Florida Basketball Falls to Alabama Crimson Tide

Breakdown & Analysis of Florida Gators 83-70 loss to Alabama

Last night we got to witness  Florida basketball lose their fourth game in the last seven, as they were taken down by their SEC rival Alabama Crimson Tide 83-70.  This loss came after Florida went up 39-36 by the end of the first half, then suffered a pretty hard collapse in the second half and lost that lead fairly quickly.  They would then go on to struggle in the last minutes of the second half and lost any chance at making a comeback during the game.  Allowing a 15-1 run to enter the second half, then turning into 22-4, and all of that happening within 8 minutes of game time.

With that, in this article, I will be covering the differences between the first and second half, as well as what adjustments could be made for the remaining games to improve the team and prevent collapses such as this game from happening again.

Florida Basketball Vs Alabama Basketball – 1st Half

The first half was a close one, where Florida was mainly able to keep up due to their work on the interior and in the paint.  Colin Castleton and Jason Jitoboh were two of the playmakers through this half, as Castleton would have multiple putbacks throughout the half and Jitoboh was able to get a few boards of his own.  The main X-Factor for the Gators in the half was their ability to get to the free-throw line, as they would end up with 28 free throw shots in the game compared to 19 for Alabama.  This half was also well-coached, Mike White was able to use what he saw during the early first half and adjust, as they did go down 21-15 at one point.

Florida also was quick on offense and made the most of their possessions, as they had forced Alabama to take 9 more shots in the first half, yet still had the lead by halftime.  This efficiency was also aided by primarily focusing on inside or high percentage shot taking, which was nice to see for Florida fans.  Overall, Florida did everything they could in this half to keep up, and performed well in most facets of the game, especially against such a high-profile team.

Florida Basketball Vs Alabama Basketball – 2nd Half

After a strong first half, Florida just imploded on themselves and seemed to have lost all momentum roughly 5 minutes into the second half.  Alabama would go on a 22-4 run, and then hold their lead through to the end with very little resistance.  The main factor for their comeback?  Turnovers.  Alabama would end with 13 steals on the night to Florida’s 5, and in many of the first possessions of the second half, it seemed like Florida could not hold onto the ball whatsoever.  This clearly made it so that Alabama would have a lot of mismatch opportunities on the offensive end as they would have a significant amount of fast-breaks.

After the steals slowed down a bit, it turned into perimeter defense issues.  They struggled to contain against the 3-ball and really could not prevent it early on.  They also would miss their first nine shots in the second half and have five turnovers coming in the first 8 minutes of the half alone.  Colin Castleton, who dominated the first half, accounted for 3 of these 5 turnovers, which was relatively surprising considering the grit he had in the first half and tenacity to score.  Overall the half was dominated by Juwan Gary, ending the night with 19 blocks, 8 rebounds, 2 steals, and then a block and an assist, while shooting 63.6% from the field and did not miss any free throws.

Overall Analysis – Florida Basketball

Overall the main issue here was the inconsistency between the first half and the second half.  Florida guard Myreon Jones put it best, stating, “We just didn’t have that grit we had in the first half. We got out hustled.”

The sudden change between being extremely efficient with shots and scoring on fast breaks to giving up insane amounts of turnovers and not being able to score on 9 possessions in a row really is what failed this team in the long run.  Why did this happen is the more concerning/interesting part.

This can, and should, be attributed to coaching, and primarily Mike White.  The fact that there was even the chance of a 22-4 run happening in 8 minutes, never mind it actually happening, is something that kills a team.  There should have been serious changes made during that period of time, whether it be a new rotation of players to turn the tide (no pun intended) or just a new game plan altogether, there needed to be something happening quickly.  Yet nothing happened.  It was just allowed to happen until finally, they changed it back when it was too late and Florida would draw it to within 6 points, then lose it again.