Scouting Report: Florida Gators

BRamseyKSR

The Kentucky Wildcats football team defeated the Florida Gators in The Swamp back in the fall. Will the basketball team find the same success at the O’Connell Center on Wednesday night? That will be decided beginning at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN. Coach Calipari and the ‘Cats enter Gainesville having won back-to-back games including Saturday’s beatdown of Tennessee. Meanwhile, Coach Golden and the Gators are sliding with losses in four of their last five games dating back to their game at Rupp Arena. Florida’s recent struggles have been made worse since star center Colin Castleton broke his hand against Ole Miss.

They have only played without Castleton for one game, but everything has changed. His 16 points per game offensively led the Gators and is an obvious blow. However, his elite rim protection is what they will miss the most. Florida entered Rupp Arena on February 4th with a Top 10 defense. They have been sliding since then and really plummeted after allowing 84 points to Arkansas on Saturday. The Razorbacks were able to shoot 32-49 (65.3%) from 2-point range without Castleton in the game. Coach Golden has now had a little more time to prepare a game plan without his star big man, but it is never easy losing your most valuable player. You never want injuries to happen, but Kentucky must exploit the opportunity presented to them in this one.

As we do prior to every game, it is time to emerge from the KSR Film Room and deliver another scouting report. We have a full personnel deep-dive, breakdowns of their offensive and defense schemes, and the overall keys to the game. Let’s dive on in and get to know more about the Florida Gators.

Florida Gators Personnel

Starters

#11 Kyle Lofton: 6’3″ 188 lbs, Graduate Student Point Guard

8.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.4 apg

Playmaker. Point Guard. Plays without turning it over. Not a good 3-point shooter. 16-56 from 3. Under 30% from his career. Go UNDER the ballscreens and handoffs. Looking to turn the corner and get all the way to the rim going right. Much more dangerous as a driver than as a shooter. Have to stay between him and the basket at all times to take away his playmaking ability. Not worried about him shooting 3’s behind the ballscreens or handoffs. No right hand drives!!! Closeout short to him on the perimeter and guard against the right hand drives. Help off of him when he doesn’t have it. Get your hands up and make him score contested 2’s with you between him and the basket. Don’t over help when he drives, especially driving left. No right hand drives! No layups! Don’t over help.

#0 Myreon Jones: 6’3″ 177 lbs, Graduate Student Guard

5.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 2.1 apg

Very willing shooter. 84 of 132 shots have been 3’s. Just 31% from 3. Has been a much higher percentage shooter in the past. Was 40% for two seasons at Penn State. Still need to treat him as a shooter because that is really all he is looking to do. No catch-and-shoot 3’s! You can help off of him some, but tighten up as the ball comes towards you and closeout to take away the initial catch-and-shoot 3. Then, once you take away the catch-and-shoot, bounce back and guard against the right hand drives. No right hand drives. You can hop under the ballscreens and handoffs. Just 7-26 from 3 off of ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off downscreens and get over the flares. Do not over help when he drives it. He is mostly driving to pass. No catch-and-shoot 3’s!

#5 Will Richard: 6’4″ 206 lbs, Sophomore Guard

10.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 0.8 apg

SHOOTER!!! NO 3’s! 100 of 179 shots have been 3’s. 40% from 3. Have to be tight to him at all times to take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s. Tighten up to him as the ball is driven towards you. Get over the ballscreens and handoffs. Chase off of downscreens and get over the flares. Switch anytime there is too much space and switch out to take away the 3’s. Have to find him in transition. Always the next most dangerous guy. Once you take away the catch-and-shoot he is going to look to drive it right. He will drive it right to the rim and look for the pull-up going left. Need to contest all pull-up jumpers. Look to come take it off of him when he is driving it right. Not thinking about passing. 20 assists, 22 turnovers. Really pressure him out on the perimeter too. No 3’s!

#24 Riley Kugel: 6’5″ 207 lbs, Freshman Guard

8.0 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 0.9 apg

Very capable shooter. 32.8% from 3, on two attempts per game. Need to be there to take away the obvious catch-and-shoot 3’s. He is hunting jump shots and right hand drives. Likes getting into a one or two-dribble pull-up. Will use the shot fake on the perimeter to get by you and into his pull-up jumper. Stay down on the fakes! Likes to use the left to right crossover before his jump shots as well. No right hand drives! Very athletic and physical at the end of his drives. You need to stay down, wall up, and make him score over you. Always coming back to his right hand to finish. Going to essentially play the “4” when he is in there, but he is a true guard. Have to treat him as such. Contest everything. Pressure him some. 23 assists, 33 turnovers. No right hand drives. No catch-and-shoot 3’s.

