Pinpointing Gators Basketball's Strongest Suit

The Gators have overcome the injury of a key player to have sustained success in a key part of their game

The Gators have become one of the best teams in the country in this specific aspect of their game / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images

Gainesville, Fla. – It was a rough day in the office for the No. 6 Florida Gators defense on Saturday. They allowed a season-worst 106 points to the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday. 

However, their offensive firepower was on full display putting up 100 points. Their strong rebounding prowess kept them in the game, even if they fell short. 

At the beginning of the season, there were question marks surrounding the rebounding for this team due to the loss of center Micah Handlogten for the season. However, these concerns were eased by the early games of this season and the Kentucky game might have put remaining concerns to bed. 

Against the Wildcats, the Gators totaled 38 rebounds. Fifteen of these were offensive rebounds that led to 31 second-chance points. Additionally, they out-rebounded the home team by eight rebounds. 

This dominance on the glass now has them as the No. 3 rebounding team in the country. They are also the No. 5 offensive rebounding team and No. 6 defensive rebounding team in the country. 

As impressive as this performance was against Kentucky, this wasn’t even their best of the season. That actually came two games prior against North Florida. In that game, they recorded 65 rebounds.

This is the most in this century for the Gators. This beat a total from 2007 when they brought down 62 boards against Jackson State. Furthermore, they had 26 offensive rebounds in this game, which ties the most on record in program history. That’s more impressive than they got credit for at the time. 

And most will quickly rush to the idea that it’s all of the bigs doing the heavy lifting in this department. However, some of the guards are putting in the work down low as well. 

Leading the way in rebounding is Alex Condon with 7.7 rebounds per game. Following him, in order, are Ruben Chinyelu (6.8), Alijah Martin (5.6), Thomas Haugh (5.6) and then Will Richard (5.1). Seeing these numbers must make head coach Todd Golden light up. 

So, while it hurts that they lost this game, it should feel equally as great that they probably should've won this game thanks to their determination to limit second-chance points on one end and get as many on the other.