No. 20 Florida looks to bounce back vs. Baylor (Jan 27, 2018)
No. 20 Florida began the week on a roll. The Gators had won eight of their last nine games and moved back into the Top 25 thanks to that recent success.
However, Florida then stumbled with a loss to South Carolina in an SEC game Wednesday night at home. The Gators will try to get back on track when they meet Baylor in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge Saturday at noon in Gainesville, Fla.
The first thing Florida must do is play better defense -- but that's been a challenge for the Gators all season long. They're still looking for consistency on the defensive end.
That problem reared its head once more in the 77-72 loss to South Carolina. Florida (14-6, 6-2 SEC) fell into second place in the conference, just one-half game behind Auburn, thanks to that loss.
The Gators entered the South Carolina game ranked last in the SEC and 296th in the country in 3-point defense, and the Gamecocks, not a great 3-point shooting team, nailed 11 of 21 attempts from long range, a big reason for their victory.
Florida coach Mike White didn't think his team played as well as it had a few days earlier in its victory over Kentucky, and said the Gators can't just turn it off and on when needed. They need to be consistent, especially on defense.
"Did we have the same edge we had the other day? No, we didn't," White said after the South Carolina game. "We're not good enough to do that. Our margin for error is not that big, especially defensively."
Egor Koulechov and Jalen Hudson led Florida with 16 points apiece but the team shot just 6 of 23 on 3-pointers. That, combined with South Carolina's new-found long-range success, contributed to the Gators' loss.
"We have to get better," Koulechov said. "We can't be a roller coaster team. Until we lock in and have the same focus every single week, we are going to continue going up and down."
Baylor (12-8, 2-6 Big 12) has struggled of late, losing five of its last seven games. The Bears lost at home to Kansas State 90-83 in a Big 12 matchup on Wednesday.
"Well, I think we were all embarrassed," Baylor coach Scott Drew said after that loss. "I thought there would have been a little more fight to us tonight. The way we started the first and second half, I don't know if it's tired or the turnaround. Bottom line is that it was unacceptable."
Manu Lecomte (16.6 points per game) and Jo Lual-Acuil (15.3) are the team's top two scorers this season, and they are the only two averaging over 10 points per game.
The Bears have played a tough schedule so far, with six of the team's eight losses coming against ranked opponents.
This will be just the second meeting between these two schools. They last played on Dec. 30, 1981, in San Diego when Baylor scored a 72-71 victory.
Drew knows that this game will be tough for his team.
"It is hard to win on the road," Drew said. "It's hard to win in packed arenas."
