TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- So, about this
non-conference schedule that was supposed to be so challenging. You know, the
one the Florida Gators have now dismantled by crushing their first seven
opponents by an average of 25-plus points per game.
Yeah, that one.
"We don't know how good these teams we've
played are yet," junior guard Scottie Wilbekin said Wednesday after the No. 6/5
Gators unleashed the latest round of carnage on rival Florida State. "We don't
really even know how good we are yet."
Then Wilbekin cocked a little
smile.
"But what I do know is that we play great
defense."
The Seminoles know too after being
bludgeoned 72-47 at home before 10,593 at the Tucker Center who witnessed the
most lopsided series defeat in games played in the state capital -- and UF's biggest
blowout of FSU since a 35-point rout in Gainesville in 1999.
Senior guards Mike Rosario and Kenny
Boynton scored 14 points each, while junior center Patric Young added 10 points
and eight rebounds. Freshman guard Michael Frazier threw in 12 points (on
4-for-5 shooting), all in the second half, as the Gators (7-0) hit 48 percent
from the floor for the game.
What the Seminoles (4-4) shot -- a
woeful 34.8 percent, including 25 percent in the first half -- was the number
that really stood out, except for the fact that no one has shot well against a
UF defense that came into the game ranked second nationally in scoring (44.5
points per game) and ninth in field-goal percentage allowed (35 percent).
"The preparation we do and the
concentration we have at practice on the defensive end, I'm telling you, it's
special," Rosario said. "We know we can be a really, really, really good
defensive team, so we try to focus on that aspect and stay locked in on what's
at stake."
It's across-the-board defense, too.
UF out-rebounded FSU 34-26, forced
22 turnovers that led to 32 points, rang up 14 steals and limited the Seminoles
to just 7-for-23 shooting from the 3-point line.
"We did our job," Rosario said. "We
were locked in and set the tone for the beginning."
FSU scored 15 points in the first
quarter, making just five of 20 shots. In fact, they had eight more turnovers
(13) than field goals through 20 minutes, as the Gators raced to a 35-15 lead
at the break.
It was only three days earlier the
Seminoles (4-4) lost at home to tiny Mercer. UF coach Billy Donovan spent the
ensuing three days trying to convince his players they could lose the
game.
Evidently, he did a great sales
job.
"We kind of put ourselves in their
position and asked ourselves, 'If you lost to Mercer, what would you do?' "
Boynton said. "So our goal was to just overmatch their intensity from the
start."
In doing so, the Gators matched the
defensive intensity they showed in an 18-point wipeout of Wisconsin, a 21-point
blitz of Middle Tennessee State and last week's 33-point vaporizing of
Marquette in a rematch of their Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament game of last
March.
At one point, Florida led Florida
State by 37.
"We just have to keep working and
listening to Coach Donovan," Young said. "When we listen to Coach, we come out
with great energy and passion."
The opponents are starting to
notice. Last week, Marquette coach Buzz Williams took the worst loss of his
career and said afterward the Gators were good enough to win the whole
thing.
This from Seminoles coach Leonard
Hamilton: "We ran into one of the better teams I've played since I've been at
Florida State."
To date, the closest game Florida
has played this season was a 79-66 defeat of UCF.
"As much as I'm happy and proud of
what happened, I still think we can improve," Donovan said.
That's good because next up for the
Gators -- after a 10-day layoff for exams -- is a showdown at Arizona,
currently unbeaten and ranked eighth in the country.
"It's about passion and intensity,
bringing it every night," Rosario said.
UF started with it, jumping to a
12-2 lead barely four minutes in, weathering a seven-point FSU run, then
tearing the Seminoles apart 23-6 the rest of the half, with Rosario hitting
four of his five shots from the field.
Think about this: the Gators led by
20 and Boynton, their leading scorer, was 0-for-6 from the floor.
"They executed their offense until
they found one of our players making a mistake and they made us pay," Hamilton
said. "It was like they capitalized on every mistake we made early in the
game."
Late in the game, with the Gators up
by 30-plus and with leading scorer Michael Snaer (10 points, 2-for-8 from
floor) struggling just to get a shot off, Hamilton turned to his assistants
with a question.
"Can we really be this bad?" he
asked.
Here's a different perspective: Can
the Gators really be this good?
No one knows, yet.
But, yes, they do play some great
defense.
