Florida Gators Turn Attention to Tough SEC Schedule

Gainesville, Fla. – It was a rather easy non-conference schedule for the No. 6 Florida Gators men’s basketball team, but the journey really begins next Saturday as they open conference play with the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Gators will travel to Lexington, KY., next Saturday for an early 11 am tipoff with the Wildcats, who enter this matchup as the No. 10 team in the AP Top 25.

Having played this easy non-conference schedule compared to a more tasking one doesn’t seem to worry head coach Todd Golden though, who highlighted the positives he saw through the early going of the season.

“We are really unselfish and we are really mature,” Golden said after the win over Stetson. “I think we have a lot of guys that, you know, are playing for each other. Not trying to oversimplify it, but, at the end of the day, when you have guys that are pulling in the same direction it makes things a lot easier.”

Additionally, if things can carry on as they are, then not much should change for the Gators says Golden.

“And if we can continue that over the next 18 games we should bear relatively well in conference play,” Golden stated. “We have a ton of talent, don't get me wrong, but our team talent is really good. Every guy that is playing is unselfish and is playing for the guys around them.”

This unselfishness Golden spoke on has also led to a perfect start for Florida. They’ve taken down top teams like North Carolina and Arizona State, which is great. However, it doesn’t mean they don’t have things they need to clean up. In fact, there are multiple things Golden will be looking to fix as they prepare for Kentucky.

“I think we gotta get back to taking better care of the ball,” Golden said. “I think that’s something over these last couple of weeks we’ve been okay but Arizona State, North Carolina, against those teams we did not take care of it well enough.”

This is a good point made by Golden as well. As obvious as it is, taking care of the ball is going to be key if they are to take down the Wildcats behind enemy lines. This is because of how dangerous they can be in transition. The Wildcats are No. 10 in the nation in fastbreak points, scoring 17.50 points per game on the fastbreak.

On top of the careless turnovers, another area they will need to improve upon is communication.

“We got to get better at communicating,” Golden said. “We haven't really been in a venue like we will be next Saturday where there is going to be 20,000 people making it really hard for us to communicate on the floor.”

This will play a huge part in the game. Being able to talk to one another, especially for a team that switches a lot on defense, cannot go unstated as an important aspect of how they are to perform.

It will also be the first time parts of this team will partake in the daunting gauntlet of the SEC. Those key guys are Alijah Martin, Sam Alexis and, to a degree, Denzel Aberdeen.

However, Florida will still have a core nucleus from last season in Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, all of which played significant minutes against the SEC.

And for one of those key returning players, he believes that they learned a lot about themselves in their wins this season, but that they can’t be complacent with where they are at.

“Yeah, definitely feel like we prepared,” Clayton Jr. said. “Obviously there's some things we have to fix up. Been a lot of learning through winning. So, continue to learn, not be complacent and I think we’ll be ready.”