The sometimes Mighty Gators against the Fighting Bruce Pearls.

[MJWilliamson]

I am happy that Bruce is back in basketball. His troubles with the NCAA not with standing, I think he is good for the game. His teams always played smart, aggressive and hard. He is also very colorful.

He once uttered at a breakfast gathering; "Free Bacon....a Jewish dilemma"

Bruce also seemed to have Billy's number, beating some very good Florida teams more often than not. And his team beat a decent UK team just recently.

So far, White's team have sometimes had trouble getting up for inferior opponents. FSU, Tennessee and MSU come immediately to mind. If this Gator team is not careful with this Pearl coached them, they will lose. Florida is far more talented. But Bruce is the better coach.

 

[MJWilliamson]

From the Sun;

For most of the season, Florida point guards Chris Chiozza and Kasey Hill have embraced the challenge of perimeter defense.

The point guard duo will get another test tonight when Florida hosts Auburn. The Tigers have been fueled this season by junior point guard Kareem Canty, a Marshall transfer who is tied for third in the SEC in scoring (19.4 ppg) and third in assists (5.4 assists per game).

The 6-foot-1 Canty had 26 points and four assists in Auburn’s 75-70 upset of No. 23 Kentucky last week. In reviewing film of Canty, Florida coach Mike White called them “Canty’s clips,” because “they’re all highlights.”

“Offensively with the ball in his hands, he’s one of the more talented guys in college basketball,” White said. “He’s terrific, right hand, left hand, floaters, runners, getting guys shots, and then, of course, his ability to separate and get himself three looks at a high percentage that are really, really difficult shots for most everyone else.”

 

[MJWilliamson]

UF has a 47-29 all-time home record vs. Auburn, including an active 10-game winning streak in the O’Connell Center vs. AU. Florida has won eight in a row against Auburn and 18 of the last 19 meetings.

The Gators trail the all-time series, 76-87, and this marks the first meeting under head coach Mike White.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Dorian Finney-Smith has three straight double-doubles, joining Chandler Parsons, Marreese Speights, Al Horford, David Lee and Udonis Haslem as the only Florida players over the past 20 seasons to get three straight.

Surprising that Noah is not one of those names

 

[46885]

Im looking for a nice win tonight, shouldn't be as close as last game even though the opponent is better. A win tonight would have the Gators is pretty decent shape after the start of conference play. White is actually doing much better than all the other new coaches in the SEC.

 

[46885]

Dorian Finney-Smith has three straight double-doubles, joining Chandler Parsons, Marreese Speights, Al Horford, David Lee and Udonis Haslem as the only Florida players over the past 20 seasons to get three straight.

Surprising that Noah is not one of those names

Jo never really scored a ton for us, which just shows how important and unselfish he was everywhere else. I remember watching games and looking at his statline and you would swear he had like 16-12 but it would be more like 6-14 with 2 FT's and 2 thunderous dunks. God I miss that team

 

[MJWilliamson]

Florida is taking care of business

 

[MJWilliamson]

Both Chris and Kesey are having very good nights as PGs. Good to see

 

[46885]

Doe doe and Egbunu are beating Auburn by themselves


When Hill hits a lay up, a free throw... and a 3. Good luck tonight auburn

 

[MJWilliamson]

53 to 32 at the half

 

[MJWilliamson]

Doe doe and Egbunu are beating Auburn by themselves


When Hill hits a lay up, a free throw... and a 3. Good luck tonight auburn

bttt

 

[MJWilliamson]

A three guard line up with Chiozza, Hill and Allen did well in the first half

 

[PacoGator19]

Bruce Pearl is 6-8 against UF. That's about to be 6-9.

 

[MJWilliamson]

Bruce Pearl is 6-8 against UF. That's about to be 6-9.

I think you have it wrong

 

[MJWilliamson]

Hard to argue with a 32 point win

 

[bradleygator]

They are playing good ball, and getting better as the season goes. Have to give credit to White as a new guy, who looks like he's 14, for making the move to bring Hill off the bench. Both Hill and Chiozza are playing better since. If these guys hit shots, they can beat anyone in the SEC. Tough schedule coming up.

 

[miksta]

They are playing good ball, and getting better as the season goes. Have to give credit to White as a new guy, who looks like he's 14, for making the move to bring Hill off the bench. Both Hill and Chiozza are playing better since. If these guys hit shots, they can beat anyone in the SEC. Tough schedule coming up.

