I know it sounds crazy, but this Gator team thrives when they make up their minds to ramp up their DEFENSIVE intensity. They got off to such a hot start shootiing last night, they got very complacent defensively and allowed South Carolina so many easy buckets. They then got lazy and complacent on offense, not working as a team and just going one-on-one, taking bad shots. But with about 6 minutes left in the first half, they started playing better defense, made a nice run and took the 4 point lead into halftime. They came out the 2nd half pressuring the heck out of the Gamecocks and blew them away. A bunch of steals and fast break baskets, 21 assists total for the game to their 7. Aberdeen & Haugh were tremendous. Micah has a lot of rust to knock off, but he did play better the 2nd half and even had 5 assists. I think
@instaGATOR mentioned it a while back, but with all the individual talent on this team, they have to play as a true TEAM to be great. And it starts on the defensive end. The offensive success and ball movement is directly correlated to how hard and smart they play on defense. They should win their next 3 games (Oklahoma, LSU, Georgia) fairly easily, but only if they play intense, team defense. The rest of their game hinges on that, IMO.
Denzel Aberdeen and Thomas Haugh, making his first start, had career scoring nights to lead the third-ranked Gators past the Gamecocks 88-67 on a night the team
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