Assistant Coach John Andrzejek’s Impact on the Men’s Basketball Team

Florida’s assistant men’s basketball coach John Andrzejek has made an impact in his first year with the team. After a four-year stint as an assistant coach with Washington State, he joined the program in August.

Previous Experience

This is not the first time Andrzejek and head coach Todd Golden have worked with each other.

Andrzejek was at Columbia for his undergraduate degree and worked as the team manager for the men’s basketball team from 2012-14. Then, in July of 2014, he was hired as the Director of Basketball Operations.

Meanwhile, Golden was the Director of Basketball Operations the year prior for Columbia. As Andrzejek stepped into this role, Golden stepped into a new role as an assistant coach for the Lions.

The connections don’t end there. While at Columbia, both Golden and Andrzejek worked under head coach Kyle Smith, who Golden played under at Saint Mary’s.

Andrzejek discussed the impact that Smith has had on his coaching career and how enjoyable this been with the years of chemistry between the coaching staff.

Happy March

The basketball world is buzzing with the NCAA Tournament and SEC Tournament approaching quickly.

The No. 24 Gators have been working their way up the ranks in the SEC with big time wins against Auburn and Kentucky. According to Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, the Gators are predicted as a No.7-seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament

Another important matchups comes Saturday as they travel to Columbia to take on No. 18 South Carolina (23-5, 11-4 SEC), who is currently third in the SEC.

Andrzejek brought up the keys behind the game against the Gamecocks. With Florida winning nine of its last 11 games, Andrzejek said the team looks at one practice at a time, continuing to make sure they’re taking advantage of every moment to keep up the success this season.

Offensive Expertise

Andrzejek brings offensive IQ to this Gator team. While Andrzejek was at Dartmouth, he led the team to their highest offensive efficiency in years. Continuing onto Johns Hopkins, he helped lead the team to the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament. Andrzejek then took his expertise to the University of San Francisco where the program went 20-13 and had their second most wins in 30 years. While at Washington State, he helped to lead the Cougars to two postseason bids.

With Andrzejek on this team, Florida has seen a jump in its average points per game by 13.5 points. The field goals per game have jumped from 25.2 to 30.2.

The coach shared the preparation for games as the season has progressed and how they’ve had to adapt.

Florida and South Carolina will tip-off at noon on Saturday.