Kind of a worthless hypothetical but I don't think Billy D would be doing much, if at all, better with this crew than White is. Swapping Horford for Egbunu, obviously a huge upgrade, and Allen effectively serving as the hoops version of Antonio Callaway are the only major positive personnel differences between last year (losing record) and this year, right?

If he can get some momentum recruiting (early results are a bit concerning), I think the basketball program will be just fine.

 

[MJWilliamson]

They are playing good ball, and getting better as the season goes. Have to give credit to White as a new guy, who looks like he's 14, for making the move to bring Hill off the bench. Both Hill and Chiozza are playing better since. If these guys hit shots, they can beat anyone in the SEC. Tough schedule coming up.

Both PGs had 14 points with roughly the same minutes. Both were perfect from the FT line, which is what a team needs from that position. Chris had 8 assists and 3 tos. That is a great assist number. It is a good ratio, if a bit under his season average. He continues to have the best assist to to ratio in the league. And in conference play, he is also averaging well over six assist per game. Kasey had 4 assists and 2 tos, which is better than his average. Glad to see him learn in that regard

Both are playing good basketball and the whole team is starting to shoot better. A friend works for the team, and he says the last few game, the team is hitting shots in games like they do in practice.

We are traveling up to Nashville on Tuesday to watch them play. Should be a good game.

 

[Countygator]

Nice game all around. Probably our best effort of the year. Let's see if we can keep it going at Vandy on Tuesday and then against a really good WVU team Saturday.

 

[46885]

The schedule gets tough fast after a weird great showing, I expected us to beat Auburn pretty good but not in the fashion it happened. I think the game at Vandy might be just as hard if not more than the Saturday game against a top 6 team.

 

[MJWilliamson]

The schedule gets tough fast after a weird great showing, I expected us to beat Auburn pretty good but not in the fashion it happened. I think the game at Vandy might be just as hard if not more than the Saturday game against a top 6 team.

We are driving up to Nashvile to watch the Vandy game

 

[bradleygator]

Kind of a worthless hypothetical but I don't think Billy D would be doing much, if at all, better with this crew than White is. Swapping Horford for Egbunu, obviously a huge upgrade, and Allen effectively serving as the hoops version of Antonio Callaway are the only major positive personnel differences between last year (losing record) and this year, right?

If he can get some momentum recruiting (early results are a bit concerning), I think the basketball program will be just fine.

One thing I do like about White is that he sticks with players and lineups if they are playing good ball. I'm obviously not in any position to second guess Billy D, but he had set substitution patterns, and he stuck with them regardless of whether the guy coming out was starting to roll. Also, the team looks like it knows what it wants to do in the half court offense, and they are continuing to compete and defend.

 

[bradleygator]

Both PGs had 14 points with roughly the same minutes. Both were perfect from the FT line, which is what a team needs from that position. Chris had 8 assists and 3 tos. That is a great assist number. It is a good ratio, if a bit under his season average. He continues to have the best assist to to ratio in the league. And in conference play, he is also averaging well over six assist per game. Kasey had 4 assists and 2 tos, which is better than his average. Glad to see him learn in that regard

Both are playing good basketball and the whole team is starting to shoot better. A friend works for the team, and he says the last few game, the team is hitting shots in games like they do in practice.

We are traveling up to Nashville on Tuesday to watch them play. Should be a good game.

Last year and early this year, the basket was just nailed shut. It looks like they just needed a couple shots to fall to start shooting with some confidence.

 

[instaGATOR]

I liked the hire when it happened.
I liked the 'person' and the B-Ball coach.
I liked that he could keep 3 of BillyD's 4 recruits committed to UF, (2 ****'s and 1 *** PF)
I liked that he could add a couple of his own recruits:
SF Justin Leon 6-8 196 Jr (JuCo, committed to LaTech but switched to stay with White)

SG Jhonny Victor 6-4 178 rsFr W-O (track jumper ship, 2 sport athlete)

I like his 2 current 2016 B-Ball recruits, they're HS team-mates:

PF Dontay Bassett 6-8 205 *** - Oldsmar (Christian School), FL
Offers: UF, Ark, MsSt -- BC, Colo, KanSt, Neb, OreSt, VaTech, etc.

PG Eric Hester 6-3 175 **** - Oldsmar (Christian School), FL (87/150)
Offers: UF, Ms, Miz, Tn, aTm, -- FSU, Mia, USF - UL, GaTech, TCU, USC, VaTech, etc.
~ Both are solid players, and even more solid citizen student/athletes.

So, as I've believed all along, White was a very good hire and I continue to be happy with it/him.