Gators take on East Carolina in Lakeland tonight

Back to a four-man rotation among his bigs last Saturday in Sunrise against Richmond in the Orange Bowl Classic, Todd Golden had a comfort zone that had been missing since the first 39 seconds of the Gators’ loss to sixth-ranked Baylor. With 7-1 Micah Handlogten back in the lineup, he had four bigs that he could rotate in and out of the lineup and it kept the heat on the pesky Spiders, who hit enough 3-pointers to be dangerous, but never really threatened after the five minute mark of the second half.

Handlogten, finally comfortable after suffering a sprained ankle in the Baylor loss, really opened things up on the floor for 6-10 Tyrese Samuel, who responded with 18 points and 14 rebounds. It moved 6-11 Alex Condon and 6-9 Thomas Haugh back to the bench, but the interchangeable freshman pair logged productive minutes while helping the Gators to a phenomenal 19-rebound advantage (49-30).

“Micah is obviously a very good player,” Golden said Wednesday afternoon before the Gators (6-3) got in their final practice for tonight’s Florida Tip-Off against East Carolina (6-4) at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland (7 p.m., SEC Network). “He does a lot of things under the radar and just makes us really, really good on the glass. He’s good defensively and is easy to play with offensively. And being able move Condo and Tommy back back to those reserve roles was great. 

“I thought Condo played really, really well. He didn’t shoot it great, but he played really well. And Tommy gave us really good minutes as well. Like we’ve talked about, I think when we’re healthy we have a really good rotation and I think it showed up Saturday.”

The Gators have size this season, a real issue a year ago when Colin Castleton was the only reliable big guy more taller than 6-5. Not only does the size show up defensively in the paint and on the backboards, but all four are good enough offensive threats that it opens up the perimeter. Against Richmond, 6-4 Will Richard went nuclear, scoring 19 points in the second half including a run of three consecutive 3-pointers that gave the Gators a comfortable cushion to work with.

The Richmond game wasn’t one of Florida’s better shooting games – just 44.6 percent from the floor overall and 31 percent from the 3-point line – but the Gators were so dominant on the backboards that they got extra possessions and simply overwhelmed the Spiders.

“We haven't had one night all year with the exception of maybe the Florida State game where we shot a really high percentage from three,” Golden said. “We've been right around that 33 percent mark most nights so the fact that we've done such a good job getting on the glass and we're consistently getting better taking care of the ball, I think are the main drivers behind that. Once we get it really going and guys are comfortable, you know, Walt, Will, guys like that banging a bunch of shots, we should be a top-10 offense in the country.

“I think it does say a lot that on a night where we made only eight or nine threes and we shot a little bit under 33 percent, we were still able to put 87 up on the board.”

The Gators come into tonight’s game averaging 83.7 per game, third in the SEC and an improvement of 12.5 per game last year, 13.1 over Mike White’s final year as the UF head coach in 2021-22. The Gators are shooting 45.8 percent overall from the floor and just 32.8 percent from the 3-point line.

All you have to do is look at the rebounding totals, especially on the offensive end, to see why the Gators are scoring so well. Florida is rebounding at 43.8 per game. If the Gators can keep that up, they will become the first team since 1975-76 to average more than 40 rebounds per game for a season.

The Gators lead the SEC in rebounding, rebounding margin (+10.56 per game) and they rank sixth in the country (second in the SEC) in offensive rebounds per game (16.11). A year ago the Gators averaged 34.6 rebounds per game, a -4 per game margin.

Dominance on the boards has allowed the Gators to pick up the offensive pace as well, so evident in the win over a good Richmond team that figures to be a factor in the tough Atlantic 10 Conference race.

“We out-rebounded Richmond by 19 overall so all those extra possessions that you're creating I think is a product of wearing teams down,” Golden said. “You get to that point in the second half, referencing Will Richard kind of going nuclear in the second half, we had kind of warn them down at that point in the second half and we grew our lead to 16 and it was going to be hard for them to get back in it but we have the backcourt and the perimeter that can play with this type of style, guys that enjoy pushing the ball and playing fast and getting downhill in transition and we can do that and constantly put pressure on defenses in the first five to seven seconds of the shot clock, you're going to be a more efficient offense. The fact that we've been able to get a really good transition offense rate – I think 30 percent or so of our possessions are in transition – it’s going to give yourself a better chance to wear teams down and to be more efficient and effective toward the end of the game as well."

Scouting report: East Carolina doesn’t have a win over a power conference team this season although the Pirates did knock off UNC-Wilmington the game before UNC-W bushwhacked Kentucky in Rupp Arena. East Carolina played South Carolina to a standstill before the Gamecocks pulled away in the final minutes for the win.

ECU averages 75 points per game. The Pirates are hitting 44.2 percent overall from the floor and 31.8 percent from the 3-point line. The leading scorer is RJ Felton, who averages 16.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

“I think all five of their guys in the starting lineup have had 20-plus point games so far this year,” Golden said. “They've played a lot at home. I think they had one road or neutral game out of their nine total games so getting them on the road or neutral is good. They do a lot of the little things. They rebound it well on the offensive glass, I think they're a top-40 offensive rebounding team. They do a really good job getting fouled and they don't turn it over.”

Gator notes: Walter Clayton Jr. leads the Gators in scoring (15.9) to go with 3.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game … Samuel is averaging 14.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and is hitting 60.5 percent of his shots … All four of Florida’s big men have hit at least two 3-pointers (Haugh 4, Condon 4, Handlogten 3, Samuel 2) … Zyon Pullin averages 13.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game ... Golden said the new target date for the return of sophomore Aleks Szymczyk (6-10, 250) from his broken foot is sometime after Christmas.   

Starting lineups

FLORIDA (6-3): Tyrese Samuel (6-10, 239, GR); Micah Handlogten (7-1, 235, SO); Walter Clayton Jr. (6-2, 195, JR); Will Richard (6-4, 206, JR); Riley Kugel (6-5, 207, SO)

East Carolina (6-4): Brandon Johnson (6-8, 222, JR); Ezra Ausar (6-8, 247, SO); Quentin Diboundje (6-5, 221, JR); R.J. Felton (6-3, 209, JR); Bobby Pettiford (6-0, 196, JR)

SEC basketball

Wednesday’s games: Mississippi State (8-2) 85, Murray State (3-6) 81; LSU (6-4) 74, Alabama State (4-5) 56; Auburn (7-2) 87, UNC-Asheville (5-6) 62

Today’s game: FLORIDA (6-3) vs. East Carolina (6-4) at Lakeland, FL