Gator Basketball Starts Today

[ocalaman]

UF vs. 3-0 Army in Uncasville, Connecticut. Army up at the half 39-31. Gators have opening game rust and look very sloppy. 7-13 from the free throw line, lots of turnovers and lots of fouls. Keyontae Johnson has 3, Lewis got 2 early and didn't play a much the first half. Mike White has played a lot of guys but our bench hasn't scored yet. Tre Mann has gotten the most minutes at point guard and is our leading scorer so far. The Michigan transfer Castleton started over Omar Payne and has played well. They are trying to play up-tempo with full court pressure, but Army has broken it easily. We've had mostly one on one play with not much ball movement. Hopefully, they will play better the 2nd half and pull this one out. They play 1-2 Boston College tomorrow night at 9:30.

 

[ocalaman]

Gators come back in the 2nd half and beat Army 76-69, hitting 11 of 12 free throws down the stretch, although they missed 12 FT's for the game. Tyree Appleby came alive the 2nd half with 15 points. Tre Mann had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Defense tightened up the 2nd half, but the offense had very little ball movement - mostly one on one plays, with superior talent winning the game. But they won their opener. Nice start.

 

[gatordad3]

It's the first game, sloppy on offense as usual. Still waiting for the uptempo version but we should see more vs Boston College tomorrow.
I like the transfers we have in Casselton and Appleby.

 

[Nicktheslick]

Army having already played three games(and winning all three) was an advantage. The gators looked much better in the second half. Looks like we’re going to be deep.

 

[sadgator]

Didn’t see a minute of it, but good that they came back! Love it.

 

[instaGATOR]

I WANT MORE PLAYING TIME!

Well then, work harder, listen to the coaches better, and earn your minutes.
And that goes for everybody, no matter your class or your recruiting stars.

IF they can discover and apply what being a TEAM really means (like the 04's did) then they can build something special. We shall see as the season develops.... 🤓

 

[ocalaman]

Gators up 49-29 at the half over Boston College. Very impressive tonight so far, Johnson & Mann especially. Perfect from the FT line, much better ball movement and very good defense. Too many fouls, but they are playing aggressive and taking it to B.C. Look much cleaner & smoother than they did in their opener yesterday, at least so far. And the pre-game commentary was that B.C. is better than Army and would give the Gators all they could handle.

 

[gatordad3]

Tre Mann is lighting it up against BC. Florida up 49-29 at the half.

 

[gatordad3]

Major improvement from yesterday.

 

[Nicktheslick]

Real game action is what this team needed.

 

[ocalaman]

Final - UF 90, BC 70. Johnson had 24 points, Mann 17 with 6 assists. Locke, Lewis and Payne all in double figures. Gators led much of the 2nd half by 30 or so points and it got sloppy the last several minutes to get to the final score. Nice win. Home opener Sunday bs. Stetson on the SEC Network.

 

[instaGATOR]

The BC game shows what it is to be a TEAM, instead of just being a team...
Happy Daze....

 

[ocalaman]

UF destroyed Stetson 86-40 on the SEC Network this afternoon. Scottie Lewis had a double double with 10 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. KJ had 19, Locke 15 and Mann 10. Florida's defense held Stetson to 19.6% shooting, as their pressure defense played havoc, getting 8 steals and causing 23 turnovers. The were 21-24 from the free thrown line and had 17 assists to 11 turnovers. 9 Gators played at least 12 minutes and 15 players saw action on the court, with 12 of them scoring. This team is starting to figure out their individual roles and how to play together and I believe this could be a better UF team than many experts expect. Their next game is scheduled to Saturday vs. FSU and that will give us a better idea of how they stack up against quality competition. But I like what I've seen so far.