Florida preview/game thread

[HancockCountyDog]

Good win, but I?m really concerned about this team.

[Turfdawg67]

I still don't think some of them like playing together. Team has no chemistry.

Zilch... it's coaching man.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Bout time Q

[tcdog70]

Holman played well down the stretch too. I ripped both deservedly earlier, but they came on at the end

He had the ball snatched out of his hand

[msstate7]

Good win, but I?m really concerned about this team.

Wanna see if we can build on this saturday. Vandy is always tough on the road, but they're beatable. Gotta get make up for OM home loss

[Bdawg]

Good win, but I?m really concerned about this team.
You dang right I'm concerned. That might have been the ugliest win I've ever seen. I just can't remember one worse right now.

[LC Dawg]

UT beating UPig by almost 30...

It's UT and everyone else in the SEC.

[jwells]

Still a lot to work on but good to see us make winning plays on both ends of the floor. Hopefully they get some confidence to improve.

[msstate7]

It's UT and everyone else in the SEC.

Only team that could challenge them is Kentucky, and that's only bc they're supremely talented. I doubt Kentucky grows up enough though to pull it off

[tcdog70]

Please take Q out, please

Glad you ain't the coach

[MarketingBully]

Good win, but I?m really concerned about this team.

I’d be more concerned had we lost that game. Holman has to get his head out of his ass. Peters gets it. I thought he played exceptionally well tonight. Q took control of the game at the end with an assist and an open lane to the basket for the final 5 points. How Holman didn’t have that ball above his head when Florida stole it to tie it up I have no idea. We have to do a better job of recognizing four guard lineups and not having our two bigs out there. Imo, we are flat better then Vandy so I think if we can win that one we can have confidence heading into Rupp. The key though in my mind is we found a way to win the game.

[Red Sox Dawg]

Lucky win. No team chemistry and lack of effort will keep us out of the Tourney unless something changes.

[Turfdawg67]

Glad you ain't the coach

Why? Cause he made the last shot?? We may have won by 10 w/out him in this game.

[MarketingBully]

Still a lot to work on but good to see us make winning plays on both ends of the floor. Hopefully they get some confidence to improve.


Exactly what I was thinking. We made winning plays to win the game. Peters impressed me tonight.

[RougeDawg]

Watching LSU and the Klansharts game and both teams play with a purpose. Quick crisp passes. Getting the ball up the court quickly. Things we hardly ever do.

[MarketingBully]

Lucky win. No team chemistry and lack of effort will keep us out of the Tourney unless something changes.

That wasn’t a lucky win. That was the better team making the plays to win the game. Allen got a good look at the end but Florida overall is not a good 3 point shooting team. They made 10 but shot 33.

[msstate7]

Watching LSU and the Beresharts game and both teams play with a purpose. Quick crisp passes. Getting the ball up the court quickly. Things we hardly ever do.

I love will wade. LSU is gonna be really good soon

[Liverpooldawg]

The only thing you need to watch to know how a game is going to go for this team is defensive effort. When they put forth real effort on that end good things happen on both ends. When they don't bad things happen on both ends.

[MarketingBully]

I love will wade. LSU is gonna be really good soon

If they aren’t on probation first. The NCAA is sniffing around that program and he was mentioned multiple multiple times in the FBI probe. People basically stated he’d do anything to land a recruit and that’s on wiretap.

[Dawgcap]

Yep, we needed it bad

Amen! Without totally melting we have issues that will show up again. Time for a coach to coach and quit worrying about which player he pisses off. If Florida shot decent we get beat bad.

[MarketingBully]

The only thing you need to watch to know how a game is going to go for this team is defensive effort. When they put forth real effort on that end good things happen on both ends. When they don't bad things happen on both ends.

The intensity at the end was great but if we just improve our ability to block out we’d be in great shape. Florida stayed in this game on second chance points alone.

[parabrave]

Stats to go - Shooting %s - MSU FG 53%, 3pts 58%. FT 82%. MSU 15 assists. Fl took 10 more shots than we did and we had 15 TOs.

