{"id":328084,"date":"2025-12-04T22:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328084\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T22:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T22:08:08","slug":"gators-basketball-continues-struggle-against-skilled-bigs-wruf-98-1-fm-850-am","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/328084\/","title":{"rendered":"Gators Basketball Continues Struggle Against Skilled Bigs – WRUF 98.1 FM | 850 AM"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many things are to blame for the disappointing start to the season for the previously top-three Gators. On Tuesday, Florida almost got a signature win against Duke<\/a>, but an awful first-half performance that featured only 24 points was too much to overcome.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to point blame toward the backcourt, which undoubtedly has gotten worse since last season. Specifically, Xaivian Lee has struggled, shooting just 24.7% from the field. \u201cFlorida\u2019s strength is their frontcourt,\u201d said the world.<\/p>\n

But in each of Florida\u2019s three losses, a dominant performance from an opposing big man prompts questions as to why Florida\u2019s frontcourt gets so much credit.<\/p>\n

Arizona\u2019s Koa Peat, a 6-foot-8 freshman, dropped 30 in his college debut<\/a>. With preseason AP All-American Alex Condon guarding him most of the game, you wouldn\u2019t think a literal kid would look like the best player in college basketball \u2026 in his first game.<\/p>\n

Since that moment, when the Gators frontcourt let Peat look like a Paolo Banchero clone, his high is only 18 points, which came against Utah Tech.<\/p>\n

In a result that ruined Thanksgiving dinner for most Gator fans, David Punch from TCU, standing at 6-foot-7, handed the Gators another loss. He had 19 points and nine rebounds, which doesn\u2019t necessarily scream dominant. But if you watched the game, you saw Punch consistently make Florida\u2019s frontcourt look silly on defense.<\/p>\n

Punch tallied a career-high against the Gators \u2014 a sophomore that only averages 12.7 points, yet somehow found a way to exploit the \u201cbest\u201d frontcourt in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then came Tuesday<\/a>. Once again, the Gators looked like children trying to guard a prohibitive National Player of the Year favorite, Cam Boozer, who finished with 29. The freshman backed them down like a senior, drew careless fouls and ended up winning the game for Duke, all because of his willingness to pass.<\/p>\n

So, we\u2019ve reached a commonality. The Gators can\u2019t seem to guard skilled bigs.<\/p>\n

Not to say the frontcourt is overarchingly lacking, as Florida is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, especially on the offensive glass. But defensively, it\u2019s weak. Every time a guy around 6-foot-8 pushing 250 pounds walks into the arena, it\u2019s like the Gators forget how to play defense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rueben Chinyelu, matching up with Boozer, allowed him to shoot 3s at will. In the rare instance he pressed and guarded Boozer at the 3-point line, the freshman would blow right past him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a way, Florida\u2019s just playing an older style of basketball. The Gators\u2019 bigs rebound effectively, but are slow, ineffective outside the paint and commit sloppy fouls.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet when they face a player who can do it all, like Boozer on Tuesday night, Punch on Thanksgiving, or Peat in the opener, the frontcourt collapses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Gators have another challenge ahead with UConn\u2019s Alex Karaban, a 6-foot-8 senior who shoots nearly 46% from beyond the arc. He\u2019s paired with 6-foot-11 Tarris Reed Jr., who\u2019s averaging 15 a game.<\/p>\n

Category: Basketball<\/a>, Gators Men’s Basketball<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many things are to blame for the disappointing start to the season for the previously top-three Gators. On…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[45577,64,63,726,183970,183971,90853,183972,183973,183974,85,45581,156335,183975],"class_list":{"0":"post-328084","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-alex-condon","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-basketball","12":"tag-cam-boozer","13":"tag-david-punch","14":"tag-duke","15":"tag-florida-basketball","16":"tag-frontcourt","17":"tag-koa-peat","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-thomas-haugh","20":"tag-todd-golden","21":"tag-xavian-lee"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}