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Florida coach Mike White said he’s pleased with most aspects of UF’s defense. The Gators rank second in the SEC in blocked shots (7.1 bpg), fourth in steals (8.1 spg) and fifth in scoring defense (64.1 ppg allowed).
But White said the Gators need to do a better job on defensive boards moving into December. Florida is averaging 24.3 defensive rebounds per game, which is 12th in the SEC. The Gators allowed 15 second-chance points on Thanksgiving Night against Seton Hall and 13 second-chance points last Sunday against Miami.
“We’re going to continue emphasizing it a bunch,” White said. “We’ve got to defensive rebound better.”
Florida lost its top rebounder from last season, senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who averaged 8.3 boards per game last season. Junior center John Egbunu (7.9 rpg) has filled some of the void, but had just four rebounds in UF’s win over Miami. Redshirt freshman forward Keith Stone could be another capable big body able to grab rebounds in traffic. Stone had 15 points and 8 rebounds in the Miami win.
“We definitely miss Doe-Doe (Finney-Smith) in that regard, but other guys have to step up and I think they will,” Florida senior point guard Kasey Hill said. “With Keith having a good game like he did, he’s also a rebounder, instead of a scorer and I think he’ll help in that category, too.”
White said he hasn’t gotten to the point of putting bubbles on the rims yet this season in order to have an all-rebounding practice, similar to what Tom Izzo does at Michigan State and Billy Donovan did at times at UF.
“We haven’t gone quite to the extreme as to some of the Tom Izzo stories I’ve heard with the pads and helmets,” White said. “I’m not sure it’s in our best interest right now with this team. We’re shooting free throws too well, I don’t want to mess that up. I don’t want too much contact. But we’ll continue to emphasize it”
Other notes:
— White said he’s pleased with UF’s current starting lineup, but remains open to tinkering with it. He’s used the same five starters for UF’s first seven games this season. “I’m pleased with it but I’m also going to remain open to changing things up,” White said. “I don’t foresee it happening because we’ve been pretty consistent in practices as well. I like the way that our guys coming off the bench are playing for the most, I think we’re in a pretty good rhythm in that regard, we’ve got a guy coming off the bench right now (Canyon Barry) who’s arguably our best offensive player on certain nights. He’s got an argument (to start) of course he’s coming off a game where he didn’t get into a rhythm quite as much, but we like having that firepower off the bench. I like where we’re at right now, especially with Keith Stone, coming into his own a little bit, showing us all what he can be, hopefully a little bit more consistent, but Keith Stone has to continue to fight as well because Justin Leon and Devin Robinson are pretty good, and a little more experienced.”
— White said he hasn’t heard Barry complaining at all about the finger injury his father, Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry, told ESPN he suffered before the Gonzaga game. Barry is just 3 of 15 from the floor over his last two games. “Hadn’t heard anything about it from him, or from Duke (trainer Dave Werner) or anyone,” White said. “And I generally don’t, I never watch the TV copies, I watch our copy and put on some Irish music when I’m watching, maybe a little bit of Dylan, a little Jimmy Buffett. I don’t know what was said or what wasn’t said, but now I don’t think there’s a major injury there with Canyon.”
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Source: GatorSports.com - Hoops Scoop
