big home win over Auburn two weeks ago that turned plenty of heads nationally. Coach Mike White and Florida have proven to be a dangerous team at different points throughout the season.

As always, we’ve got a full scouting report prepared to get you ready for the game. We will take a deep dive into the Gators personnel, breakdown their offensive and defensive schemes, and finish with the keys to the game. Let’s dive on in and get to know more about the Florida Gators.

Florida Gators Personnel

Starters

#22 Tyree Appleby: 6’1″ 163 lbs, Senior Point Guard

11.4 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 3.8 apg

Quick point guard. Aggressive playmaker. SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 168 of 241 shots have been 3’s. Have to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3’s. Loves to shoot them off the dribble. Will shot fake and side step into a 3. Don’t let him take his rhythm dribble. Have to break his rhythm anytime he bounces it beyond the arc. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Switch if you need to and take him away from 3. Very quick off the dribble. Will drive it right when you take away the 3. Cut off the right hand drives!!! Don’t over help when he drives it. Better passer than finisher. Make him finish a contest 2 over you. Get the ball stopped in transition. No 3’s!

#0 Myreon Jones: 6’3″ 175 lbs, Senior Guard

9.1 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.6 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 170 of 235 shots have been 3’s. Have to be tight to him at all times to take away the 3-point attempts. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Absolutely no help off him. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Switch if there is space to take away the 3’s. He really wants to catch-and-shoot. Need to get out well beyond the arc and take him away. Find him in transition. Closeout aggressively to make him drive it. We want to make him finish contested 2’s. Your only job when guarding him is to take him away from 3. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. No 3’s!

#24 Phlandrous Fleming Jr.: 6’5″ 205 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

10.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 2.0 apg

Athletic, physical wing. Good shooter. Need to be there on the catch to take away the initial catch-and-shoot 3’s. Still better as a right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! You have to get over and cut off the right hand drives. Wants to attack your closeouts. You need to closeout with high hands to deter the initial catch-and-shoot 3, but then bounce back to protect against the right hand drive. Stay between him and the basket. You can hop under any ballscreens and handoffs. Likes to initiate contact and play through your chest on the way to the rim. Stunt at him and bring some help when he is driving it right. Always coming back to his right to finish. Excellent offensive rebounder. Box out!!! No right hand drives. No catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#1 C.J. Felder: 6’7″ 231 lbs, Junior Forward

3.6 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.4 apg

Physical 4-man. Capable shooter. Need to be there to give a hard contest. 38.9% from 3 on just over one attempt per game, so it is low volume. More aggressive driving it right. No right hand drives! Loves to spin back right at the end of his drives. Always coming back right to finish. Strong inside. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical at the end of his drives and in the post. Nearly 70% from 2-point range. You have to make him score with you between him and the basket. Keep him out of the paint. The deeper he has the ball the more willing you need to be to bring help. 11 assists to 15 turnovers. Very good offensive rebounder. Box out!!!

#12 Colin Castleton: 6’11” 240 lbs, Senior Forward

16.1 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.7 apg

Skilled post player. Wants to score with his back to the basket. Will face up to drive it right or go left to spin back right. He is always coming back right to finish. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Make him score it back into you with his right hand on the left side. Take away the quick drop step. No drop steps! Be physical with him and get him off the block. Percentages go down the further out you make him catch it. Contest the face-up jumper if he shoots it. Have to push him off the block and then come dig the ball out of the post. Stunt at him and then come dig when he takes a dribble. 30 assists to 46 turnovers. Be aggressive and make him give it up. Elite offensive rebounder. BOX OUT!!! Make him score over you.

Bench

#23 Brandon McKissic: 6’3″ 185 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

6.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.7 apg

Serves as a backup point guard. Handles the ball when he comes in quite a bit. Willing shooter, but much better as a right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! You can closeout short to stay between him and the basket. Go under the ballscreens and handoffs. 50% from 2 versus 26% from 3. We want to make him shoot it from the perimeter. Likes to shot fake on the perimeter and then attack your closeout. Stay down on the fakes. We want him to shoot it! Stay between him and the basket. No right hand drives. No lay-ups!

#14 Kowacie Reeves: 6’6″ 182 lbs, Freshman Guard

4.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg, 0.3 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s!!! 71 of 98 shots have been 3’s. Have to stay tight to him at all times to take away the 3-point attempts. Tighten up as the ball comes towards you. Absolutely no help off him. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and flares. Switch if there is space to take away the 3’s. He really wants to catch-and-shoot. Need to get out well beyond the arc and take him away. Find him in transition. Closeout aggressively to make him drive it. We want to make him finish contested 2’s. Your only job when guarding him is to take him away from 3. If he isn’t dribbling you aren’t close enough. No 3’s!

