Eric Fawcett

Following a perfect non-conference season the Florida Gators (13-0) will get right into the meat of their season when they open SEC play January 4th against who else but the Kentucky Wildcats (10-2, though they will play one more buy game after this article has been written but before the matchup with Florida) on the road in Lexington.

Going into the weekend there were three undefeated teams in college basketball but after Florida fell to Kentucky and Oklahoma lost to Alabama only one remained:

After handing the #1 team in the country a 30-point loss the Florida Gators (14-1, 1-1 SEC) will get a chance to really get the momentum rolling when they head to Arkansas Saturday to take on the Razorbacks (currently 11-3, 0-1 SEC–though they will have a home game against Ole Miss between this article publishing and the game with Florida). In a league as challenging as the SEC there are no games expected to be easy, but if you’re looking for an opportunity for the Gators to go on a run–this could be it. According to KenPom Florida will be favored to win in their next five contests and that will start when they take on an Arkansas team that is yet to fully get their footing following a coaching change in the offseason.

Florida Holds Off Arkansas Runs For Road Win

Riding high after gutting out a road win at Arkansas the Florida Gators (15-1, 2-1 SEC) will have a great opportunity to chalk another one up in the win category when they face off against the Missouri Tigers (13-3, 2-1 SEC) back in Gainesville.

When it was announced that Florida and Missouri would be tipping off at 9 PM ET local time you knew that some craziness was about to occur and that was exactly what happened as a chaotic game that took over two hours and thirty five minutes to complete ended with the Tigers handing the Gators an upset 83-82 loss. This game had, well–just about everything in it. Missouri point guard Tony Perkins was thrown out of the game with a flagrant 2 for shouldering Alijah Martin in the “groin area,” Thomas Haugh nearly fouled out before a review switched the call to a rare “hook and hold” flagrant on Missouri, and there were striking individual performances by Caleb Grill to go nuclear from three while Walter Clayton on the other end kept the Gators alive. This very much had a strange feel of an atypical game that finished near midnight in Gainesville and Florida was caught on the wrong side of chaos. With the loss Florida falls to 15-2 (2-2 SEC), and they won’t be happy dropping a home game when they were projected to win.

Dropping a home game was not something the Florida Gators wanted to do Tuesday and with the loss dropping them to 15-2 and 2-2 in SEC play there now is some urgency to take care of business Saturday when they host the Texas Longhorns (11-5, 0-3 SEC as of Wednesday morning–but they will play Oklahoma after the publishing of this article but before taking on Florida).

After having one of their worst performances against Missouri the Florida Gators came out with a chip on their shoulder at home Saturday against the Texas Longhorns taking a lead midway through the first half and running away with it in the second for a final score of 84-60. Texas landed the first punch and had a slight lead due to the outstanding isolation play of freshman Tre Johnson but the Gators kept pushing through it and had a 15-0 run that lasted over six minutes to take command of the game. From there Florida never relented and Texas didn’t have the firepower to get back into the game and it was all Gators in front of an energized crowd. Since the Gators dropped a game against Missouri they were expected to win they couldn’t afford to drop one to Texas but that was never really in doubt and Florida’s staff will be happy with the team’s response. With the win the Gators improve to 16-2 on the season and 3-2 in the SEC with some more winnable games on the horizon.

Holding on to a 16-2 (3-2 SEC) record and coming off a bounce back performance where they cleaned up their issues against Missouri to take down Texas the Florida Gators will have a great opportunity to add another win as they head to Columbia to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks. Currently South Carolina sits dead last in the SEC at 0-5 (10-8 on the season) and is scrambling to try to make anything positive happen and Florida will look to smell blood in the water and take advantage.

When it comes to knowing which players on a team are most impactful you can take a look at stats, talk to fans who love the team, or tap in to a broadcast to see the way that media evaluates things. Those are all great, but if you really want to know which players are most impactful, hearing what other coaches in the league have to say has to be the most informative. Of course this isn’t an avenue most people have, but that’s why it’s notable when I am talking to opposing coaches and regularly hear the same names coming up with who they find to be Florida’s most impactful players.