Florida basketball players, coaches say they're ready for SEC grind
Florida basketball finished off its non-conference slate with an impressive 97-72 win over Quinnipiac on Saturday that has second-year coach Todd Golden confident that his team is ready for the grind of SEC play.
It won't be easy, for sure. The Florida Gators (10-3) will face three ranked teams in its first four league contests, beginning Jan. 6 at home against No. 10 Kentucky (12:30 p.m., ESPN). After that, Florida plays at No. 22 Ole Miss (Jan. 10), Arkansas (Jan. 13) and at No. 7 Tennessee (Jan. 16).
"It’s just a mother getting through this league, every night is a really, really big challenge and I think that actually gets tougher this year," Golden said. "I think the league is a little better this year. There’s a lot of great opportunities and you got to be mentally tough to get through it because if you’re not and you lose one or two it can break you. I think we’ll be ready to handle what comes our way and we’ve got to do our best to get off to a good start on Saturday.”
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That's three ranked teams in a 10-day stretch for a Florida Gators team that has won six straight and appears to be coming together at the right time. In the Quinnipiac win, five players scored in double figures, led by 22 points from junior guard Will Richard. Florida dished 19 assists and has averaged 23 assists over its last two games.
"There’s a lot of joy in that locker room right now, guys happy for each other’s success, and I know they are excited for conference play to start," Golden said.
Florida went 3-3 against its six power five conference teams in non-conference play, with its most impressive win coming over Pittsburgh (86-71) at the Naismith Tip Off Tournament in Brooklyn, N.Y.
UF's six-game win streak is its longest since winning six in a row to start the 2021-22 season. Its 6-0 mark in December is the team’s second undefeated month over the last 10 years (6-0, Nov. 2021).
"We're ready for sure," Richard said. "We had a tough non-conference, we played some really good teams, so we know what to expect. I feel like everybody is ready to battle."
FTs, handling pressure still a concern for Florida Gators
Florida has proven to be a rugged rebounding team with explosive scoring ability from its three-guard starting lineup. But two areas were UF needs to show growth to navigate through a difficult 18-game SEC slate is taking care of the ball against pressure and free throw shooting.
The Gators entered Saturday shooting 66 percent from the foul line for the season and continued their lapses of concentration at the line, going 17 for 29 (58.6 percent) against Quinnipiac.
Florida also turned the ball over 12 times against Quinnipiac, with freshman forward Alex Condon committing five of the 12 turnovers.
"That’s way too much," Golden said, "But he’s a good young player who’s out there and not afraid to fail, so we’ll let him play through that a little bit in games like this."
Quinnipiac also came with a full-court press in the second half in an effort to get back in the game and the Gators turned it over a few times against the press. An inability to break the press nearly cost Florida against Michigan, but the Gators rallied for 106-101 double overtime win over the Wolverines at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C. that was its most impressive of the month.
"Something we probably haven’t worked on enough," Golden said. "Something that I probably take for a granted a little bit, because we have good players in our backcourt and can manage it. But it’s bothered us a little bit. Going into next week, we’ll be more prepared to handle it.”
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida Gators basketball players, coaches say they're ready for SEC