[MarketingBully]

Amen! Without totally melting we have issues that will show up again. Time for a coach to coach and quit worrying about which player he pisses off. If Florida shot decent we get beat bad.

That’s the thing. Florida is a horrible shooting team. That has been them all year.

[StarkVegasSteve]

We honestly played worse tonight than we did in the two losses. But all that matters is the scoreboard at the end.

[Liverpooldawg]

The intensity at the end was great but if we just improve our ability to block out we’d be in great shape. Florida stayed in this game on second chance points alone.

Blocking out is part of that defensive effort. That's a big part of what I'm talking about,

[MarketingBully]

We honestly played worse tonight than we did in the two losses. But all that matters is the scoreboard at the end.

Totally agree but as bad as we played we were in it at the end and this time we played through our all SEC player Q instead of being selfish. The two last drives Q had an assist and a clear lane to the basket that Peters cleared out for him. Holman even made a big 3 at the end of the game. Hopefully this will get them confidence as we go to Vandy and to Kentucky.

[Dawgcap]

That wasn’t a lucky win. That was the better team making the plays to win the game. Allen got a good look at the end but Florida overall is not a good 3 point shooting team. They made 10 but shot 33.

To disagree they were 10-33 as you said but of those 33 3s how many were contested. If they shoot decent on uncontested 3s we fold like a cheap Walmart tent. Sugar coat it how you want but that was lucky. It’s time we find guys that play 100% -100% of the time. I get bad breaks and luck by opponents but this team was ready to mail it in. Florida kept us in it and we closed

[MarketingBully]

Blocking out is part of that defensive effort. That's a big part of what I'm talking about,

I think it’s time to start Perry at the 4 and Holman at the 5 and reduce Ado’s minutes. Have 5 scorers out there run your offense block out on defense and we could turn this around.

[MarketingBully]

To disagree they were 10-33 as you said but of those 33 3s how many were contested. If they shoot decent on uncontested 3s we fold like a cheap Walmart tent. Sugar coat it how you want but that was lucky. It’s time we find guys that play 100% -100% of the time. I get bad breaks and luck by opponents but this team was ready to mail it in. Florida kept us in it and we closed

A bad shooting team is a bad shooting team. Doesn’t matter if they are open or not. The key is giving them one shot at the goal and block out. They stayed in it on offensive rebounding. It wasn’t a lucky win. The better team won.

[Dawgcap]

I think it’s time to start Perry at the 4 and Holman at the 5 and reduce Ado’s minutes. Have 5 scorers out there run your offense block out on defense and we could turn this around.

I agree but as much of a liability as Ado is he still works hard. Our problem is we have individuals playing when it benefits them, or so they think but we need guys balls to the wall the whole time. You get tired come out and be relaxed by a balls to the walls guy. Wanna go to the next level? Play every level of each game 100%

[Dawgcap]

Relieved not relaxed

[HancockCountyDog]

Stats to go - Shooting %s - MSU FG 53%, 3pts 58%. FT 82%. MSU 15 assists. Fl took 10 more shots than we did and we had 15 TOs.

It’s hard to win by only 3 with those shooting stats while playing at home.

I’m glad we won, but it just seems we are going through the motions on defense.

[Red Sox Dawg]

A bad shooting team is a bad shooting team. Doesn’t matter if they are open or not. The key is giving them one shot at the goal and block out. They stayed in it on offensive rebounding. It wasn’t a lucky win. The better team won.

The better team won, but the way we played...it was a lucky win. We played worse tonight than our 2 losses. The coach needs to give more minutes to players that give effort. Watch the game again and see what kind of effort we got from our seniors. Going to be hard to be over .500 in conference play with the effort we gave tonight.

[Dawgcap]

A bad shooting team is a bad shooting team. Doesn?t matter if they are open or not. The key is giving them one shot at the goal and block out. They stayed in it on offensive rebounding. It wasn?t a lucky win. The better team won.

Ha. Did you say that against ole miss. Bottom line you can?t give them a open look. A coaching strategy isn?t expecting your opponent to miss wide open 3s and then watching them corral a rebound. Call it what you want we were lucky to win a game against an opponent who we should have bitch slapped tonight.

