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UConn vs. Florida Gators

KhalidShockedTheWorld

Well-Known Member
Mar 28, 2009
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I watched some of the Florida vs. Stetson game over the weekend. Florida's best player seems to be 6'11" center Colin Castleton who is averaging 16.6 points and 7.4 boards a game, as well as 2.9 blocks. He can shoot a little bit. The Gators' other big is a skinny but very athletic 6'9", 205 pounder named Fudge. I was thinking that if Samson Johnson is back that could be a good matchup for him.

The Gators 3 point shooter is Will Richard. He got hot from 3 against Stetson and the Gators ended up pasting Stetson by 38, surprising in the sense that Stetson had beaten Florida State and South Florida. Richard is 17-29 on 3s for the season and Florida is shooting 3s at a respectable 38.4% clip as a team.

Here are the Gators stats- they are averaging 81 ppg, 10 deep team with 10 guys averaging double figure minutes, so they can match UConn's depth:
 
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WED DEC 7...9:00 pm.....TV- ESPN2
Also regarding the Gators line-up the former CT prep guard from PSA and St Bonnies transfer (he missed a Uconn game last year with injury) ... could be back in the starting line-up for Florida after a minor injury. Richard has had some injuries issues too. First big time road test with a high ranking on their back.

Click to enlarge-
OOC-10-a-Florida-2022-23-stats.jpg
 
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I always like to read the blog previews by the opponents and I would say that this one by Florida Gators blogger Eric Fawcett is very intelligent and he has UConn well scouted. Among other things he mentions that Alleyne and Diarra were "Gator Killers" at their former schools:
It's surprising to me that Sanogo is the 5th best player in the country in the KenPom rankings. I do not particularly understand those rankings, but my eye test on Sanogo is that he has been solid but misses a few too many makeable shots and also tends to fade away from contact and takes more difficult shots than he really needs to. One of my coworkers mentioned to me that he thought Sanogo's moves are "clumsy" and he isn't impressed with him. This would be a good game for him to step up although Castleton is a shot blocker inside.
 
It's surprising to me that Sanogo is the 5th best player in the country in the KenPom rankings. I do not particularly understand those rankings, but my eye test on Sanogo is that he has been solid but misses a few too many makeable shots and also tends to fade away from contact and takes more difficult shots than he really needs to. One of my coworkers mentioned to me that he thought Sanogo's moves are "clumsy" and he isn't impressed with him.
Well I'd suggest your co-worker is clueless & doesn't quit his day job since Sanogo can shoot with either hand, has better low post moves and foot work than any big who's ever played for Uconn..... if you think about it.

His 62% on FG's this year pretty much confirms it. Especially since he's added 3 pt shooting that is included in that number. I'd say he's got Kevin Mchale type footwork and that number would even go up if he'd wasn't so stubborn and would learn to pass out of the double and triple teams, which he's getting a little better at.
 
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Checking out Florida, I saw they lost on neutral courts to Xavier and WVU but also lost a close home game to Jalen Gaffney and his 7-1 FAU team. Gaf started the season coming off the bench but has now started 4 games in a row and is lighting it up from 3 at 46% ( But not better than his Uconn replacement Joey C at 59%)
 
Nice warm weather break for the boys with a balmy 80 degree temp this afternoon in Gainesville.

 
>> There is one thing UConn hasn't experienced yet, however: A true road game. It's one of the hardest games to win in college basketball, especially against a quality opponent. The surroundings are unfamiliar, the crowd (and, often, the referees) are against you. Not easy. <<

 
This was a similar formula to what worked in Oregon- UConn got tons of easy baskets inside while denying Florida 3s, or really any clean looks. I have to say that the Florida guards were trash in this game- all of them. Richard and Lofton were both held scoreless in a combined 46 minutes, and Florida had only 6 assists as a team.
 
Borges recap with postgame quotes-

"You just create a bubble around you and your travel party," Hurley said. "You block everything else out. When you step out into the arena, you block out the fans, you don't talk to the opponents, you don't talk to the refs, you create a bubble around what we're trying to do as a team. As long as we were poised and played to our identity, executed and were together and tough, everything would take care of itself."
 
The Florida blog report on the game noted that Clingan pushed Castleton around at will. I think a lot of us knew Clingan was big and had potential but nobody really expected that as a freshman he would pushing around 6'11" senior ALL-SEC calibre centers. In any event what was apparent last night is UConn has a decided advantage at the 5 position against every team they are playing. Instead of getting pushed around, Sanogo and Clingan have been doing the pushing around, and are getting consistent easy inside baskets. Newton and the guards are getting the job done feeding the post and also in protecting the perimeter. Where I thought UConn might be vulnerable against this opponent was on 3 point shooting but UConn in its first road game didn't allow a 3 point explosion against a team that is capable from 3. Instead Florida went 4-15 from 3 and 2 of those by Kugel who isn't a 3 point shooter. Richard didn't make a 3 or score a single point.

As long as Sanogo and Clingan stay healthy this advantage is going to continue to perpetuate itself as other teams don't have 2 centers who are this good. Jimmy Dykes mentioned this last night and it's become an obvious factor in all of UConn's most recent 5 wins vs. P5 Competition.
 
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