#33 Jason Jitoboh: 6’11” 300 lbs, Senior Center

2.4 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 0.4 apg

Massive 5-man. Big, strong, and physical around the basket. Has a decent shooting touch so he will stretch out to mid-range some with his face-up game. Get a hand up to contest when he shoots the face-up jumpers. Still primarily looking to score at the rim. Will ballscreen and roll to the basket. Just give ground and stay lower than him on the roll so they can’t throw it up to him at the rim. Don’t help up off of him at the rim and give up a dunk. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Don’t let him duck you in. Be physical and get him off of the block. His percentages will go down the further off of the block you make him catch it. Better finisher than free throw shooter. Foul if you are beat. No And-1’s. Box out! No dunks of him.

Bench

#14 Kowacie Reeves: 6’6″ 192 lbs, Sophomore Guard

8.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.6 apg

Very willing shooter. 109 of 199 shots have been 3’s. Just 28.4% from 3. Shot higher percentage last season. He is hunting catch-and-shoot 3’s so we want to still treat him as a shooter. No catch-and-shoot 3’s! Need to tighten up to him as the ball comes towards so you can get ready to take away the initial catch-and-shoot. Chase him off of downscreens and get over the flares. Find him in transition. Once you take away the catch-and-shoot 3’s he is looking to drive it right. No right hand drives. Will reject ballscreens and handoffs to drive it back right. When he drives it right you can bring some help and try to take it off of him. Not thinking about passing. 15 assists, 25 turnovers. Just make him finish when he goes left. No catch-and-shoot 3’s for him!

#3 Alex Fudge: 6’9″ 200 lbs, Sophomore Forward

6.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.4 apg

Long and athletic backup forward. Good all-around skill set. Capable shooter. Need to be close enough to contest his catch-and-shoot 3’s. More dangerous as a pull-up jump shooter and right hand driver. No right hand drives! When he drives it right he is not thinking about passing. Pressure him as much as possible without getting whipped to his right hand. Not super comfortable handling it. Looking for opportunities to come take it off of him when he drives it right. 10 assists, 30 turnovers. Likes to shoot the pull-up jumper going left. Give a hard contest to all pull-ups or face-up jumpers out of the post. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Be physical and get him off of the block. He does not want the game to be physical. Will fly in and crash the offensive glass. Box out! No right hand drives.

#2 Trey Bonham: 6’0″ 170 lbs, Junior Point Guard

6.0 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.3 apg

Backup point guard. Good shooter! 75 of 129 shots have been 3’s. 33.3% from 3. Not a great finisher inside so we want to take him away from 3. Handles the ball a lot when he is in there. Very aggressive. Need to get the ball stopped in transition and contain him off of the ballscreens and handoffs in the half court. Go OVER the ballscreens and handoffs. Excellent shooting behind when you go under. 10-23 from 3 off of the ballscreen. You have to go OVER and be ready to switch out to take away the 3 if there is too much space. Will attack the basket driving it right. When he drives it left do not over help because he is looking to pass. Chase off of downscreens and get over the flares. Make him finish contested 2’s. No 3’s behind the ballscreen!

#13 Aleks Szymczyk: 6’10” 240 lbs, Freshman Forward

1.8 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 0.1 apg

Back-up 5-man. Played nearly 20 minutes against Arkansas in the absence of Colin Castleton. Shooter! He is looking to pick-and-pop. 7 of 11 shots have been 3’s. Went 2-5 from 3 against Arkansas. No pick-and-pop 3’s!!! We should be able to take him away by going under the ballscreens and limiting the need to help off of him. Stay tighter to him on the perimeter to take away his catch-and-shoot opportunities. Pick him up when trailing the play in transition. Pressure him without fouling and make him put it on the floor. Right hand, left shoulder in the post. Just make him score over you around the basket. More concerned with taking him away from 3. Switch the ballscreens that he sets if you need to. No pick-and-pop 3’s!!!

Florida Gators Offense

The Florida Gators run a Princeton-style offense with a lot of ballscreen continuity principles as well. In their Princeton offense it is primarily out of a “Chin” type look with the 5-man getting a catch around the elbow and then getting into “3-man side” and “2-man side” actions. We will break all of that down more in the film room, but expect to guard a ton of movement and back cuts. When guarding the Princeton the primary rule is that you WANT your man to have the ball. That is when they are least dangerous. So, jump to the ball when your man doesn’t have it and stay between your man and the basket at all times. We also will have to guard a lot of ballscreens and handoffs. They have guys we can go under on to help stay in front of the ball. Can’t go under #2 Bonham.

