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Florida Basketball: Don’t Hit The Panic Button Yet

By Andrew Grimes

Jan 21, 2017; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators guard KeVaughn Allen (5) takes a fall during the first half of an NCAA basketball game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 21, 2017; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators guard KeVaughn Allen (5) takes a fall during the first half of an NCAA basketball game against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Florida Gators men’s basketball team may be struggling, but it’s still too soon for Mike White and company to hit the panic button.

It has been a tough week for the Florida Gators in basketball. It suffered back-to-back losses against South Carolina, where they shot extremely bad, and Vanderbilt, a team that had been struggling over the last few weeks.

There’s no need to hit the panic button just yet, as there’s a lot of basketball left to be played.

First, let’s give credit where credit is due. South Carolina is a very good team that forced Florida to make some very tough shots. And Vanderbilt is one of those teams that has always been trouble for Florida in recent years, and somehow finds ways to win.

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There are a lot of reasons Florida has struggled over the last week.

As far as individual performances go, Canyon Barry has cooled off only, scoring 19 points combined in the two losses, after averaging 18.8 points per game in the previous four wins.

But the team as a whole has been ice-cold, shooting only 19.0 percent from three over the last two games, and poor free shooting has really hurt the Gators, as well.

This’s still not enough to cause a panic. Florida has three favorable matchups coming up. It will be playing on the road against LSU and Oklahoma, and then will return home to play Missouri.

However, the loss to Vanderbilt makes these next three games must-wins for Florida before their game against Kentucky.

Looking at the remaining schedule, there’s no reason to believe that Florida can’t win eight more games, if not more before tournament week.

In order for that to happen, Mike White will need to make some adjustments.

First, the backcourt is going to need to find more ways to score consistently as a group. Too many times Florida has a game where either KeVaughn Allen, Kasey Hill, or Canyon Barry are pretty much non-existent

If they want to compete with Duke, Kentucky, or any other top-tier team, they will need to play better out of the back court.

Then, they will need more defensive consistency from the big guys, as they allow too many timely offensive rebounds and rank near the bottom in the SEC in defensive rebound percentage.

Lastly, they need to hit their free throws. Florida makes the easiest way to score the most challenging way to score. Shooting 53% against South Carolina, and having two poorly timed missed free throws versus Vanderbilt, is not going to get them very far.

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This is still a very good team and there’s no reason to panic. They will still likely make the NCAA Tournament barring a monumental collapse. However, if they want to be taken seriously as a contender, then they need to make some key adjustments, or they’ll be one and done.

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