Some talking points following Florida’s 67-61 win over Kansas at the O’Connell Center:
– While UF’s free-throw shooting was shaky at times down the stretch, another over-looked play that could have resulted in potential disaster was in a poor in-bounds pass from senior forward Casey Prather with 1:22 left stolen by Kansas guard Brannen Greene. At the time, Florida led 58-52, but Kansas forward Andrew Wiggins was unable to control his dribble on a drive to the hoop and lost the ball out of bounds (a furious Kansas coach Bill Self thought Wiggins was fouled). Simply put, Florida needs to be more careful in-bounding the ball late. Two turnovers on in-bounds plays late last season proved costly in a 65-64 loss at Arizona.
– It would have been nice to see Florida find a way to get sophomore guard Michael Frazier II more involved in the offense in the second half, either through drive-and-kick plays or on high screen-and-rolls. Frazier, who came into the game shooting an SEC-high 52.3 percent from beyond the arc, took just four shot attempts in the game, finishing with 3 points and 3 rebounds. Opposing defenses are bottling Frazier up more, so the 6-foot-4 guard has to find ways to spring free and utilize his superior shooting ability from the perimeter.
– The free-throw shooting simply needs to get better. Florida has missed 29 free throws over its last three game, shooting 61.3 percent (46-75) during that span. Patric Young and Will Yeguete went a combined 3-of-11 from the free-throw line against Kansas. That must improve, or Florida will keep allowing teams to hang around in the second half instead of putting games away.
