Chris Chiozza dishes one of his career-high nine assists Saturday at Ole Miss.
Hoops Hodgepodge: Ole Miss 'Takeaway,' Road Losses, KeVaughn, tweets, etc.
Sunday, January 17, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Some "Next-Day Takeaway" leftover thoughts from Florida's 80-71 victory at Ole Miss that lifted the Gators to 11-6 overall and 3-2 in Southeastern Conference play. Mike White coaches up KeVaughn Allen at Ole Miss.1) He went into the game shooting just 22.3 percent from 3-point range, but freshman guard KeVaughn Allen looked like a different player in rising up against the Rebels with confidence and burying six of his seven attempts from long-distance. In the two previous games, Allen had combined for just eight points (zero in the loss at No. 21 Texas A&M earlier in the week) and was 0-for-7 from 3. Then: BOOM! This is a kid who is still finding his way, finding his assertiveness, finding his place. Make that realizing his place. Senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith said afterward that sometime Allen's teammates just have to say, "Bro, you can't turn that shot down." And he can't. The Gators need him to be a little more selfish (if you want to call it that). Sometimes it won't be Allen's night. Other times, Florida wll get what Allen put on display Saturday.
2) Raise your hand if you've yelled at the television (or tweeted at me during the game) wondering why Kasey Hill is still on the floor late. Hill's offensive struggles, both shooting and at the free-throw line, are well documented. He knows about them too, trust me. But that doesn't change the fact that in matchup situations throughout the season, Hill is going to be the best defensive option for the Gators when it comes to guarding an opposing perimeter player in the halfcourt. That was the case with Rebels mad bomber Stefan Moody, especially after Chris Chiozza picked up a second foul midway through the first period. Moody, a shoot-first point guard, got his 22 (albeit two points shy of his league-leading 24.4 average), but he didn't shoot a crazy number of free throws (just 10), only had one assist and turned the ball over six times, whether from being closely guarded or trying to force the ball to teammates when plays weren't there. For what it's worth, Hill went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the final 3:12.
3) Speaking of Chiozza, his assist-to-turnover ratio in the nine games since taking over the starting point guard spot is better than 7-to-1. That's just insane. Try 50 assists vs. seven turnovers. Chiozza doesn't get flustered. His demeanor never changes, regardless of what's happening on the floor. Against the Rebels, he missed all five of his shots, but finished with half of UF's assists (nine of its 18) and just one turnover. Coach Mike White loves how Chiozza is playing. Why wouldn't he?
ROADKILL REVIEW
We uncovered quite a statistic in the wake of Saturday's win at Ole Miss.
In halting a run of seven straight SEC road losses dating to a 52-50 win at Alabama last Jan. 27 -- if you don't remember Dorian Finney-Smith's drive and wicked dunk with 21 seconds left at Tuscaloosa, check it out below -- the Gators ended their longest league losing streak on the road since (get this) dropping 14 in a row over three seasons and for three head coaches dating to the '89, '90 and '91 conference seasons.
UF, under Coach Norm Sloan, had already clinched the first SEC title in program history when it lost the regular-season finale at Alabama on March 4, 1989. The next year, in the throes of an NCAA and DEA investigation, Sloan was fired and replaced by Don DeVoe. Florida went 0-10 on the road in the league that season, stretching the string to 11.
Then, in the first year under Lon Kruger, the Gators started league play 0-4 before winning Feb. 2, 1991 at Ole Miss, stopping the skid at 14.
For the record, during Billy Donovan's 19 seasons, the program's longest road losing streak against league opponents was six. That came during the '07-08 season.
GATOR ALUM OF THE WEEK
Chris "Sky" Walker averaged about four points and a little more than two rebounds a game in his two seasons for the Gators. As far as McDonald's All-Americans go -- and the grandiose expectations that accompany them -- Walker will will be remembered more for what he didn't do in a UF uniform than what he did.
Which makes Walker's rookie season in the NBA Development League something of a feel-good story of redemption.
The 6-foot-10, 220-pounder is averaging 11.4 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots per game while shooting 61.5 percent from the floor for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He's had a couple double-doubles, with season highs of 21 points, 17 rebounds and six blocks.
As you can see above, his D-League highlight tapes are filled with plays showing Walker running the floor like an antelope, cleaning up the glass and dropping in shots from in and around the paint -- the very high-energy type of game Donovan and his coaches tried to coax from Walker, especially during what was supposed to be a breakout sophomore season.
Good luck, Sky!
TWITTER PATTER
Giving up on the team with 15 games still to go? C'mon.
In addition to the aforementioned seven straight SEC road losses, the Gators were a combined 3-13 the last two seasons in true road games, with one of those wins at low-major Navy in the 2015-16 season opener. The defeat that started it all came at Kansas on Dec. 5, 2014, when the Gators blew an 18-point second half lead. Before that, their previous road loss occurred way back on March 9, 2013 at Kentucky. Here's a review of the last two years on the road before Saturday.
Brad Beal Bradley Beal's career-high during his one-and-done career with the Gators was 22 points, which he did twice early on in his freshman season. Beal had the skills to be a great scorer when he arrived at UF, but much like Allen was a reluctant freshman who just sort of wanted to fit in. Eventually, he blossomed into the team's best player and led the Gators on their run to the Elite Eight with a much more aggressive mindset and overall game once February and March rolled around. Beal finished with 546 points his lone season, good for an average of 14.7 per, but he also played in a more structured offense and surrounded by 3-point shooters. Allen has 185 points, good for 10.9 per game thus far, but his numbers are going to creep up. Beal was the better scorer and (obviously) player -- he was the third overall pick in the NBA Draft -- but Allen, like Beal, is coming into his own as the league season gets heavy.
FREE THROWS
As of Sunday, Florida checked in at No. 16 in RPI -- the second highest-ranked team in the SEC after No. 8 A&M -- despite a 1-4 mark against Top 50 teams. Who was that one win against? Read on. .. Whereas the Gators won at Oxford to snap that seven-game SEC losing streak, the team has won five in a row at home, dating to last Feb. 12 when Moody canned a 26-footer with just over two seconds left to give Ole Miss a 62-61 win. Next up, UF is at home Tuesday night against Mississippi State (7-9, 0-4), with a chance to go two games over .500 in the conference standings since being 3-1 through four games last season. ... Florida shot 67.7 percent from the free-throw line Saturday. While that's barely making two-thirds, it was the fourth-best single-game performance by the Gators this season. The best was 71.4 against Vermont, one of just two times UF has hit 70 percent from the line. ... UF's lone Top 50 RPI came against St. Joseph's, now 36th, in the Hall of Fame Tipoff in Uncasvlle, Conn.
