UF Basketball: Gators Ready for Vanderbilt Zone and Press

Florida Credit Chris Spears

Todd Golden has a pretty good idea what to expect this afternoon (4:30 p.m., SEC Network) when the Gators (21-9, 11-6 SEC) face Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14 SEC) in the final regular season game at Memorial Gym in Nashville. Just a couple of weeks ago when the Gators took out Vandy 77-64 at the O-Dome, the Commodores trailed the Gators by 22 in the second half when they unleashed a combination full court press with a 1-3-1 zone that slowed the Florida offense down considerably. The outcome of the game was never in doubt, but Vandy’s tactics were effective enough that head coach Jerry Stackhouse hinted that the Gators might see a heavy dose of press and zone when they come to Nashville.

This is an important game for Florida, not because it will have any effect on seeding for next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, which will be played at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, but because it could definitely weigh on where the Gators are seeded for the NCAA Tournament. Right now, Florida is on the No. 6 line in Joe Lundardi’s brackets on ESPN, on the No. 7 line on Jerry Palm’s CBS brackets. The Gators are the No. 27 team in the NCAA Net Rankings. They are No. 24 in the KenPom analytics and No. 20 at Bart Torvik.

That’s why taking care of business today against Vanderbilt is so important.

“We want to get to 22 wins before the SEC Tourney so we're treating Vandy just like we treated Alabama on Tuesday night with our preparation and approach,” Golden said Friday afternoon. “We're going to be really upset if we don't win the game."

The Gators will be the No. 6 seed at the SEC Tournament no matter if they win or lose today. First game will be Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s No. 12 vs. No. 13 game. The No. 13 is guaranteed to be Vanderbilt. No. 12 will be either Georgia or Arkansas, who are tied with 6-11 SEC records heading into today’s games.

Florida is 4-0 against the three teams it could face next week (1-0 vs. Vanderbilt, 2-0 vs. Georgia, 1-0 vs. Arkansas). All three are dangerous, but the one that has Golden’s attention is the one that’s next on the schedule. Golden knows that Jerry Stackhouse runs multiple offensive schemes that emphasize Ven-Allen Lubin, Tyrin Lawrence and

Ezra Manjin. Defensively, the Commodores run several different sets all with the intention of keeping opponents from getting comfortable.

“Vanderbilt does a lot of things defensively and you have to be ready for all of it,” Golden said. “Whether it’s press or quick trap or whether they try to turn us over in the backcourt, they run a lot of different kinds of zones and they play man-to-man pretty much like everybody else. We had a really good day yesterday working on those things and today will be similar. We just have to be able to read and react a little bit, and be able to change up if they do switch defenses on us. Again, I think we’ll be ready for it, simply because we’ve been working on it.”

If you go back to Florida’s loss to Texas A&M in College Station, a switch to a zone in the second half proved Florida’s undoing. The blew a 21-point lead against LSU after the Tigers switched to a 1-3-1. Florida won that game in overtime.

Vanderbilt could very well show zone from the opening tip and then keep switching to prevent the Gators from every growing too comfortable with what they’re seeing.

“I think we're going to have a challenge with that tomorrow,” Golden said. “Obviously Alabama is pretty consistent with their man-to-man defense and they switch a little bit which acts as a little bit of a zone but they're man and they didn't really press us a lot so we were able to get through that game without having to deal with that a whole lot but we know Vanderbilt's going to do that. We know that they're going to change the defenses up. We're going to see some zone. We're going to see some press. We're going to see some trap. We will get a good test on that tomorrow. We've worked on it, we've addressed it and my hope is that we're really confident and comfortable attacking it tomorrow."

Anticipated starting lineups

FLORIDA (21-9, 11-6 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.7 points, 7.8 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (6.0 points, 7.4 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (11.4 points, 3.8 rebounds); 6 -2 Walter Clayton Jr. (17.1 points, 3.7 rebounds); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (15.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 4.9 assists)

VANDERBILT (8-22, 3-14 SEC): 6-8 Ven-Allen Lubin (11.4 points, 6.4 rebounds); 6-8 JaQualon Roberts (1.8 points, 2.1 rebounds); 6-6 Malik Presley (1.8 points, 1.5 rebounds); 6-4 Tyrin Lawrence (14.1 points, 5.1 rebounds); 6-0 Ezra Manjin (14.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists)

Saturday’s games: FLORIDA (21-9, 11-6 SEC) at Vanderbilt (8-22, 3-14 SEC); No. 15 Kentucky (22-8, 12-5 SEC) at No. 4 Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC); Georgia (16-14, 6-11 SEC) at No. 13 Auburn (23-7, 12-5 SEC); Arkansas (15-15, 6-11 SEC) at No. 16 Alabama (20-10, 12-5 SEC); No. 17 South Carolina (24-6, 12-5 SEC) at Mississippi State (19-11, 8-9 SEC); Texas A&M (17-13, 8-9 SEC) at Ole Miss (20-10, 7-10 SEC); Missouri (8-22, 0-17 SEC) at LSU (16-14, 8-9 SEC)

SEC in NCAA Net Rankings: 5. Tennessee; 6. Auburn; 7. Alabama; 20. Kentucky; 27. FLORIDA; 39. Mississippi State; 47. South Carolina; 49. Texas A&M; 78. Ole Miss; 89. LSU; 102. Georgia; 116. Arkansas; 157. Missouri; 218. Vanderbilt

SEC in KenPom analytics: 5. Tennesse; 6. Auburn; 9. Alabama; 18. Kentucky; 24. FLORIDA; 33. Mississippi State; 47. South Carolina; 52. Texas A&M; 76. Ole Miss; 90. LSU; 93. Georgia; 110. Arkansas; 150. Missouri; 200. Vanderbilt

SEC in Bart Torvik analytics: 5. Auburn; 6. Tennessee; 13. Alabama; 20. FLORIDA; 23. Kentucky; 34. Mississippi State; 42. South Carolina; 58. Texas A&M; 64. Ole Miss; 75. Georgia; 76. LSU; 111. Arkansas; 138. Missouri; 202. Vanderbilt