Gators Hoops Assistant Kevin Hovde Shaping the Future of Florida’s Scoring Attack
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A new style of play is emerging at the University of Florida with the hope that it will provide new outcomes.
While Todd Golden-coached teams have grown synonymous with a fast-paced, explosive offense, ranking top 40 in scoring at San Francisco in 2021-22, the head man isn't the one controlling that end of the court for the Gators.
He still has a say in the operation, namely the tempo, but Golden is deferring the responsibility to assistant coach Kevin Hovde to handle the unit in its entirety.
Their days under current Washington State head coach Kyle Smith at Columbia from 2012-2014 shaped the new face at the helm for UF to assume a defensive focus in his coaching career. Hovde, meanwhile, who played in the Princeton system he now solely commands, occupied a potent role in implementing and sculpting the offensive attack under Smith.
Coming over from Richmond this offseason, Hovde returns to Golden's right hand after just one season away with the task of turning around a Florida offense that grew dormant under the previous regime. However, with the desire to his to work in transition, an analytic-oriented philosophy and an influx of scoring talent, Florida's offensive prowess is slated to take a step this season.
"We're always going to have great ball movement [and] be an unselfish team," Hovde said on Tuesday when asked about his offensive system. "You're trying to get as many rim twos as possible. Obviously a lot of those result in free throws, as well, which makes them really important. Catch-and-shoot threes would be the next one. All those are good shots for us.
"There's some mid-range that are good, but I think generally a good rule when you're playing would be a shot the other guys on the floor know is coming. That's where the mid-range can be tricky, because if you come off a ball screen and you get downhill in the paint and the big's in a drop, depending on where the ball-screen coverage is, and you shoot a wide-open, uncontested two-point shot — that's a good shot because you can see it coming. You have a great chance of getting an offensive rebound and getting on the glass.
"Now, if you're shooting a tough step-back two early in the clock, with a hand in your face, that's a tough shot and those are harder to offensive rebound and they're a lot harder to get back in transition. It's amazing how it's all connected."
Those connections receive major emphasis from the staff in their communication with players as a group that leans on efficiency stats in the new era of analytic-driven operation.
Relaying information from the practice stats members of the staff keep during each session this preseason, the coaches are ensuring that the players understand their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their consciousness of which shots bode best for the most points per possession.
It's not necessarily something Hovde will share on the court, but rather post-practice or postgame (when the time comes) in an attempt to maximize that efficiency on the offensive end.
Guard Trey Bonham — who transferred into the program this offseason from VMI and held one of the highest efficiency rates in college basketball a season ago — shared how Hovde passes on the information he receives from his study off the court.
"It's really off the court. After practice every day, he's sending me film and saying, 'Trey, you need to do this or that better.' I can kind of think about it overnight and that helps me get a better understanding."
Hovde's in-depth understanding of high-level offense — and studious nature to continue tweaking the system — aligns with Golden's confidence in hiring him onto his first staff at Florida and handing him the reigns of an uber-important aspect of the game.
When asked about his decision to defer to his assistant coach — a rare practice for a power six collegiate head coach to do — Golden pointed to the long-term trust he's built with Hovde since their start at Columbia together.
"I've known him for a long time," Golden said. "We've watched a lot of basketball together, we coached a lot of basketball together and Hov's just an extremely talented guy when it comes to coaching offense. He's super comfortable within it and it allows me to spread out and do other things. I love delegating and taking more of a CEO approach in a lot of ways.
"I like to coach some defense and focus on that but Kevin is just a good offensive coach. He studies it, spends a ton of time making sure we're organized and making sure we execute well and I think being our offensive coordinator and being able to run that part of the team gives us the best chance to win games."
Ranking 189th out of 350 eligible teams in Division-I in scoring offense last season, Florida's season was the embodiment of the program's time under former head coach Mike White. It was characterized by defensive excellence early on — the most consistent area of the squad under his tutelage — before being met with extended scoring droughts that erased the Gators' progress to drop contests.
However, even in times of lackluster scoring, Florida maintained a monotonous half-court structure that slowed the game down by minimizing possessions and relying heavily on one-on-one isolation ball in the low post by members of the frontcourt.
That style is changing for the better under Hovde, with the incorporation of consistent movement — both the players and the ball — and frequent on-and-off ball screens to get shooters open while having the intention to attack the basket each time down the court.
Belmont transfer wing Will Richard takes a liking to the relative freedom the offense provides players to showcase their skillset in half-court sets that, while they are designed to get players open, include a wide variety of decision-making for guys to play off instincts.
For Richard, his instincts on both ends of the court are tools that make him a breakout potential player for Florida this season.
"I feel like it's a lot of freedom. I mean, we have like our basic sets and stuff that we're running to get the defense moving and stuff. Just playing off of the defense and just reading our defenders and make the right reads."
That style maximizes his scoring prowess that's been on display in the early preseason, even in his limited appearances due to injury.
That goes for every talent on the Florida team that currently holds 11 players with the chance to see the court at times this season.
With a better pure shooting team at Florida than in years past, Hovde's system designed to create opportunities at the rim foremost — before looking to open shooters on the perimeter if lanes close secondarily — the Gators will at least bring some excitement to Gainesville in year one of the new regime.
If the offensive identity shift runs, an immediate uptick in success could follow for Florida in 2022-23.
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