# 2014–15 Florida Gators men's basketball team

The 2014–15 Florida Gators men's basketball team represented the University of Florida in the sport of basketball during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Gators competed in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). They were led by nineteen-year head coach Billy Donovan, and played their home games in the O'Connell Center on the university's Gainesville, Florida campus. They finished the season 16–17, 8–10 in SEC play to finish in a tie for eighth place. They advanced to the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament where they lost to Kentucky.
Gator non-participation in a postseason tournament had been 17 years before. The Gators' 63.7 points-per-game had been their lowest during Billy Donovan's 19-year coaching tenure. After the season, Donovan accepted an offer to coach the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder. He would leave the Gators as the regular season games' winningest head coach in the program's history and while at the helm coached the Gators to more NCAA tournament appearances, and more SEC championships, than the combined totals of all the other head coaches in the program's history.

## Previous season

The Gators finished the 2013–14 season as the SEC regular-season champions with an overall record of 36–3, 18–0 record in conference play, the first SEC team to ever accomplish the feat, after the SEC re-expanded to an 18-game regular-season schedule prior to the 2012–13 season. In doing so, the Gators won their seventh SEC regular season championship, and their third in four seasons. The Gators beat the Kentucky Wildcats 61–60 to claim the SEC Tournament championship. As a No. 1 seed in the 2014 NCAA tournament's South Region, Florida won its four tournament games, defeating 16-seed Albany, 8-seed Pittsburgh, 4-seed UCLA and 11-seed Dayton. The Gators' season ended with a loss to 7-seed, and eventual national champion, UConn in the Final Four.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Casey Prather | 24 | G/F | 6’6” | 212 | Senior | Jackson, Tennessee | Graduated |
| Scottie Wilbekin | 5 | G | 6’2” | 176 | Senior | Gainesville, Florida | Graduated |
| Will Yeguete | 15 | F | 6’8” | 230 | Senior | Bordeaux, France | Graduated |
| Patric Young | 4 | C | 6’9” | 240 | Senior | Jacksonville, Florida | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | No. | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Jon Horford | 21 | F | 6’10” | 250 | RS Sr. | Lansing, Michigan | Transfer from Michigan. Younger brother of former Gators and current Atlanta Hawks center Al Horford. Will play in the 2014–15 season. |
| John Egbunu | 15 | C | 6’10” | 245 | RS So. | Bauchi, Nigeria | Transfer from South Florida. Will sit out a season and play in 2015–16. |

### Recruiting class

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Zach Hodskins SG | Alpharetta, GA | Milton High School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Oct 20, 2013 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Chris Chiozza PG | Memphis, TN | White Station High School | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | 160 lb (73 kg) | Aug 17, 2013 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Brandone Francis SG | Jacksonville, FL | Arlington Country Day School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 205 lb (93 kg) | Oct 28, 2013 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Devin Robinson SF | Chesterfield, VA | Christchurch School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 180 lb (82 kg) | Nov 15, 2013 |
| Star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: ESPN: ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: #11 Rivals: #11 ESPN: #13 ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2014 Florida Basketball Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved February 28, 2014. "ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 28, 2014. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved February 28, 2014. "2014 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 28, 2014. ||||||

## Personnel
### Roster
#### Notes

* During the season, sophomore guard Dillon Graham transferred from Florida to Embry–Riddle.

### Coaches

| Name | Position | College | Graduating year |
| Billy Donovan | Head coach | Providence College | 1987 |
| Matt McCall | Associate head coach | University of Florida | 2005 |
| John Pelphrey | Assistant coach | University of Kentucky | 1992 |
| Rashon Burno | Assistant coach | DePaul University | 2002 |
| Darren Hertz | Assistant to the head coach | University of Florida | 1997 |
| Oliver Winterbone | Video coordinator | Rutgers University | 2005 |
| Preston Greene | Strength and conditioning coordinator | Clemson University | 1999 |
| Dave Werner | Athletic Trainer | Eastern Kentucky University | 1991 |
| Tom Williams | Academic Counselor | University of Florida | 1978 |