[Political Hack]

We're not that good. I think everyone had dreams of sweet sixteen or beyond this year, and we're just not there yet. We're undisciplined on defense and lazy after loose balls. We act like an NBA team regular season and don't show a lot of grit. You're not going to win a lot of games in the SEC this year like that.

[msstate7]

This was not a pretty win. I have major concerns going forward. With those 2 things said, we beat a winning program led by a winning coach with their back against the wall. This was a good win when we had to have it. This could be a win that gets us headed back in the right direction. Come on dawgs, take care of business in Nashville

[Dawgcap]

This was not a pretty win. I have major concerns going forward. With those 2 things said, we beat a team a winning program led by a winning coach with their back against the wall. This was a good win when we had to have it. This could be a win that gets us headed back in the right direction. Come on dawgs, take care of business in Nashville

Huge win. Ugly win. Sometimes those are the best. Teachable moments coming off a win are better than after a loss but we have got to circle the wagons and play as a team. If we have guys going through the motions the stretch run could be ugly. This win hopefully rekindled a fire teamwise I think we have missed

[Dawgology]

We are a mid level SEC team. Hopefully 7 or 8 seed

[Commercecomet24]

My effort and intensity in writing just hasn't been what it needs to be to win the last couple of games***

Lol I love it! Keep it coming!

[MarketingBully]

This was not a pretty win. I have major concerns going forward. With those 2 things said, we beat a team a winning program led by a winning coach with their back against the wall. This was a good win when we had to have it. This could be a win that gets us headed back in the right direction. Come on dawgs, take care of business in Nashville

It’s the little things right now because we aren’t playing well but we do have a lot of talent so we are there at the end. What if instead of Peters taking the last shot against South Carolina in regulation it’s Q who takes the last shot? Odds are good we win there by 2. As bad as we played against OM at times, what if they call a block on Tyree (which would have been the right call) and called double dribble/travel on Stevens at 77? That’s a 5 point swing and we probably win that game by 3-5 points. We are talented enough to be in every game we play in the SEC. If we can just start to play with more effort on defense, this team can turn it around and end with a 12-6 record. If we can just start playing with better effort consistently on both sides of the ball we can start to really turn things around. Sometimes a win like that can get us the confidence we need to play better down the stretch.

[msstate7]

Another cause for optimism...

South Carolina game for Woodard and perry:
23 mins 0 pts 6 reb 0 assists 3 fouls

Tonight:
38 mins 11 pts 8 rebs 2 assists 3 fouls

These 2 are starting to show real progress. If these 2 keep getting better, so will we

[RougeDawg]

Another cause for optimism...

South Carolina game for Woodard and perry:
23 mins 0 pts 6 reb 0 assists 3 fouls

Tonight:
38 mins 11 pts 8 rebs 2 assists 3 fouls

These 2 are starting to show real progress. If these 2 keep getting better, so will we

Woodard has looked really good. Perry is making freshmen mistakes but has an extremely high ceiling.

[MarketingBully]

Another cause for optimism...

South Carolina game for Woodard and perry:
23 mins 0 pts 6 reb 0 assists 3 fouls

Tonight:
38 mins 11 pts 8 rebs 2 assists 3 fouls

These 2 are starting to show real progress. If these 2 keep getting better, so will we

They will continue to get better and better. We need to box out and we need to play with more intensity on defense. Holman needs to come off the bench and depending on the matchup Woodard or Perry should start for him. His lack of defensive intensity has killed us. He also only had 2 rebounds tonight. 2. At some point, these guys have to start playing up to their ability and hopefully it starts Saturday. The pressure should be off now that we got the win tonight. We shouldn’t have players pointing the fingers at each other after this one. Our turnovers are a concern imo. Peters played pretty well tonight and Q came through in the end. Just need to start getting everyone on the same page and play together. But it all seems to start on the defensive end. 19 assists on 26 made baskets is much much better. We have to also cut down on our turnovers. Turn up the defensive intensity and value possessions and this team will play up to our potential.

