Florida Men’s Basketball Season Rapidly Approaching

It’s hard to believe but the Florida men’s basketball team will play its first regular season game on Friday. The Gators are coming off a 21-15 season, an NIT appearance, and Mike White’s first season as head coach. With several new players and the departure of senior Dorian-Finney Smith who is now in the NBA on the Dallas Mavericks roster the Gators have to step it up. Finney-Smith really carried the load last season offensively so the Gators will have to find a way to do that on their own now.

With the O’Connell Center renovations the Gators get more experience playing away from home, and will travel throughout the state of Florida to have their “home” games. The Gators plan to have their first game at home in the O-Dome on December 21 against Arkansas Little Rock.

Exactech Arena at the @OConnellCTR renovations are full steam ahead. It's going to be beautiful! #GoGators #ODomeRising pic.twitter.com/jNA7wZTVlZ

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) November 4, 2016

The Gators have had several scrimmages and hit the hardwood in front of fans with their previous exhibition game against Eckerd College.  Against Eckerd the Gators struggled early but in the second half the defense got better and so did the Gators.  Junior guard Chris Chiozza says that is what then set the tone for the offense which gave them the win that night.

But now the real season starts.

The Gators travel to the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena for games this weekend against Florida Gulf Coast and Mercer. The Gators defeated them 70-50 last season and in Florida’s previous three meetings with FGCU the Gators limited the Eagles to 50 points or fewer. FGCU has been in the NCAA Tournament twice, once in 2013 and this past season in 2016. This shows that the Eagles are a competitive team.

Florida coach Mike White, coming from his previous coaching job at Louisiana Tech is aware of the talent that this team has as a mid-major and praises the coaching staff as well as the players who could even be good players in the SEC. 

White hasn’t said who will start and probably won’t know until Friday. There are several guys on the rotation who could start but White says he likes to keep his players hungry off the bench. 

From last season there have been improvements, starting with the team’s culture and chemistry. It’s White’s second year as the head coach and this helps with the team culture as well with getting used to his coaching style with him and the rest of the staff. The team has definitely matured and is more selfless than they were last season.

Another improvement from last season is the shooting. There are more shooters this year and Chiozza credits this to being confident and putting in work over the summer. 

White really expects his team to really show that they’ve improved on their shooting skills in this game against another Division I opponent.

With White having his first year at Florida under his belt and the Gators improving in important areas, the program is excited to get back to the hardwood under the lights, no matter were their “home” is.

The Florida Gators will face the FGCU Eagles in Jacksonville at 7:30. The game will be aired on SEC Network plus.