Chance For Gators To Make A Statement Against Tennessee

Ole Miss was intense, loud and rowdy, an environment that played a part in Florida’s 18-point loss last Wednesday night in Oxford. Such is life on the road in the Southeastern Conference.

If the Gators (11-5, 1-2 SEC), most of whom have never dealt with the hostility you face away from home in the SEC, think Ole Miss was a tough place to play, wait until they get a load of what they’ll be facing tonight in Knoxville. Thompson-Boling Arena is one of the more feared home court advantages in all of college basketball and it has a lot to do with why 6th-ranked Tennessee (12-4, 2-1 SEC) is a 9.5-point favorite heading into this evening’s matchup with Florida (5 p.m., ESPN2). The game was moved up to 5 p.m. due to heavy snow and bad weather in Eastern Tennessee.

If the Gators have an advantage, it’s the fact they are coming off a win over Arkansas, their most complete victory of the season. Last week in Oxford, they were still trying to come to grips with what went wrong in an 87-85 loss to Kentucky, a game the Gators led most of the way only to collapse in the final minutes.

Against Arkansas, the Gators trailed only 1:37 in a dominating, 90-68, win. The Gators shot the ball well, killed the Razorbacks on the backboards, 48-31, and they put together a defensive effort that smothered both the inside and perimeter games. Despite Arkansas leaving Gainesville still seeking its first SEC win of the season, Florida coach Todd Golden felt good about the win and the momentum he hopes will carry over against the Vols today.

“Obviously, Arkansas is a really talented team,” Golden said Monday before the Gators left for the airport for the flight to Knoxville. “They struggled early in league play, but they're really good: they beat Duke. They've shown the capacity to play really, really well. So for us to come out, get off to that great start and then sustain it for 40 minutes, was huge for us. I thought that was something we can really build off of, and obviously this is going to be a really tough one tomorrow night, so good to get one like that under our belts before going to Knoxville.” 

Included in Tennessee’s 12 wins is a 26-point blowout of the same Ole Miss team that kicked Florida to the curb last week. The Vols have played one of the more aggressive schedules in the country with three of their four losses to now No. 2 Purdue; No. 3 Kansas and No. 4 North Carolina.  

The player who makes the Vols go is 5-9 point guard Zakai Ziegler, arguably the quickest player in the SEC.

“Just a stud,” Golden said. “Really, really heady veteran point guard, obviously won a lot  of games. You saw what they looked like last year when he went down. They were a lot different. Now that he's back and healthy, they're playing at a really, really high level again.”

Ziegler is critical to every phase of the Tennessee offense. He can score off the drive and can hit the open shot if you leave him alone, but more importantly, he gets the ball in the hands of shooters like Dalton Knecht and long range bomber Santiago Vescovi.

The late, great Al McGuire would call Ziegler the head of the snake. So how does Golden plan to cut the head off the Tennessee snake, particularly one who makes his living blowing by defenders?

“He’s super fast,” Golden said. “You just got to do everything we can to keep in front, whether it's containing him in the ball-screen coverage. We’ll give different looks, put different guys on him, but yeah, his speed is going to be an issue for sure.” 

Tennessee is probably the best defensive team the Gators have played all season. Opponents manage only 66 points per game, 38 percent from the field and 30.8 percent from the 3-point line.

Scoring hasn’t been a real problem for the Gators, who rank third in the SEC and ninth nationally at 86.38 points per game. Florida’s offense is predicated on getting the ball up the court and into the offense quickly, aided by relentless rebounding. The Gators lead the nation in rebounding at 45.3 per game.

Florida’s efforts on the offensive backboards (16.38 per game, second nationally) result in extra possessions and more scoring opportunities.

For the Gators to leave Knoxville with their first win at Thompson-Boling in 10 years, Golden knows the Gators have to be prepared to play one of their most physical games of the season.

“I think we need to be physical, you know,” Golden said. “You look at the tape when Tennessee kind of routed Ole Miss, and that was a football game. You know, it was really, really physical, and, you know, I think Ole Miss was a little surprised in in their first game that way, and then it definitely prepared them to play us, in terms of making sure they were good that way. But Knoxville, like, you got to go in there, you got to take care of the ball, you’ve got to be physical, whether it’s offense, defense … got to draw a line in the sand defensively and keep a guy in front, but if you bring physicality, you’re gonna give yourself a chance. If you don’t, it’s gonna be a long night, for sure.” 

Anticipated starting lineupsFLORIDA (11-5, 1-2 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.6 points, 8.4 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (6.6 points, 7.6 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (10.8 points, 3.6 rebounds); 6-2 Walter Clayton Jr. (15.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (15.2 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists)

Tennessee (12-4, 2-1 SEC): 6-6 Dalton Knecht (17.2 points, 4.2 rebounds); 6-11 Jonas Aidoo (11.2 points, 7.4 rebounds); 6-7 Josiah-Jordan James (10.1 points, 6.9 rebounds); 6-3, Santiago Vescovi (7.7 points, 3.9 rebounds); 5-9 Zakai Ziegler (10.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists)

SEC basketballFLORIDA (11-5, 1-2 SEC) at No. 5 Tennessee (12-4, 2-1 SEC); Missouri (8-8, 0-3 SEC) at Alabama (11-5, 3-0 SEC); Georgia (12-4, 2-1 SEC) at South Carolina (14-2, 2-1 SEC); Texas A&M (10-6, 1-2 SEC) at Arkansas (9-7, 0-3 SEC)

Wednesday’s games: Mississippi State (12-4, 1-2 SEC) at No. 6 Kentucky (12-3, 2-1 SEC); No. 16 Auburn (14-2, 3-0 SEC) at Vanderbilt (5-11, 0-3 SEC); Ole Miss (15-1, 2-1 SEC) at LSU (10-6, 2-1 SEC)

