Florida Gators Defensive Breakdowns in Loss to FAU Are “Very Correctable”
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"Rainesville" worked against the Gators on Monday night.
Florida dropped its first contest of the season as the Gators struggled to combat the dynamic scoring attack of the Florida Atlantic Owls, led by a supremely efficient perimeter shooting performance.
After struggling to begin the season — at least to their standards as a team that views one of its strengths to be its shooting ability from beyond the arc — FAU found its groove in the "great shooting environment" that head coach Dusty May, a former UF assistant and father of current walk-on Jack May, coined Exactech Arena to be.
Knocking down 13 of their 24 attempts to shoot at a 54% clip from downtown on the night, the Owls made it difficult on Florida to create any sustainability due to their efficiency of basketball's ultimate equalizer.
That was the deciding factor in their 76-74 upset over UF.
"From my early observation, them going 13-24 from three was the difference in the game," Gators head coach Todd Golden said when addressing the defensive breakdown postgame. "The fact that they were so efficient, 54%, we just got bombed out tonight.
"A lot of it was in transition. I thought they did a really good job locating shooters in transition. The way they play, it's a difficult guard. They play about four guards usually. So, transition was an area where we got bopped pretty good. I thought our end-line, out-of-bounds defense wasn't great either."
The Owls scored 21 fastbreak points — accounting for 28% of the team's overall scoring production.
"I just think our transition defense was bad," graduate guard Kyle Lofton said. "They were getting out rebounding and getting out running. We had trouble finding guys, then they'd swing it one more or set a back screen; we just wasn't together or talking today."
However, arguably the biggest area of concern was Florida's defensive lapses in ball screen coverage in the half court. It was the second contest in a row that the Gators have failed to fight over screens to contest looks on shots on the perimeter from their opposition or force them off the spot completely.
Instead, Florida dropped underneath and failed to show until the defender being screened regained position. That inhibited the Gators' rhythm on that end.
"We laid on a lot of screens tonight, we weren't able to fight over, and make these guys curl going towards the basket, which was kind of the game plan," Golden said.
That reality took away from the fact that the Owls failed to replicate the same production they had from the exterior on the inside. The unit shot just 42% from the floor combined and 36% from two-point range.
The Gators staff recognized the strength and weakness of the Owls heading into the halftime locker room and reiterated the need to eliminate open looks from three in the second half.
"In a game like tonight, we talked about it with the team at halftime, they bombed us in the first half 8-13 from three. We said, 'we have to limit them to seven or less attempts in the second half, 'and if we do that, I thought we would win," Golden explained.
"Well, they got 11 up, they made five more of them and we lost by two."
Despite the early season woes, fifth-year senior center Colin Castleton, who starred as a bright spot on the defensive end with five blocks, feels that the breakdowns on that end of the court are not going to be lingering issues throughout the year.
Instead, he said they're "very correctable."
It all just comes down to executing the game plans Golden and Co. layout for the team at a high level, in his eyes.
"I feel like there's just things we needed to focus on coming in a little bit more than we did, like the guys," Castleton said postgame. "Coach Golden gave us a great gameplan, told us don't let them shoot threes, don't let them get it off when their big set really good screens and they have good plays for their two guards who shoot the ball really well.
"We just didn't execute that, and that's something we can correct with film. We're going to watch it tomorrow and get better at the areas we need to improve on."
There hasn't been much adversity to challenge the fortitude and resiliency of Golden's unit in year one. They're found success in their closed scrimmages and the first two contests of the year, but the team hasn't had the moment to sit back and ask: "'OK, what are we about,'" Golden noted.
The loss to FAU presents this Florida team with that moment.
They'll have an opportunity to bounce back on Friday against a reeling Florida State squad that's opened up their year at 0-3 after losses to Stetson, UCF and Troy. The potential for a resurgence after dropping an early tune-up game to a mid-major at home will depend on UF's communication and progression on the defensive end.
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