Gators Wing Niels Lane Carving Out Niche with Defensive Superiority
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Photo: Niels Lane; Credit: University Athletic Association (Courtney Culbreath)
Offense wins games; defense wins championships.
One of the biggest storylines for Florida Gators basketball this preseason is the abundance of rotational pieces jockeying for a position on the court.
With a true 11-deep rotation that mixes seasoned veterans with inexperience, players finding their way in what Gators head coach Todd Golden foresees as a nine-to-ten-man rotation at maximum is a major focus with just under a month until the season.
The preseason practice periods shed light on which players are setting themselves up for minutes. True freshman Riley Kugel is the one who stands out the most in that regard.
However, no matter the outcome of which deserving individual(s) sit on the outside looking in starting Nov. 7 against Stony Brook, Niels Lane is asserting himself as a must-have for on-court appearances due to the defensive superiority he brings to the Gators unit.
"It's a real underrated role that I take on," Lane said about his defense-first play style during media availabilities on Tuesday. "I feel like that's my strong suit. I feel like a lot of people's strong suit is on the offensive end, but I take a lot of pride in my defense. Anything I can do to stop my opponent, I'm going to do it because I know it's going to help the team win."
Returning to the program after a tumultuous 2021-22 season that saw him go from a perpetual benchwarmer to a key rotational piece, Lane brings length, speed and strength to operate in man-to-man coverage against nearly any player positions one through four.
Associate head coach Carlin Hartman spoke highly of Lane's defensive prowess as he set large expectations for the New Jersey native.
"Great on the ball. He's one of those guys that, he's almost built like a football wide receiver in the way he moves and how strong he is. He can make a straight-line cut faster than almost anybody on our team. He slides his feet great laterally defensively.
"I think the biggest thing is just going to be, again we talk about [forward Alex] Fudge's consistency, same thing with Niels. I'm not sure what it was like previously on teams he's been here at Florida. But we have an expectation of him to be a defensive stopper, a Bruce Bowen or Patrick Beverley type [of player] for us."
He's flashed that ability to this point in the preseason practices through the suffocation of Florida's offensively sharp wing Kowacie Reeves Jr.
As of late, Lane's imposed his will on Reeves, forcing the sophomore wing to grow frustrated at times due to the pestering style Lane employs.
Namely, Lane produced a defensive clinic when working against Reeves on Monday. Stepping up
into his face on multiple occasions from beyond the arc, Lane's suffocating approach and ability to jump into passing lanes to force multiple tipped balls and turnovers. However, Reeves did get him back on Tuesday when he knocked down a triple as Lane fouled him to book a four-point play.
The extended time against each other and back-and-forth exchanges bring an iron sharpens iron approach to the practice court. Reeves is complimentary of it, given Lane's talents as a defender expanding beyond any he will see in-game.
Lane makes Reeves better, and vice versa.
"It's great for me because nobody's going to be guarding like that in a game," Reeves said. "He's one of the elite defenders in the league. I like to be guarded by guys like that because in a game it makes me so much easier."
Moving forward, Lane is still in need of adding tools to his limited offensive arsenal in the modern era of high-octane scoring to become the complete package.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean he needs to be the one scoring the basketball, although he believes that is coming around too.
"I definitely think I've gotten better in a lot of aspects of my game, especially my court vision," Lane said. "I feel like I've always had a gift for passing, but I feel like I'm doing a little bit better job of getting my teammates involved.
"My jump shot is steadily improving, and also my ball handling has also been improving."
According to Hartman, the development boils down to consistency in other areas of the game as well.
"I think the biggest thing is just going to be, again we talk about Fudge's consistency, same thing with Niels. I think the thing he's got to continue to do is not just be great on the ball and be really good away from the ball but also go grab every single rebound.
"I think that's where he's really going to set himself apart if he can scrap out and really go rebound the ball because now we can play not only with just bigger lineups as a forward, he might be able to slide over and play some 4. We're going to keep tinkering with that."
Signs of development have begun to surface during 5-on-5 simulation periods as he operates in a heightened on-ball role for the second team unit. Not only showing his propensity to facilitate, but the ability to attack the basket with consistency and connect on the shot attempts he takes — adding floaters to his arsenal — the sliver of capacity to be efficient on the offensive end slates Lane for an expanded workload as the season goes on.
For now, his potential impact is clear. He's the lockdown defender that the staff will employ to eliminate opposing top scorers at any time they see fit. His continued progression from a consistency standpoint will determine his usage rate beyond the situational approach.
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