[Gutter Cobreh]

I'm up for whatever but I knew louisvilledawg was joking bc I had thought the same thing about the bad mojo since I started. Not sure about Gutter Cobreh, he may have been serious.

For the record, I'm just giving you a hard time... I'm all for someone adding content to the site.

We'll always have posters like Shotgun or MSState7 who are going to chime in regardless. They're the James Harden and Russell Westbrook of Elitedawgs. They don't care if we win or lose, but they're damn sure going to take their shots (i.e. posts) to inflate their stats any chance they get...

[msstate7]

For the record, I'm just giving you a hard time... I'm all for someone adding content to the site.

We'll always have posters like Shotgun or MSState7 who are going to chime in regardless. They're the James Harden and Russell Westbrook of Elitedawgs. They don't care if we win or lose, but they're damn sure going to take their shots (i.e. posts) to inflate their stats any chance they get...

I'll be harden. Shotgun can be Russell

[Gutter Cobreh]

I'll be harden. Shotgun can be Russell

You sure; figured you'd want Westbrook due to his ties with Howland... In reality though, Shotgun is more like Jackie Moon....

[jwells]

Everything is pretty much covered here so I don't know if there is a need to start a new thread about takeaways from last night. It is one of my pet peeves from reading the board when someone will post the exact same take like it hasn't been discussed for 3 pages. Anyway proud of the team for finding a way to win when the game was in the balance. Lamar Peters penetrated and dished for a couple of easy baskets and Q came through when called on. On defense, with the exception of the ball taken away from Holman, the defense the last 2 minutes was phenomenal when it absolutely had to be. There are still things we must improve on if we want to get where all of us want, mainly defensive effort for the entire game. We would be almost unbeatable if we played as hard as we did the last 2 minutes of the game. Woodard and Perry also continued to show improvement and their effort levels are what earned them some more deserved playing time. Saturday night is a big game at Vandy and hopefully we can get to 2-2 in the league before a big stretch at Kentucky and home to Auburn. While I get the frustration at reaching our potential, anyone upset over a win in which we willed ourselves to a win is just stupid. Proud of the guys and hope they will use this to springboard them forward.

PS Glad the team could pull out the win and I could avoid the ban.

[LC Dawg]

Holman's line from last night.
4-6 (1-1 from 3) 1-2 FT 2 Reb 3 Assists 10 points in 23 minutes
We've got to have him and Howland is going to play him. He's our third leading scorer and leading rebounder. If his defense doesn't improve it will obviously continue to hurt us.
As the freshmen improve I'm sure it will continue to cut into Holman's PT if his defense doesn't improve but we got 11 points combined from Woodard and Perry last night - 3 from Woodard in 20 minutes.
I've been very critical of Holman and called for his benching during game threads but the truth is that right now benching him hurts us as much as his defense hurts us.

[MarketingBully]

Everything is pretty much covered here so I don't know if there is a need to start a new thread about takeaways from last night. It is one of my pet peeves from reading the board when someone will post the exact same take like it hasn't been discussed for 3 pages. Anyway proud of the team for finding a way to win when the game was in the balance. Lamar Peters penetrated and dished for a couple of easy baskets and Q came through when called on. On defense, with the exception of the ball taken away from Holman, the defense the last 2 minutes was phenomenal when it absolutely had to be. There are still things we must improve on if we want to get where all of us want, mainly defensive effort for the entire game. We would be almost unbeatable if we played as hard as we did the last 2 minutes of the game. Woodard and Perry also continued to show improvement and their effort levels are what earned them some more deserved playing time. Saturday night is a big game at Vandy and hopefully we can get to 2-2 in the league before a big stretch at Kentucky and home to Auburn. While I get the frustration at reaching our potential, anyone upset over a win in which we willed ourselves to a win is just stupid. Proud of the guys and hope they will use this to springboard them forward.

PS Glad the team could pull out the win and I could avoid the ban.

I love your game previews and analysis. I think we beat Vandy by 10+ this weekend and give Kentucky a game Tuesday. If we win these next two games to get to 3-2 the Hump will be rocking for Auburn a week from Saturday. Btw, South Carolina now is 4-0. Who saw that one coming? Not me.