Thoughts of the Day: March 4, 2021

A few thoughts to jump start your Thursday morning:

OPPORTUNITY LOST All the Florida Gators (13-7, 9-6 SEC) had to do was play the way they played the three previous games and they would have secured a bye into the Friday quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament. If they had played Wednesday night at the O-Dome with the same intensity they played in scoring consecutive wins over Georgia, Auburn and Kentucky, the Gators wouldn’t have lost to Missouri (15-7, 8-7 SEC), 72-70, on a driving reverse layup by Dru Smith with less than a second to go.

But they did lose and when they take a look in the mirror they’ll see who is to blame for a game that not only shouldn’t have been lost but should have been a blowout win. You need only four words to sum up the culprit – 15 first half turnovers.

The Tigers converted those 15 giveaways into 18 of their 36 first half points. There is absolutely no way Florida should have trailed 36-29 at the half, but things like that happen when you have 15 empty possessions. It’s far too simple to point out how Mizzou converted Florida’s mistakes into points. Decent teams do that. But there is a flip side to turnovers and that is scoring opportunities blown on the offensive end.

You don’t have to be a mathematical savant to conclude that if the Gators had merely turned it over 10 times instead of 15 and scored on two of the remaining five possessions, they win the game. The Gators cleaned up their act considerably in the second half when they reduced their turnovers to three, but Mizzou still converted those into seven more points. So do the math. Missouri scored 47 points without assistance of the Gators.

At least a third of the first half turnovers were when the Gators tried to force the ball into Colin Castleton. Those bad passes into double teams – Missouri was collapsing its defense on Castleton all night – resulted in points at the other end and Castleton going scoreless in the first half (he scored all 10 of his points in the second).

Missouri came into the game shooting 31.6% from the three-point line. The Tigers hit 5-10 in the first half and finished the game going 9-22 or 40.9%. In Florida’s previous three games, opponents were 15-60 because the Gators aggressively defended the three-point line. On some of Missouri’s wide open three-ball attempts in the first half shooters had time to set their feet before loading up and letting it fly. The most egregious defensive mistake was the one Tre Mann made in allowing Smith to blow by him for what proved to be the game-winning basket after UF had battled back from eight down with 2:27 to go to tie it up at 70-70 with 18 seconds left on a pair of Tyree Applebee free throws.

It should have never come down to a final defensive stand, however, and considering the way Mann played on the offensive end – 21 points on 9-11 shooting with 3-3 from the foul line – he gets a pass.

Since they only gave the ball away three times in the second half, the Gators were very efficient on the offensive end, hitting 61.9% of their shots from the field. For the game, the Gators hit 25-43 from the field overall (58.1%), 5-14 (35.7%) from the three-point line and 15-18 (83.3%) from the foul line.

How can you shoot that well and lose? Well, that’s what happens when you give the ball away with such frequency.

The Gators can still earn a bye to the SEC Tournament quarterfinals if they beat Tennessee in Knoxville Sunday. A win and UF finishes the regular season with only six SEC losses. A loss would put the Gators 9-7 in SEC play while Tennessee would finish 10-7, therefore earning a top four finish.

When the Gators take care of the basketball and defend, there isn’t a team in the SEC they can’t beat. When they turn it over 15 times in a half and give opponents time to load up and shoot the three-ball with their feet set, there isn’t an SEC team the Gators can’t lose to.

They shouldn’t have lost Wednesday night but they did and it was a huge opportunity tossed down the drain.

Wednesday SEC scores

Missouri (15-7, 8-7 SEC) 72, FLORIDA (13-7, 9-6 SEC) 70 Mississippi State (14-12, 8-9 SEC) 63, Texas A&M (8-8, 2-7 SEC) 57

Saturday SEC games

South Carolina (6-13, 4-11 SEC) at Kentucky (8-15, 7-9 SEC) Mississippi State (14-12, 8-9 SEC) at Auburn (12-14, 6-11 SEC) #8 Alabama (20-6, 15-2 SEC) at Georgia (14-10, 7-14 SEC) LSU (15-8, 10-6 SEC) at Missouri (15-7, 8-7 SEC) Texas A&M (8-8, 2-7 SEC) at #12 Arkansas (20-5, 12-4 SEC) Vanderbilt (7-14, 3-12 SEC) at Ole Miss (14-10, 9-8 SEC)

Sunday SEC game

FLORIDA (13-7, 9-6 SEC) at Tennessee (16-7, 9-7 SEC)

SOME QUOTES FROM FLORIDA SPRING FOOTBALL PRACTICE

HBC Dan Mullen on Emory Jones throwing the football: “He's got a cannon for an arm. I mean he's got a cannon for an arm, so I don't know who would say that I guess. Maybe there's somebody out at practice, watching practice that's more expertise at quarterback than me that's letting you know those things, but I'm pretty confident in what he can do."

Tight end Kemore Gamble on Jones throwing: "Emory still can throw the ball, can throw the ball very well. He’s not just a runner. To me, I think Emory's a pass-first quarterback. That’s what I think.”

Anthony Richardson on the role of the QB: "As a quarterback, you can’t be too tempted. You can’t move too quick because if you do you might make the wrong read or a bad decision. You don’t need that as a quarterback because basically, you’re the leader of the team, so making smart decisions and being poised and being patient.”

Stewart Reese on the play of Ethan White and Josh Braun on the O-line: “They’ve been doing good at practice. They’re getting better every day. Those are the two people that stand out to me on the offensive line. A lot of our other younger guys are still fighting to get a job. But those two guys, considering all of the things that they’ve been through to get to this point, they’re doing a real good job to me."

