They may be the reigning Southeastern Conference Champions, but the 2014-15 Florida basketball team isn’t its predecessor.
Florida finished its lone exhibition game of the season with a 79-70 win against Barry — an unranked, division II school — on Thursday in Gainesville.
"What I’m trying to figure out right now is: are we even talented enough to play defense?" coach Billy Donovan said. "I think we’re better than what we showed but we are not, we’re just not tough enough in my opinion."
Redshirt junior Eli Carter ended his first game since Nov. 29 with 21 points, going 7-of-12 from the field and making five of his nine free throws.
"Knowing that all the hard work that I put in paid off," Carter said. "It was a long process."
Carter put the Gators on the scoreboard within the first 30 seconds of the game, but Barry followed with a three-point basket in the nick of time with a 30-second shot clock.
Within the first few minutes, the freshmen got their shot at the ball.
First-year forward Devin Robinson and senior forward Jacob Kurtz were subbed in for Carter and center Jon Horford.
Freshman guard Chris Chiozza came off the bench shortly after. But neither freshman scored in the first half. Chiozza went 0-for-2 and Robinson 0-for-6.
While Robinson struggled offensively, he was stronger than Chiozza on defense. He made two rebounds in the seven minutes he played in the first half and added one more rebound in the second half.
Chiozza’s first points came during a fast break in the final 10 minutes of the game. His layup off an assist from Horford pushed the Gators to a 62-46 lead.
Robinson’s first points came on a three-point shot with less than six minutes left in the game, widening Florida’s lead to 69-56.
A dunk from Robinson followed by a fast break layup from Chiozza established the freshmen’s presence on the court.
"I give Chiozza a lot of credit because at half-time I really got on him and he really responded," Donovan said. "I thought he was much more in tune, engaged and did some very, very good things."
At the end of the first half, Florida had a solid grasp on Barry with a 14-point lead — a number equivalent to the points Carter had scored through the first 20 minutes.
While Donovan saw some positives out of Carter’s performance, he was looking for more from the redshirt junior who is supposed to take on a leadership role this season.
"Yeah, he did OK. It’s hard for me to say cause I think like Michael Frazier could have had a blow-out game," Donovan said. "Eli made some shots, but that’s going to come and go in games. Certainly our balance wasn’t great. … I’m more concerned about his defense right now. Where his commitment level is over there."
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Eli Carter dribbles the ball down the court during Florida's 79-70 win against Barry in an exhibition game on Thursday in the O'Connell Center.
