UConn vs. Florida Gators

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

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:

Florida Gators 2024-25 Men's College Basketball Stats - ESPN

Visit ESPN for Florida Gators live scores, video highlights, and latest news. Find standings and the full 2024-25 season schedule.

www.espn.com

 

[the Blades]

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.

Kyle Lofton College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Kyle Lofton - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

Click to enlarge-

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

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:

Florida Versus UConn Preview | GatorCountry.com

www.gatorcountry.com

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.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

And here is our own UConn blog preview which mentions that young Florida coach Todd Golden is viewed as a rising star in the coaching profession, a "Golden Boy", if you will, best known for his use of analytics and controversial and unusual strategies:

UConn men’s basketball 2022-23 opponent preview: Florida

The Gators have talent and a shiny new coach, but will it translate to wins?

www.theuconnblog.com

 

[the Blades]

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.

 

[the Blades]

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%)

Jalen Gaffney College Stats | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Jalen Gaffney - Stats, Game Logs, Splits, and much more

www.sports-reference.com

 

[the Blades]

Nice warm weather break for the boys with a balmy 80 degree temp this afternoon in Gainesville.

 

[the Blades]

>> 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. <<

 

[the Blades]

Another precision job by the Huskies, held FLA to 30% shooting while also dominating them on the boards 42-28. ..and Uconn shot it at a 52% clip themselves.

UConn Huskies vs. Florida Gators: live game updates, stats, play-by-play

Sports News, Scores, Fantasy Games

sports.yahoo.com

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

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.

 

[the Blades]

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 Blades]

LOL !......Donovan chomping down on those Gators

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

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.

 

[the Blades]