"They out-Florida Stated Florida State" -- Leonard Hamilton

The play that personified Florida’s defensive effort Sunday afternoon at the O-Dome wasn’t the kind that shows up on the stat sheet.

The Gators had taken a 43-42 lead on a 3-pointer by Phlandrous Fleming Jr. which sent the already raucous O-Dome crowd into a frenzy. Down at the defensive end, the FSU guards were having problems with the Florida pressure. As the shot clock wound down, Anthony Duruji made a dive near midcourt to try to knock the ball away from Anthony Polite. He got just enough of the ball that Polite wasted a couple of precious seconds retrieving the ball. By the time he regained control, Duruji was on his feet and coming after him again. He got rid of the ball but before the Seminoles could get a shot off, the buzzer sounded with a clock violation.

It’s a wonder the roof of the O-Dome managed to stay hinged to its base because the crowd sent the decibel level to new heights. In the final 10 minutes of the game, each defensive play – and there were many – seemed to lead to a layup or a 3-ball at the other end, sending a new crescendo of ear-splitting roars skyward.

What happened Sunday afternoon at the O-Dome – a 71-55 Florida victory that broke a 7-year losing streak to FSU – was really the first chance we’ve had to see Mike White’s total team makeover. This was unlike previous years when FSU’s physical style took the Gators out of the game both mentally and physically. This Florida team not only fought back but beat the Seminoles at their own game.

“This year, it’s a different team,” Colin Castleton said after a monster game in which he scored 15 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked six shots. They don’t give stats for altered shots but his presence forced at least a dozen bad shots from the Seminoles. “We have a different mentality. We didn’t really care what they were going to bring. It was about us and how hard we were going to play, how tough we were, how much heart we had and we felt like we brought more of that than they did.”

It wasn’t lost on Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton, whose Seminoles are annually one of the more physically tough defensive teams in the country.

“They out-Florida Stated Florida State,” was how Hamilton described the beatdown. “I thought they did the things to us that we’ve been accustomed to doing to other people and you’ve got to give them credit for that.”

Castleton put the Gators ahead 45-44 on a stickback of a Myreon Jones shot with 10:14 left in the game. That set the Gators off on a 13-0 run that left the Seminoles dazed and confused. Over the final 11:09 of the game, Florida outscored FSU, 28-11.

Castleton was the dominant inside force but he didn’t have to do it alone. Duruji played much bigger than 6-7, finishing the game with 15 points, seven rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. It was his midcourt steal followed by a two-handed dunk that put the Gators up 60-47 with 7:09 to play.

That was another of those moments when the roof to the O-Dome seemed ready to blow, powered by a Florida crowd that was using its lungs to voice seven years of frustration coming to an end.

Those kind of moments weren’t lost on the Seminoles, nor the Gators. The crowd noise was like an energy steroid.

“They started feeding off that energy,” said FSU’s Malik Osborne. “They clearly wanted the game more than us and had more pride than us.”

The atmosphere and energy wasn’t lost on White, who is obviously pleased to have the Gators playing in front of big crowds again after a year of near empty arenas due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“It was rockin’ … it was an incredible college basketball environment,” White said. It fueled our guys. Honestly, we’ve got to get used again to playing in front of that decibel level – in front of that electricity – because it did fuel us … It was definitely a significant home court advantage and I’m very appreciative to all our fans and the Rowdies and to our administration.

Great coaches will tell you that defense is contagious and that it has everything to do with want to. There are nights when you can’t throw the ball in the ocean while standing on the end of the pier but good teams stay in the game even on bad shooting nights because they bring the defensive intensity. That has been hit and miss for much of the past few years, mostly miss. The toughness has also been missing with rare exceptions. Keyontae Johnson was always tough, but he hasn’t been able to play since he collapsed in Tallahassee last year against Florida State, one more reason why Sunday’s win over FSU was special.

The change of defensive heart and injection of toughness has plenty to do with the four transfers who turned what seemed to be an all-out exit at the end of last season into a ray of hope. At the end of the 2020 season, Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis declared for the NBA. Noah Locke transferred to Louisville and Omar Payne to Illinois. Brandon McKissic (UM-Kansas City), Myreon Jones (Penn State), C.J. Felder (Boston College) and Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (Charleston Southern) came to Florida with serious defensive credentials, toughness and the ability to more than make up for what was lost on the offensive end.

Sunday, McKissic, Jones and Fleming all made their presence felt, combining for 33 points, 14 rebounds, five assists, five steals and one blocked shot. These are grown men, who come to practice ready to work and who expect teammates to match their intensity.

It was important enough for Fleming Sunday that he played although he’s missed the last several days of practice due to the flu bug and was taking IV before the game. He’s 6-5 and is willing to defend all five positions on the floor.

McKissic and Jones are more natural scorers than Fleming, but like Fleming, they bring the defensive intensity. Felder, who has had his bouts with the bug, hardly played Sunday but White says he’s one of the more gifted defensive players the Gators have had.

Add these guys in with Castleton, who is capable of dominating in the paint as he did against FSU, Duruji, who seems far more comfortable this year, and Tyree Appleby, the quickest of the Gators who had a game-high five assists, and the Gators have a transformed lineup that is adapting well to White’s new defensive strategy. Because Castleton is the only true post player and Florida’s only real size in the paint, White is using a 2-2-1 zone trap that is designed mostly to force opponents to use 12-15 seconds of clock before they can get into their offense. Fleming, McKissic, Jones and Appleby spent Sunday putting enormous pressure on the perimeter and that the Seminoles from jamming the ball inside to attack Castleton and Duruji.

“We have a really good group of guys who like playing defense,” Castleton said. “All our guards have that grit and nastiness about them. They just play really well on ball defense. They get deflections and they make it rough for their guards as you saw today. They turned the ball over. They make it easy for me because they drive in there and then they throw stuff up. I just do what I have to do which is block shots and play good defense around the rim.”

We’re only two games into the season and injuries, sickness, COVID-19 could all inject their troubles on the Gators and any team on the schedule, but what we’ve seen through two games is a Florida team that isn’t going to necessarily be the finesse team of the past few years. Instead, this is a team that seems to embrace toughness and floor burns.

It’s a fragile group. If Castleton were to go down for any length of time whether by injury or sickness, it would be hard to compensate, but if they can remain healthy, this is going to be a fun team to watch.

If FSU, with all of its hand-to-hand combat rules for playing intimidating defense, can’t intimidate or out-tough the Gators, then UF is going to be a very difficult team for anyone on the schedule.