Running back Dameon Pierce assessing himself and fellow running backs Malik Davis, Nay’Quan Wright, Lorenzo Lingard and Demarkcus Bowman: “Obviously, I’m a power runner. I’m a north-south guy. Malik’s more pass-reliant, so we might use Malik in the pass game, get him open. Same thing with Nay’Quan. Nay’Quan kind of like a Swiss army knife. We can throw him in the run game, we can get him behind a couple of linemen, or we can throw him in the pass game, you know? And Lorenzo and Bowman come kind of similar in terms of physical assets. They both have great top-end speed and great acceleration. With those guys you want to get them the ball, obviously, going north and south.”

UF BASEBALL FALLS TO FAU, 3-2, IN 10 INNINGS Florida’s bats went cold Wednesday night at the 3rd-ranked Gators (6 -3) had their five-game winning streak ended by 21st-ranked Florida Atlantic, 3-2, in 10 innings at the Florida Ballpark. After a weekend in which they pushed across 36 runs on 36 hits in a three-game sweep of Samford, the Gators managed only five hits and didn’t score again after a second inning two-run homer by freshman Colby Halter.

UF starter Garrett Milchin gave up two runs and five hits in three innings but the bullpen shut down the Owls on two hits until the 10th when Franco Aleman gave up an unearned run on a single, a two-out fielding and a game-winning single by Mitchell Hartigan.

The Gators mounted a sixth inning threat when Jordan Butler doubled to right center but Josh Rivera lined into a double play to erase Butler. In the eighth, Jacob Young had a leadoff single and advanced to second on a wild pitch, but FAU got out of the inning with a strikeout, a fly out and a ground out.

Young had two hits on the night as he extended his hitting streak to 27 games dating all the way back to the last game of 2019 (17-game streak in 2020; 9-game streak this year).

The Gators will host Florida A&M for a three-game weekend series.

OTHER UF SPORTS

Softball: Jamie Hoover hit a 3-run homer in the first inning and Hannah Adams later hit a solo homer as the 5th-ranked Gators ran their record to 13-0 with a 6-2 win over New Mexico State at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium Wednesday night.

Adams, who is hitting .512 for the season, had three hits for the night as she ran her hitting streak to seven games. Cheyenne Lindsey, who had a run-scoring double, improved to .457 while extending her hitting streak to seven games.

Picking up the win was Elizabeth Hightower (6-0), who gave up one run and one hit while striking out five in four innings of relief. Natalie Lugo pitched the seventh to pick up her second save of the season.

The Gators will face Florida State Friday night in Gainesville, then face the Seminoles Saturday in Tallahassee.

Lacrosse: Maggi Hall, Danielle Pavinelli and Shannon Kavanaugh scored three goals each Wednesday afternoon to lead the 6th-ranked Gators (2-1) to an easy, 20-7, road win over Kennesaw State. Nine different Gators netted a goal in a game the Gators dominated from start to finish.

Next up for the Gators is a Saturday matchup with Stetson in DeLand.

Women’s basketball: The Gators (11-12) live to fight a second day in the SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina as Danielle Rainey hit a pair of critical three-pointers late in the game to lead UF past Auburn, 69-62. With the win the Gators advance to face 5th-seeded and 20th-ranked Kentucky (16-7) at 1 p.m. today.

Kiara Smith had a stat sheet stuffer of a game to lead the Gators, scoring 19 points to go with five rebounds, four assists and two steals. Rainey had 13 points and Kristina Moore had 11 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots.

OVER, UNDER, AROUND AND THROUGH THE SEC Alabama: Mark Orphey, who was the secondary coach at Utah State, has joined the Alabama staff as a defensive analyst.

Arkansas: Former Houston defensive coordinator Joe Cauthen has joined the Arkansas staff as a defensive analyst.

Auburn: No former Auburn players transferred to UCF Wednesday nor did any former Auburn coaches or staffers bolt to Orlando to join Gus Malzahn’s staff.

Georgia: It will be interesting to see which backup quarterback elects to transfer after spring practice. JT Daniels, who started the last four games, is the unquestioned starter heading into spring, but Stetson Bennett IV, who started five of the first six in 2020, is back as is Carson Beck, who carried a clipboard all last year. Five-star Brock Vandagriff is an early enrollee who didn’t come to Georgia to get fourth-string reps.

Missouri: Eli Drinkwitz requires freshmen to earn their jersey numbers. It took two practices for early enrollee wide receiver Dominic Lovett to earn his number. He will wear No. 7 in the fall.

Ole Miss: With the state opening up and allowing full capacity for restaurants as well as all outdoor activities, Ole Miss will use a phased in approach over the next few weeks to increase attendance at all outdoor sporting events.

Tennessee: Emmitt Gooden, a defensive lineman who was dismissed from the team prior to the 2020 season, has placed his name in the NCAA transfer portal.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Syracuse Hall of Fame basketball coach Jim Boeheim is feeling a bit crusty in his old age (he’s 75). After the Orange beat Clemson 64-54 Wednesday night, Boeheim took a shot at Matthew Guttierez, the Syracuse beat reporter for The Athletic who was critical of the coach on Monday. In his post-game remarks Wednesday night, Boeheim said Guttierez “has never played basketball and is 5-foot-2.” That was uncalled for and just one more indication that Boeheim’s sell-by date expired a while back.