Florida basketball: Gators look for revenge on Wildcats at home
By Will Thomas
Florida basketball is coming off of a rough last week of basketball. Sure, they beat Ole Miss handily last week, but they lost Colin Castleton for the year and then got trampled on the road against Arkansas.
Now they get to come home and take a shot at revenge on the Kentucky Wildcats. A few weeks ago, the Gators lost in Rupp Arena by just five points, so it felt like Florida had a good shot at home.
Now, without Castleton, the Gators need to figure out who on the court can stop Oscar Tshiebwe. Not many guys can limit Oscar on offense the way that Castleton can. In their first matchup, Tshiebwe scored just four points and was 14.3% from the field.
Without Colin, the right to guard Oscar is passed down to Jason Jitoboh and Aleks Szymczyk. Jitoboh’s defense has been solid, but not great in the past. This could be a spot for Szymczyk to shine through.
Against Arkansas, Aleks scored eight points, had six rebounds, and snagged four steals in 20 minutes of game time. The freshman showed his potential, and now he has a chance to show everybody what he can do against Oscar.
Aleks has the height advantage of Tshiebwe, but like just about everyone else isn’t as big as he is. Szymczyk weighs in at 233, and Oscar is 260.
If Aleks is able to have a great game against Oscar and limit his production, he’ll be a fan favorite and swing the game in the Gators’ favor.
Aside from the battle in the paint, the Gators will have to have a better game offensively if they want to leave the gym with a win. Against Arkansas, only two Gators got to double figures, Riley Kugel (17) and Will Richard (10).
The biggest reason for Florida struggling offensively was, surprise surprise, horrible three-point shooting. They were 4-21 from deep, which is a 19% rate. Two of those makes were Szymczyk late in the game.
Kyle Lofton was 1-5, Myreon Jones was 0-1, and despite his great scoring game Riley Kugel was just 1-6 from deep.
Florida shouldn’t be reliant on the three-ball, but they have to be consistent from deep in order to beat the Wildcats.
With no three-point shooting, Kentucky will be able to sit in the paint and swallow up the Castleton-less Gators.
At this point in the season, Florida basketball is a long shot to make the tournament. It will likely take winning the SEC Tourney to make it.
But this has the feel of a game that the Gators, and their fans, will be able to get up for. John Calipari and his Wildcats are walking into Gainesville on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament.
It would be pretty sweet to take them down and pop their bubble.
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