BYU basketball: BYU knows 'bits and pieces' about first-round opponent

PROVO — The BYU Cougars don't have to be reminded of the strong basketball tradition of the Florida Gators, their opponent Thursday in Oklahoma City in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Gators won back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007, and won the Southeastern Conference Tournament title from 2005 to 2007. This season, despite a 21-12 record, they lost in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament on Friday to Mississippi State. They have wins over Michigan State and Tennessee, but lost twice each to Vanderbilt and Kentucky.

The Cougars say they know "bits and pieces" about the Gators, but will spend a lot of time over the next few days trying to learn more — mostly from browsing the internet and reading Florida game stories.

"We'll just kind of get some background information for those who don't have any idea of who they are and where they come from," BYU guard Jackson Emery said.

Cougars coach Dave Rose has watched Florida briefly on television a couple of times, but will watch plenty of game film over the next few days.

"It's a really athletic team that can get the ball up and down the floor, and a high-scoring team," he said.

The BYU staff will focus on things the Gators like to do offensively and defensively, with a special emphasis on their rotation and what they've been effective at in recent weeks.

"What matters is that you prepare well and then you play really well," Rose said.

What the coaches will find is that Florida might be the most-balanced team in the land, with five starters that average between 13.3 ppg and 10.6 pgg each. Freshman guard Kenny Boynton leads the team with that 13.3 ppg average, with sophomore point guard Erving Walker scoring 12.4. The front line of Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin average 12.2 ppg, 12.2 ppg and 10.6 pgg, respectively.

The Gators are not deep, however, and have no reserves averaging more than forward Dan Werner's 4.7 ppg. As a team, they average 72 points per game, shoot 44 percent, 31 percent from long range, hold opponents to 43 percent shooting and outrebound opponents by 2.3 boards per game.

Cougar guard Jimmer Fredette played AAU ball in New York against Walker and is also familiar with a few of Florida's other players.

"They like to run and gun," Fredette said. "They like the high tempo, so it could be a high-scoring matchup if we're all shooting well and getting things going. Hopefully we'll be able to do it better than they do."

The Cougars are still unsure of whether they'll have freshman guard Tyler Haws back for Thursday's game. He's recovering from a broken left orbital bone suffered last Thursday by a swat from TCU's Zvonko Buljan. Haws missed Friday's Mountain West Conference Tournament semifinal game because his left eye was swollen shut.

"His eye's kind of opened up a little bit and I think his vision is getting better," Rose said Sunday afternoon. "If he has problems (Monday) then we'll probably take another angle to it."

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e-mail: jimr@desnews.com