Hoyas face depleted Gators in Atlantis
November 26, 2014 - The Battle 4 Atlantis is one of the most impressive early season college basketball tournaments this year, boasting eight schools from around the country, hailing from the BIG EAST, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12, SEC and Conference USA. The Hoyas face the SEC's University of Florida tonight at 930p.
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AXS TV has the broadcast duties, while local radio listeners can tune into 980 AM for Rich Chvotkin's call. Just what will fans hear/see when the teams take Atlantis Resort's Imperial Arena hardwood in Nassau, Bahamas?
Florida (2-1, ranked 18th nationally) is a seemingly depleted team, one in which head coach Billy Donovan's crew is fielding a mere six healthy scholarship players. To use a bad bun, adding insult to injury is two starters are injured; junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith is suffering from a hairline fracture of two, left hand fingers, resulting in a pair of missed games and according to the Florida Sun-Sentinel practiced with a bandaged hand in yesterday's workout. Junior guard Eli Carter, a transfer from Rutgers is suffering from a sprained foot, prompting him to miss a game last week and Tuesday's practice.
With both Finney-Smith - an all around talent who dribble, defends, rebounds and passes - and Carter - a shooter/scorer who the Hoyas know well from BIG EAST play - listed as questionable, others must step up for Donovan. Enter a pair of McDonald All-Americans.
Donovan told the Sun-Sentinel Kasey Hill, a sophomore point guard has not been as productive in a starting role, compared to functioning as a reserve on last year's Final Four team. Shooting 3-24 has driven Donovan to quip "He's got to be able to put the ball in the basket".
The other missing Burger Guy has been sophomore forward Chris Walker, a mercurial player that has shown flashes of brilliance while also frustrating Donovan; recently suspended for three games, he hasn't been able to put it all together.
Finney Smith scores 15 points per game for the Gators, while Carter logs 14.5 each time out. Hill and Walker check in with 4.3 and 4.0 points per game, respectively. Leading the team in scoring is junior guard Michael Frazier III with 15 points per game, a player whose development Donovan has questioned.
Interestingly enough Jacob Kurtz, a walk on senior forward leads Florida in caroms with 9.3 rebounds per contest. He's aided up front by sophomore center Jon Horford (12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds). Horford has company rebounding, as both Frazier and Finney Smith, snatch five a game.
Donovan is known to deploy zone defenses - a depleted roster will likely solidify that penchant. Resultantly, Head Hoya John Thompson III scheduled and used Saturday's game with Robert Morris as a dress rehearsal. The Colonials played a 2-3 zone for the vast majority of the game, with the Hoyas attacking it via a potentially devastating high-low scheme, perimeter passing and other approaches.
G'Town senior center Joshua Smith revealed Florida "runs a lot of the same sets as Texas A&M Corpus Christie did", another previous opponent. To learn more of G'Town's possible defensive/offensive schemes and discuss them, see Premium Court. Non-member click here to join.
Pacing Georgetown (3-0, unranked) in scoring is Smith at 17.3 points per game. Freshman guard/forward L.J. Peak drops 15.3 points per game while junior guard D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera logs nine points each time out.
Senior forward Mikael Hopkins has been a stalwart on the glass for G'Town, pulling down nine caroms a game. Smith his displayed much more desire and interest in rebounding, accounting for 8.3 per contest, while Smith-Rivera does work on the glass for a guard, securing five a game.
The Hoyas' demonstrated depth could be key today: Ten Blue and Grey guys have earned at least nine minutes of clock per game. To be fair nine Gators log double digit minutes, but with an injury-racked roster, players not raising their games to date and Kurtz, a gutsy walk-on playing almost 32 minutes per game who lead the UF frontcourt, the numbers game could be in Georgetown's favor.
For more on tonight's contest see Premium Court, including whether full court pressure could be in the cards for Georgetown and how the 'Puppies' or Hoya freshman may respond to their first taste of big time action.
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