Despite running some unique offensive action, the Gators still rank just 130th in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency metric. That has come in large part due to poor three-point shooting. Florida is just 31.8% from deep, 287th nationally, on the season. Guys like #0 Jones and #14 Reeves have not shot anywhere near their career averages, but still must be treated as shooters in this one because that is what they want to do. Now, without Colin Castleton, it is even harder for the Gators to create offense. They do get to the foul line a lot because of their constant cutting and ball movement. We must play without fouling to not give up easy points at the free throw line.

With the injury to Colin Castleton the Florida Gators aren’t as effective in the pick-and-roll. Taking away one of the best roll men in the country really hampers their ability to create off of the ballscreen. However, it is still a big part of what they do offensively. With #33 Jitoboh setting the ballscreen we should really sell out on taking away the ball handler. When guarding anyone besides #2 Bonham we can do that by going UNDER the ballscreen. We do not want to let these guys turn the corner to their strong hand. #24 Kugel is much more dangerous driving it right than he would be shooting behind the ballscreen. Just go UNDER so he can’t get a head of steam driving it to his right.

Here is another reason why we want to be even MORE aggressive going UNDER the ballscreens against Florida. Now that Colin Castleton is out and #13 Szymczyk is playing significant minutes it has opened up the pick-and-pop threat. His ability to make pick-and-pop 3’s means we do not want to have to help at the point of the screen and leave him open on the perimeter. If we go UNDER the ballscreens then there is not much need to help off of Szymczyk and we can stay tighter to take away the catch-and-shoot 3.

Just like their ballscreen offense, the Florida Gators Princeton-style offense isn’t as effective without Colin Castleton in the lineup. There isn’t the threat of the 5-man driving it to the basket from the high post like they had before. However, it is still a large part of what they did offensively against Arkansas. This is a look at their 3-man side action. The two guards come together on the wing with one curling the high cross screen and the other bouncing back to the perimeter. We aren’t super concerned with #11 Lofton shooting this shot, but would still like to get a little more of a contest. Either way, the primary goal is to stay between them and the basket.

This is a look at Florida going to their 2-man side. The point guard cuts over top of the ball and comes together on the wing with his teammate. One will back cut and the other cuts towards the ball into a handoff. When #11 Lofton is involved we really want to hop underneath to keep him from turning the corner to his right hand. Stay down at the end of his drives and make him score with you between him and the basket.

While it might not have been five times like Coach Calipari said post game, the Florida Gators did burn Antonio Reeves on some back cuts the first time around. Whether it be out of their ballscreen/handoff continuity or from Princeton action, they do get to a lot of back cuts. However, unless you are guarding #5 Richard or #2 Bonham you shouldn’t be chasing them out on the perimeter enough to get back cut. There is no reason to ever let #11 Lofton go back door because we aren’t worried about him shooting it. Stay between him and the basket. Do NOT deny the ball. Remember, when guarding this style of offense, you WANT your man to have the ball.

Florida Gators Defense

This is where the Florida Gators have made their money this season. They have put together a Top 25 unit defensively on the back of elite rim protection and their ability to take away the three-point line. We hear a lot about analytics on the offensive end with teams wanting to take layups and 3’s. However, Florida has embraced that on the defensive end under Coach Todd Golden. They are excellent at taking away the exact shots their opponents are trying to get. Florida does that primarily by icing the ballscreens and funneling ball handlers towards the rim. However, they have lost the anchor of their in Colin Castleton. Without his rim protection much of their defensive plan doesn’t work nearly as well. We should aggressively attack the rim without him in there.

Keys to the Game

No 3’s for #5 Richard, #2 Bonham, or #13 Szymczyk. Need to hold those guys to no more than three combined 3’s. Have to still treat #0 Jones and #14 Reeves as shooters despite low percentages. No more than three combined 3’s for them.
Dominate the glass. The Florida Gators don’t try to offensive rebound so we have to end possessions with a defensive rebound. 80% or better on defensive glass. We should have plenty of opportunities for second chances on the offensive glass as well.
Attack their 5-man in ballscreen situations and at the rim. Losing Colin Castleton has completely changed the Gators defensively. They are now without one of the best rim protectors in the country. We should exploit their less capable 5-men by attacking them relentlessly through ballscreens and post-ups.
Shoot 75% or better at the free throw line.