### Team statistics
## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov. 6, 2014* 7:00 p.m. | No. 7 | Barry | W 79–70 | – | O'Connell Center (9,016) Gainesville, FL |
| Regular season (non-conference play) ||||||
| Nov. 14, 2014* 6:00 p.m., SECN | No. 7 | William & Mary | W 68–45 | 1–0 | O'Connell Center (10,861) Gainesville, FL |
| Nov. 17, 2014* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | No. 8 | Miami (FL) | L 67–69 | 1–1 | O'Connell Center (11,156) Gainesville, FL |
| Nov. 21, 2014* 8:00 p.m., SECN | No. 8 | Louisiana–Monroe Battle 4 Atlantis opening round | W 61–56 $^{OT}$ | 2–1 | O'Connell Center (11,003) Gainesville, FL |
| Nov. 26, 2014* 9:30 p.m., AXS TV | No. 18 | vs. Georgetown Battle 4 Atlantis quarterfinals | L 65–66 $^{OT}$ | 2–2 | Imperial Arena (3,240) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Nov. 27, 2014* 9:30 p.m., AXS TV | No. 18 | vs. UAB Battle 4 Atlantis consolation round | W 56–47 | 3–2 | Imperial Arena (2,408) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Nov. 28, 2014* 8:00 p.m., AXS TV | No. 18 | vs. No. 5 North Carolina Battle 4 Atlantis 5th place game | L 64–75 | 3–3 | Imperial Arena (3,298) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Dec. 5, 2014* 9:00 p.m., ESPN | | at No. 11 Kansas Big 12/SEC Challenge | L 65–71 | 3–4 | Allen Fieldhouse (16,300) Lawrence, KS |
| Dec. 8, 2014* 7:00 p.m., SECN | | Yale | W 85–47 | 4–4 | O'Connell Center (8,711) Gainesville, FL |
| Dec. 12, 2014* 7:00 p.m., SECN | | Texas Southern | W 75–50 | 5–4 | O'Connell Center (9,212) Gainesville, FL |
| Dec. 14, 2014* 4:00 p.m., FSN | | Jacksonville | W 79–34 | 6–4 | O'Connell Center (10,123) Gainesville, FL |
| Dec. 20, 2014* 5:00 p.m., FS1 | | vs. Wake Forest Orange Bowl Classic | W 63–50 | 7–4 | BB&T Center (10,175) Sunrise, FL |
| Dec 30, 2014* 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | at Florida State | L 63–65 | 7–5 | Donald L. Tucker Civic Center (8,273) Tallahassee, FL |
| Jan. 3, 2015* 2:00 p.m., CBS | | UConn | L 59–63 | 7–6 | O'Connell Center (11,041) Gainesville, FL |
| Regular season (SEC conference play) ||||||
| Jan. 7, 2015 7:00 p.m., SECN | | at South Carolina | W 72–68 | 8–6 (1–0) | Colonial Life Arena (12,181) Columbia, SC |
| Jan. 10, 2015 7:00 p.m., FSN | | Mississippi State | W 72–47 | 9–6 (2–0) | O'Connell Center (11,966) Gainesville, FL |
| Jan. 15, 2015 7:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | Auburn | W 75–55 | 10–6 (3–0) | O'Connell Center (10,346) Gainesville, FL |
| Jan. 17, 2015 2:00 p.m., CBS | | at Georgia | L 61–73 | 10–7 (3–1) | Stegeman Coliseum (10,523) Athens, GA |
| Jan. 20, 2015 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | LSU | L 61–79 | 10–8 (3–2) | O'Connell Center (10,160) Gainesville, FL |
| Jan. 24, 2015 8:00 p.m., SECN | | at Ole Miss | L 71–72 | 10–9 (3–3) | Tad Smith Coliseum (8,812) Oxford, MS |
| Jan. 27, 2015 9:00 p.m., ESPN | | at Alabama | W 52–50 | 11–9 (4–3) | Coleman Coliseum (10,759) Tuscaloosa, AL |
| Jan. 31, 2015 1:00 p.m., CBS | | Arkansas | W 57–56 | 12–9 (5–3) | O'Connell Center (11,861) Gainesville, FL |
| Feb. 3, 2015 9:00 p.m., ESPN | | at Vanderbilt | L 61–67 | 12–10 (5–4) | Memorial Gymnasium (9,815) Nashville, TN |
| Feb. 7, 2015 9:00 p.m., ESPN | | No. 1 Kentucky Rivalry and ESPN College GameDay | L 61–68 | 12–11 (5–5) | O'Connell Center (12,578) Gainesville, FL |
| Feb. 12, 2015 7:00 p.m., ESPN | | Ole Miss | L 61–62 | 12–12 (5–6) | O'Connell Center (10,291) Gainesville, FL |
| Feb. 14, 2015 6:30 p.m., SECN | | at Texas A&M | L 62–63 | 12–13 (5–7) | Reed Arena (9,418) College Station, TX |
| Feb. 18, 2015 7:00 p.m., SECN | | Vanderbilt | W 50–47 | 13–13 (6–7) | O'Connell Center (9,417) Gainesville, FL |
| Feb. 21, 2015 1:00 p.m., CBS | | at LSU | L 63–70 | 13–14 (6–8) | Maravich Center (9,203) Baton Rouge, LA |
| Feb. 24, 2015 9:00 p.m., SECN | | at Missouri | L 52–64 | 13–15 (6–9) | Mizzou Arena (7,631) Columbia, MO |
| Feb. 28, 2015 6:00 p.m., ESPN2 | | Tennessee | W 66–49 | 14–15 (7–9) | O'Connell Center (11,970) Gainesville, FL |
| Mar. 3, 2015 9:00 p.m., ESPNU | | Texas A&M | W 66–62 | 15–15 (8–9) | O'Connell Center (8,591) Gainesville, FL |
| Mar. 7, 2015 2:00 p.m., CBS | | at No. 1 Kentucky Rivalry | L 50–67 | 15–16 (8–10) | Rupp Arena (24,428) Lexington, KY |
| SEC tournament ||||||
| Mar. 12, 2015 1:00 p.m., SECN | | vs. Alabama Second round | W 69–61 | 16–16 | Bridgestone Arena (10,563) Nashville, TN |
| Mar. 13, 2015 1:00 p.m., SECN | | vs. No. 1 Kentucky Quarterfinals | L 49–64 | 16–17 | Bridgestone Arena (18,205) Nashville, TN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source:

## Rankings

Ranking movement Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking. (RV) Received votes but unranked. (NR) Not ranked. :
| Poll | Pre | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Wk 15 | Wk 16 | Wk 17 | Wk 18 | Wk 19 | Final |
| AP | 7 | 8 | 18 | RV | NR | NR | RV | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | N/A |
| Coaches | 7 | 7 | 16 | 24 | RV | RV | RV | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR | NR |