Florida Unable to Finish In Paint

No. 6 Florida’s frontcourt was a combined 6-for-20 against No. 4 Tennessee Saturday, in the Gators worst shooting game of the season.

Finishing in the paint; something Florida head coach Todd Golden stressed in Monday’s practice. Tennessee was able to completely take away the post with double-teams and help side defense, posting seven blocks. Florida was outscored 34-14 in points in the paint.

Despite horrible offensive efficiency down low, Golden plans to still feed his big men against Vanderbilt Tuesday.

“We’ll continue to try to get the ball inside when it calls for that,” Golden said. “Obviously we want to be more efficient and effective on the perimeter than we were on Saturday.”

Florida head coach Todd Golden on last Saturday’s slate and the expectations of his team following a loss in Knoxville.

“Saturday I definitely felt better going to bed and seeing 9 teams in the top 15 or whatever it was lose.” pic.twitter.com/GVJcJP8UOV

— Jesse Bratman (@jessebratman) February 3, 2025

Alexis Silver Lining

Chattanooga transfer Sam Alexis was a bright light for the Gators after they got blown out by 20. Prior to Saturday’s contest, he was a combined 3-for-8 with 6 points in his last four games. He imposed his will down low against the Volunteers, hitting his first three field goals on hook shots going right.

“I thought Sam finished well early in the game,” Golden said. 

Alexis had three of 13 made field goals for the Gators. Other notable Florida bigs Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu, had three field goals combined.

“We are always going to try to determine what goes on the floor,” Golden said. “I think our bigs, for the most part, have been able to impose their will physically on teams. We did not do that on Saturday.”

Emphasis on Improvement

On the season, Florida has averaged 29.8 field goals per game on 46.1% shooting. Against Tennessee, the Gators went 13-for-53 from the field (24.5%).

Florida fell one spot, from No. 5 to No. 6, in the updated AP Basketball Poll https://t.co/RCGDqq3AcF

— Inside the Gators (@InsideTheGators) February 3, 2025

For the frontcourt, finishing through contact in a physical SEC will be imperative. A lot of the Gators future opponents have a lot of size down low, like No. 1 Auburn, who start Johnni Broome and Dylan Cardwell together.

“We were starting to do a lot more contact drills in practice,” 6-foot-9 Sophomore Thomas Haugh said. “We all noticed that we were just not finishing at the rate we were at the beginning of the season.”

Florida associate head coach Carlin Hartman even has the frontcourt finishing over 7-foot-7 redshirt center Oliver Rioux in practice drills.

“Coach Hartman’s doing a good job of using Ollie trying to go through him to finish,” Haugh said. “Or even, a lot of pad work to get stronger down the post and make those layups.”