Oddly Similar Starts to Season for Gators Basketball in Back-to-Back Years

Although No. 10 Florida men’s basketball conquered Florida State with a hard-fought 78-76 victory, the Gators’ offensive struggles seen in the first two games of the season were present again Tuesday at the O’Connell Center — particularly 3-point shooting.

Florida made 6 of 31 3-pointers in the two-point win. Gators guard Xavian Lee was once again the biggest offender, shooting 1-for-10 from downtown. 

Florida fans haven’t had the picture-perfect start to the season they were hoping for as reigning national champions, as the Gators have made a pitiful 19 of 90 3-pointers in three games. 

Despite these 3-point shooting struggles, Florida coach Todd Golden insisted that the shots will start to find the bottom of the net. 

“At some point, we’re going to start making some shots,” Golden said. “When we do, I think we’re going to be pretty tough to beat.”

There is some recency bias working through the Florida crowds. Sure, the national champs lit it up when it counted last year, but to write off this team for bad 3-point shooting is forgetting everything the Gators went through to reach that championship a season ago.

It may be hard to fathom, but the Gators, who won it all in San Antonio, weren’t too hot from the perimeter at the start of last season. 

In its first game against South Florida, Florida made 5 of 26 3-pointers. Florida needed a heroic 29-point effort by Walter Clayton Jr. and a 25-point performance from fellow senior guard Will Richard to come back and save the opener after trailing at halftime.

Against Jacksonville, the Gators made 7 of 24 3-pointers. Against Grambling State, Florida shot 7 of 23 from deep. 

That’s 19 of 73 from beyond the arc in three games, the exact same number of 3-pointers through three games as this season.

Last year’s Gators did have a better percentage — 26% compared to this year’s 21% — but still looked disappointing early on.

It’s just that most fans didn’t have as high of expectations for a team coming off a loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and a preseason ranking of only No. 21. 

Although the 3-point shooting hasn’t been good enough, the Gators have been impressive in the paint and on the boards, outrebounding Florida State by 22 Tuesday. 

Although it doesn’t feel like it, Florida has scored more points in three games this year than last year. Florida has scored 269 points this year compared to 265 last year.

If more 3-pointers start to drop — like they did last year — and the dominance in the paint continues, all of Florida’s early-season worry will dissipate as quickly as a season ago.

With national championship repeat expectations and new faces, this year’s Gators need more time to gel and build chemistry. Golden recognized that after the game Tuesday, noting “the reality is that our team is still trying to figure out who we are, get confident, and get our footing under us.” 

Florida’s (2-1) next chance to build its identity is Sunday against the Miami Hurricanes (3-0) in Jacksonville, and coverage will start at 8 p.m. on ESPN 98.1-FM, 103.7-FM/850-AM WRUF.  

Category: College Basketball, Feature Sports News, Gators Men's Basketball