Florida Gators

ATHENS, Ga. — Without Keyontae Johnson, Scottie Lewis and Colin Castleton to face No. 6 Tennessee on Tuesday, Florida coach Mike White told his team it would be an all-hands-on-deck kind of game. White looked guys in the eye and told them to be ready. 

Obviously, this was not a first. Coaches everywhere, in all sports, tell players to "be ready" and do it ad nauseam over the course of a season. Sometimes the advice falls on deaf ears. Sometimes a player is ready and just never gets the call. 

That's what made the game against the Volunteers so unusual — make that special. The Gators, to a man, every one of them, got the opportunity. That was rare enough. That each of them responded in one of the most complete games the program has displayed in recent made it all the more rewarding and gratifying.

But will it take? 

White and his staff will know soon enough. Whether the Gators (7-4, 3-3) absorbed the preparation-meets-opportunity lessons of Tuesday likely will be revealed Saturday when they face Southeastern Conference rival Georgia (9-4, 2-4) on the road at Stegeman Coliseum. 

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]

In getting focused and maintaining the mindset against a ferocious foe like Tennessee there may have been a little fear involved. A good kind of fear, that. The kind with a healthy dose of respect for an excellent opponent, as well as an uneasiness that comes with the thought of being embarrassed. It's not a stretch to say very few who tuned in Tuesday thought UF would win, given their gutted roster. The idea of equaling the most lopsided margin of victory ever by a Florida team against a top-10 opponent was, frankly, unfathomable.  

"There was more of a sense of togetherness going into that game, honestly," backup junior forward Osayi Osifo said. "We knew Colin and Scottie were out, the star players for the team, and that it wasn't going to be any one-man show. We all had to bind together. We just really bought into what Coach said about focus." 

All of them. 
 
Six-foot-10 sophomore Omar Payne started in Castleton's spot in the low post and answered the call with nine points (on 4-for-5 from the floor), nine rebounds and five blocked shots. The totals were Payne's most since going for 19 and 11 in a blowout of No. 4 Auburn on Jan. 18, 2020 his freshman year, a performance that looked to be of a breakout variety. It wasn't. Payne has talent (to go with tremendous length), but coaches have begged him to amp up his motor on a consistent basis. Look what happened when he did. 

"I'm capable of doing that. I should do that every game," Payne said of his last outing. "We have to keep this train rolling."

Osifo, the 6-7, 225-pound junior-college transfer, had totaled seven points and four rebounds in just 18 minutes the six previous SEC games. The Gators needed him down low. He scored four points and grabbed a career-best six boards in 12 minutes. Sophomore center Jason Jitoboh, at 6-11, 308, had logged only seven minutes all season before taking the floor against the Vols. UF summoned on the big fella for 12 minutes and he answered with two points and three rebounds. More importantly, he was where he was supposed to be on both ends. 

"I'd been ready all season," Jitoboh said. "I was just waiting my turn and thankful that I got it."

How 'bout freshman guard Niels Lane? He had to be freshman forward Niels Lane for a handful of possessions, despite being just 6-5, 206. Lane had played 17 minutes in league play, but went for 18 against UT, scoring six points and grabbing five rebounds, both career bests. Lane has a ways to go on offense, but he has a defensive base from which to work and plays to that identity. 

As White put it, "Let's not show what we can't do. Let's play to our strengths."

Sophomore guard Ques Glover, the Knoxville, Tenn., native, had the finest all-around game of his career in making four of seven shots (including a 3-pointer) on his way to a season-best 10 points. He also had three steals, an assist and just one turnover in 15 minutes, also his most of the season. Glover showed the absolutely best version of himself when the Gators needed him the most. He wasn't the only one. 

White told them, all of them, to be ready and they were.
 
Now what? Especially, if Castleton and/or Lewis return to the rotation? How will the reserves who anxiously embraced their roles knowing minutes were coming their way — extended minutes, at that — prepare themselves with an understanding that less minutes will be there against the Bulldogs? 

"That's the million-dollar question," White said. 

He's anxious for the million-dollar answer. 

"Coach is trying to crack that code," Osifo said. "As players, we need to be in a consistent state of urgency." 

Added Lane: "It's a matter of locking in. We know what we have to do." 

Georgia is a team that opened the SEC slate with four consecutive losses, but got a boost three games ago when the NCAA cleared standout freshman guard K.D. Johnson for participation. Johnson scored 21 points in his debut and is currently leading the Bulldogs in scoring at 21.0 points per game, shooting 47 percent from the floor and 57 from the floor and 3-point line, with UGA winning two of three, including Wednesday's buzzer-beating home victory against Kentucky. 

They should have the Gators' full attention. All of the Gators.

"The challenge to our bench guys will be the same. You potentially are going to have an opportunity. Be ready," White said. "Our bench took a big step, for sure, and it was a really big factor for us. It could be a really big factor for us moving forward, if they can continue to develop."