Behind Enemy Lines: Previewing Alabama vs. Florida basketball matchup
Alabama men’s basketball holds a perfect 10-0 conference record and an overall record of 20-3. The Crimson Tide will soon be challenged at home by conference rival, Florida.
The Gators are 13-10 overall and 6-4 in the SEC. The biggest win this season by Florida came just last week as they took down a top-five Tennessee team.
Florida will travel to Coleman Coliseum for a mid-week matchup that is crucial for both teams in very different ways. Alabama needs to keep winning to stay atop the conference and continue fighting for a No. 1 seed. With a win, the Gators would add another impressive win over a highly-ranked opponent and can keep the March Madness dreams alive.
We now go behind enemy lines with Adam Dubbin, site editor for GatorsWire, ahead of the Wednesday showdown.
What is the biggest strength and the biggest weakness of this Florida team?
Florida’s strength is clearly on the defensive end of the court, where they currently rank tenth in KenPom’s adjust defense metric – which had been as high as No. 8 in recent weeks. Colin Castleton is one of the nation’s best shot blockers and also cleans up well off the glass, while Todd Golden’s defensive scheme has put the Gators in position to keep a lot of games close toward the end.
Which leads to the Orange and Blue’s primary weakness, which is inconsistency at the beginning of games. Too many times the Gators have buried themselves in a deficit that their defense and three-point shooting simply cannot bail them out of. We saw this yin and yang over the past week when UF beat the Vols thanks to a hot start, but reciprocally started cold against Kentucky which led to a familiar outcome.
What must happen for Florida to walk away with a win against Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide?
Alluding back to the first question, the Gators must come out strong against ‘Bama — meaning they need to press hard, make crisp passes and take good shots. Yes, that sounds ridiculously basic but that has been the frustration the fans have dealt with this season. Additionally, Castleton needs to continue his recent run of dominance, but maybe more importantly, the outside shots have to fall for Florida. Quite frankly, UF needs to hit on all cylinders and catch a few breaks as well if they want to prevail.
Who on the Florida roster is most likely to mitigate Brandon Miller's offensive production?
It is going to be a battle down low between Miller and Castleton for the most part. Florida does have a big body in Jason Jitoboh to give the starter a breather, and an athletic CJ Felder is expected to be back on the bench for the game, but I expect a showdown between two of the SEC’s best paint players on both ends of the court.
Following a big win over Tennessee, the Gators lost to Kentucky. What's this team's mentality heading into this one?
Golden takes a very level-headed approach and I expect him to be preaching the “one game at a time” philosophy at this point. Florida is on the outer edge of the NCAA Tournament bubble and is running out of time to score some resume-improving wins before the conference tourney so the heat is definitely on. Whether or not the team can maintain the mental rigidness needed to overcome an opponent like Alabama is yet to be seen, but basically, they will be sticking to the game plan — predominantly the inside-out game with Castleton and the three-point shooters while playing lock-down defense.
5. Who do you predict to be Florida's 'x-factor'?
One player who really needs to emerge and play up to his talent level is Kowacie Reeves, a talented sophomore wing who has not handled himself as well as we would like this season. Sometimes he is pressing too hard and at others, it seems like his head is out of the game, but if we are talking about the Gators needing everything to click and then some, Reeves is that “then some” player.
Prediction?
I successfully reverse-jinxed my team against the Vols but then got overconfident against the Wildcats, so I’m going back to the reverse-jinx approach. I think ‘Bama will run Florida out of the gym after the Gators once again come out flat. Between playing in enemy territory and the sheer dominance Alabama has displayed so far, a moral victory would be to keep it under a 10-point margin.
But they won’t.
Alabama 78, Florida 64
