Three Takeaways from the Florida Gators Two-Point Loss to FAU
The undefeated start to Todd Golden's regime in Gainesville has quickly come to an end.
On Monday night, Florida fell to the visiting FAU Owls 76-74 to drop to 2-1 on the season just four days from their first road contest of the year in Tallahassee. The sloppy performance by the Gators presented many areas of concern and poor execution on both ends of the floor.
To recap the contest and attempt to project how it can affect Florida's future this season, All Gators provides three takeaways from the two-point loss to the Owls.
Lack of bench presence strikes again
We highlighted the lack of impact from the bench in our last takeaways article after Florida's win over Kennesaw State, calling out how that could harm success this season if it continued.
Well, after seeing four scorers tally double-digit performances (Colin Castleton, Kyle Lofton, Will Richard and Kowacie Reeves Jr.), the Gators had just two other players record points on Monday night.
That came in an already poor scoring performance as Florida shot 38% from the floor and missed 22 layups (10-of-32) against the Owls.
The duo of Alex Fudge and Riley Kugel combined for five on the night and the Gators bench was outscored 34-5. While that number may be skewed in favor of FAU as fifth-year senior guard Michael Forrest — arguably their best player and certainly their top performer on Monday — came off the bench in his first game back in action, there is still a noticeable gap even without Forrest's 20 points included (14-5).
Golden said postgame that while he wouldn't put too much blame on the bench's lack of success, he did feel it didn't perform well enough for Florida to come out victorious at home against FAU.
Any bench production outside the five points they earned would have hoisted Florida over the Owls despite a contest that would've been considered too close for comfort.
Instead, 93% of Florida's scoring production came from four starters, with just 7% coming elsewhere.
Ball-screen coverage/rotation is an issue
Following the Gators' win over Kennesaw State, Golden expressed his desire for the Gators to grow in their on-ball screen coverage, specifically when defending the perimeter.
When facing off against a talented shooting team like FAU on Monday, fighting over a screen and showing out to the ball handler while his defender works back in front was critical.
However, Florida failed to do that. And they paid for it.
While the first set of Owls to visit Gainesville last Friday didn't capitalize on Florida's evident lapses in that part of the game, the Owls of FAU indeed did.
Using a heavy dose of on-ball screens to create open looks for shooters in the half-court amid a hot shooting night, FAU came out with a perfect game plan for combatting a bigger Gators squad on Monday.
The Owls executed at a high-level, knocking down 54% of their three-point attempts on the night with 13 total made threes. While some came in transition — posted 21 fast break points — or due to over-pursuit in help defense on the inside resulting in a kick out, Florida's ball-screen coverage was a major aspect of the constant open looks FAU had from beyond the arc.
As the big men of FAU set screens for the shooters around the three-point line, Florida's propensity to drop underneath the screen without a switch or even a show from the other defender created open looks across the board for the likes of Johnell Davis and Forrest — the latter returning to the hardwood after not playing in the first two contests.
Limiting three-point attempts was an emphasis for the Gators heading into the matchup, given the understanding of FAU's shooting prowess.
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," Castleton said following the loss. "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."
That gameplan was reiterated at the half after eight made threes through the first 20 minutes.
"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 postgame. "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. Well, they got 11 up, they made five more of them and we lost by two."
The Gators' woes in this area are fixable moving forward, namely through repetition and the emphasis on working over the top of the screen if they're not going to switch onto ball handlers.
However, it will be intriguing to see how they combat another skillful scoring team with an assortment of shooting options at their disposal.
Colin Castleton and Kyle Lofton are the team staples, as expected
A loss to a mid-major program will naturally bring many negative takeaways to the table. However, there are still positives at this early point in the season, even in a loss.
Throughout the offseason, there were two cornerstone pieces for the Gators in fifth-year seniors Kyle Lofton and Colin Castleton. Slated to assume crucial roles at the one and five spots, the duo is already presenting their worth to the Florida team even in a loss.
On Monday, Castleton compiled 30 points and 12 rebounds to record his first double-double of the season and break the 30-point mark for the second game in a row.
His prowess on the offensive end was a crucial factor for Florida as they went back and forth with the Owls in the second half. He also added five blocks defensively to make FAU head coach Dusty May nervous that Castleton would "set a record" for most blocks in a game against in team when he recorded three early in the contest, May said.
Lofton added 14 points, six assists and seven rebounds of his own to tally a Florida career-high in all categories. He frequently broke the seal on the scoreboard when UF found itself attempting to withstand brief scoring droughts.
The experience they provide is invaluable for this Florida team.
The noticeable impact they have on the game makes it difficult for Golden and Co. to take them off the court even briefly in a close contest. That was evident by Lofton's 38 minutes and Castleton's 34 minutes.
As they continue to grow their chemistry with each other and their teammates in the newly constructed roster the Gators still present, there is potential for Lofton and Castleton to be one of the best guard-center tandems in college basketball.
That was on display on Monday night, even in the loss.
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