Associated Press top 25 poll: 1. UConn 15-2; 2. Purdue 15-2; 3. Kansas 14-2; 4. North Carolina 13-3; 5. Houston 14-2; 6. Tennessee 12-4; 7. Duke 13-3; 8. Kentucky 12-3; 9. Baylor 14-2; 10. Memphis 15-2; 11. Wisconsin 13-3; 12. Arizona 12-4; 13. Auburn 14-2; 14. Illinois 12-4; 15. Oklahoma 13-3; 16. Utah State 16-1; 17. Marquette 11-5; 18. Creighton 13-4; 19. TCU 13-3; 20. BYU 13-3; 21. Dayton 13-2; 22. Ole Miss 15-1; 23. Florida Atlantic 13-4; 24. Iowa State 13-3; 25. Texas Tech 14-2

Coaches top 25 poll: 1. UConn 15-2; 2. Purdue 15-2; 3. North Carolina 13-3; 4. Kansas 14-2; 5. Houston 14-2; 6. Duke 13-3; 7. Houston 12-4; 8. Wisconsin 13-3; 9. Baylor 14-2; 10. Kentucky 12-3; 11. Auburn 14-2; 12. Memphis 15-2; 13. Arizona 12-4; 14. Illinois 12-4; 15. Creighton 13-4; 16. Oklahoma 13-3; 17. Utah State 16-1; 18. Marquette 11-5. 19. BYU 13-3; 20. Iowa State 13-3; 21. Ole Miss 15-1; 22. TCU 13-3; 23. Dayton 13-2; 24. San Diego State 14-3; 25. Texas Tech 14-2

College football

In addition to bringing offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb with him from Washington, new Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer is hiring South Alabama head coach Kane Wommack as his defensive coordinator. DeBoer will retain former Florida running back Robert Gillespie as his running backs coach and Freddie Roach as his D-line coach. Gillespie and Roach are two of the country’s top recruiters.

Washington’s new head coach is Jed Fisch, a University of Florida graduate who was the defensive coordinator at P.K. Yonge in 1997 and a Steve Spurrier graduate assistant at Florida in 1999-2000. In three years as the head coach at Arizona, Fisch took the Wildcats from 1-11 to 10-3 and an 11th place finish in the final Associated Press rankings.

Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh will interview today with the Los Angeles Chargers. There is plenty of speculation that Harbaugh will take the job. If he goes, will Michigan hire X, who led the Wolverines to three wins at the end of the season including Ohio State while Harbaugh was suspended?   

Justin Lustig is leaving Vanderbilt to become the special teams coordinator at Penn State. Lustig coached the tight ends and was Vandy’s associate head coach. Vandy, meanwhile, hired Kennesaw State offensive coordinator Chris Klenakis as its new offensive line coach.

Former Florida secondary coach Travaris Robinson, is leaving Alabama to coach the Georgia secondary and serve as associate head coach to Kirby Smart. Making room for Robinson on the Georgia staff is Will Muschamp, who will take on an executive role in the program to spend more time with family. Muschamp’s youngest son Whit will be a freshman QB at Vanderbilt next season. Oldest son Jackson is a walk-on QB at Georgia.

Ross Bjork, the Texas A&M athletic director and formerly AD at Ole Miss, is being targeted as the next athletic director at Ohio State.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: It doesn’t take a rocket surgeon or brain scientist to figure out that the current model driving college football is unsustainable. The NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, is absolutely clueless, evidenced by Charlie Baker’s rich get richer plan that all but promises to make the entire Group of Five, D1AA, DII and DIII even more irrelevant than they currently are.

What we need is leadership, something in short supply among Baker and his minions at the NCAA, and a common sense approach to the problems that are threatening to turn college sports, but especially football, into something unrecognizable.

Here are a few suggestions:

1. Division I football should secede from the NCAA as soon as a commissioner can be found.

2. Find a high character, no-nonsense commissioner for college football. If Greg Sankey won’t take the job, go with Nick Saban.

3. Change the transfer rule. Athletes have to remain at their original school until their sophomore years unless the head coach is fired or leaves for a new job. Leave after the freshman year and athletes have to sit out a year. This would also require schools to make a 2-year commitment to their athletes.

4. Each conference should set a pay standard for football players. For example, SEC schools will be getting an annual media rights payout in the $100 million range within a couple of years, so maybe $100,000 per player, which would be an $8.5 million payout for the 85 scholarship players. Each conference would pay out according to what its schools can afford.

5. Require actual name, image and likeness services for NIL money. Any school caught paying NIL money without services rendered will be fined $25 million and made ineligible for the College Football Playoff for three years. Yes, that’s harsh, but the only way to stop the abuse is with real penalties. Athletes taking money without doing something to earn it would receive a 1-year suspension without pay.

6. Real penalties for cheaters. Any coach caught cheating, gets a 1-year suspension without pay

or the first offense. That includes both head coaches and assistants. Second time offenders get a 5-year ban.

7. All athletes are under contract. If they opt out of bowl games or playoff games, they will be required to pay back every dime ever spent on them during their time at the school.

8. If boosters break the rules, fine the school $25 million and require the school to disassociate from the booster for a minimum of 10 years.

9. Expand the College Football Playoff to 16 teams with every conference champ invited and the rest of the field at-large. Seed the 16 teams 1-16, the first weekend (8 games) on campus. Quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game will be played either in warm weather sites or domed stadiums.

10. Once football is thriving in this new format, free all the other sports from the tentacles of the NCAA. If the NCAA is to have a role, allow it to stage championships for all sports not named football.