Florida's Recent Struggles by Allison Farnworth

  After Saturday’s 18 point loss against an unranked Kentucky team, and a 15 point loss against Alabama last week, the Florida Gators seem to have fallen out of rhythm. It’s easy to blame these struggles on being without SEC Preseason Player of the Year Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed early into a game against FSU, but this Florida team has depth and talent that can still win games and compete at a high level. After wins against Vanderbilt and a strong LSU team in the first week of SEC play, center Colin Castleton stood out, scoring 23 points on Vanderbilt and 21 on LSU. The junior, who transferred from Michigan in the offseason and was granted immediate eligibility by the NCAA, seems to be fitting in very well, however he struggled quite a bit against Alabama and Kentucky. Tre Mann, who has shown tremendous growth since his freshman year, couldn’t contribute much against Kentucky, scoring 7 points and shooting 2-9(22%) from the field goal range. Sophomore Scottie Lewis, who is incredibly athletic and talented, was very quiet against Alabama and Kentucky, scoring just 2 points in each game. 

Obviously, Keyontae Johnson’s presence on the court is irreplaceable, as he averaged 16 points per game, 4.5 rebounds per game, and shot over 60% from the field, but there are some clear issues that can be fixed. First, even in games this team has won, the defense has had some mishaps. Players have struggled with effectively switching, and losing Keyontae’s consistent presence on defense, an underrated piece of our defense, isn’t helping fix anything. In the recent losses, the team has fallen out of the up-tempo play, and isn’t producing much in transition, either. Castleton has been struggling while being double teamed, and the team doesn’t play as together as they had been. 

Using a player like Samson Ruzhentsev, a freshman forward who was top-50 coming out of highschool, could help this team quite a bit. Although he hasn’t seen the court a lot, he is athletic and a versatile scorer. Having a player who can comfortably score from all 3 levels will help this team’s production immensely from the paint and perimeter, as he can be effective at scoring from those areas. If Ruzhentsev doesn’t see the court much this season, the expectations for his improvement should be high, as he has incredible potential. Ruzhentsev, along with freshman guard Niels Lane, have high ceilings and can also be great defenders, something this team might need. In the times he has seen the court, Lane has been a disciplined defender but hasn’t done anything incredibly impressive. Ruzhentsev played just 5 minutes against Kentucky, yet scored 8 points. In the final minutes of the Alabama game, Ruzhentsev made a 3 pointer, his only shot and only points during his two minutes on the court. 

Florida’s next game is Tuesday night against an Ole Miss team that turns the ball over quite a bit, similarly to Florida, which will give Florida more opportunities to score in transition. Ole Miss also struggles with perimeter shooting and defending the perimeter, something that Florida will most certainly take advantage of. Ole Miss has two dominant players in Romello White and Devontae Schuler, and if Florida can shut them down, they can most definitely win.