#44 Niels Lane: 6’5″ 206 lbs, Sophomore Guard

1.8 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 0.5 apg

Bigger wing. Very athletic. Slasher and right hand driver. NO RIGHT HAND DRIVES!!! He really wants to attack closeouts going right. Closeout short to stay between him and the basket. Complete non-shooter! You can go under the ballscreens and handoffs. Really likes to cut to the basket off the ball. Do not get back cut! Runs the floor hard in transition and can attack from the wings on the throw ahead. Sprint back and protect the basket. He will always come back right to finish. Help off him when he doesn’t have it. Closeout short. No right hand drives!

#32 Tuongthach Gatkek: 6’9″ 172 lbs, Sophomore Forward

1.6 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 0.2 apg

Long, thin backup post. Left-hander. Really likes to slip ballscreens. Left hand, right shoulder in the post. Doesn’t want the game to be physical. Put your chest into him and push him off his spot. Just make him score with you between him and the basket. Box out!

Florida Gators Offense

It is hard to figure out the Florida Gators offensively. They run really good action, they have talented players at every position, but the end result just as successful as you would expect. The Gators have really slowed things down offensively since our last meeting, but still shoot a bunch of 3-pointers, offensive rebound at a high level, and score a high percentage of their points at the free throw line. Despite their willingness to shoot a high volume from beyond the arc, Florida hasn’t connected on a high percentage this season (31.6%).

Florida is a 4-around-1 Motion team that runs a lot of half court set plays. It may not always translate to excellent results, but there is no denying that Coach Mike White has always run good actions in Gainesville. They are going to throw it inside a bunch to All-SEC post player Colin Castleton. He is incredibly skilled with his back to the basket and is capable of taking over a game by himself.

The Gators have talented guards and athletic wings along with their star big man in Castleton. They haven’t had a game go over 67 possessions since January 26th. The pace of play this afternoon could go a long way towards telling which team has the advantage. Let’s go ahead and step inside the film room to break down Florida’s offensive scheme and take a look at some of their half court set plays.

Horns-Cross Screen/Downscreen

Coach Mike White loves running half court actions out of a Horns alignment. This play begins by hitting the elbow and getting into a downscreen to handoff action. However, it is really set up for the cross screen/downscreen action that comes later. They can’t get it to Castleton off the cross screen so they hit Lane off the downscreen. He loves to attack closeouts. Closeout short so he can’t drive by you.

Horns-Ballscreen Roll/Replace

Another set that the Florida Gators will run from a Horns alignment is this ballscreen roll and replace action. They are looking to go high-low when they run this play. Castleton is great when they can get him the ball in space at the front of the rim. Be physical and push him off of his spot.

5-Out Motion

The Gators run some really good off-ball action with downscreens and player movement. You have to stay tight to #0 Jones no matter what else is happening on the floor. We cannot give up clean looks to him tonight. No 3’s!

Staggered High Ballscreen

Anytime Florida goes to their staggered ballscreen set we need to be very willing to switch. Whoever is guarding Castleton should just drop all the way back and take away the roll and then we can switch the second ballscreen if we need to. This is just way too much space for him on the roll.

This starts out as much better defense on the staggered ballscreen, but Georgia gets lost at the end of the possession and gives up a Castleton layup. Just stay between them and the basket!

Motion to Chin-Type Action

There have been years under Coach Mike White that the Florida Gators have been a pretty heavily Princeton-based team where they would run Chin a lot. Now, you don’t see it nearly as much but they still will call for a “Chin-adjacent” type of action from their Motion. Here, you can see Coach calling for Castleton to come get the ball at the elbow. They go two-man side from there and end up with Castleton catching it on the roll.

Florida Gators Defense

The Florida Gators defense is predicated on protecting the rim and creating turnovers. They are 13th in the country in block percentage and 21st in steal percentage. That is a pretty good starting point for putting together a solid defensive unit. Since our last meeting, opponents have gone from shooting 30.7% from beyond the arc to 32.2%. That is a huge swing this late in the season. If we can knock down 3’s against them they won’t be able to score enough to win. Florida will extend pressure in the full court some, but it is primarily a token pressure set up to slow the opposing offense down. That has done the trick as opponents spend, on average, 18.7 seconds on offense which is among the longest in the country. They have thrown in a man-to-man run-and-jump press along with their more common 2-2-1 recently.

Keys to the Game

• No 3’s for #22 Appleby, #0 Jones, or #14 Reeves. These are the only 3-point shooters you have to take away tonight. Limit these guys to five or fewer 3’s between the three of them. No catch-and-shoot 3’s for #24 Fleming either.
• REBOUND!!! End the possession by keeping them off the boards. We have struggled on the defensive glass a little bit recently. We have to reclaim our dominance. Florida offensive rebounds at a high level. The goal is 10 or fewer offensive rebounds for the Gators.
• Take care of the ball. The Florida Gators are going to try and turn us over. We have to limit the turnovers to 13 or less. Get a shot every possession and we will outscore them tonight.
• Contain #12 Castleton. No left shoulder baskets for him. Make him score back into you with his right. No quick drop steps. Have to keep him off the block and dig the ball out of the post. Keep him off the offensive glass too. 12 or fewer points for him.