Gators Offense Overwhelms No. 9 Mountaineers

Dorian Finney-Smith equaled his season-high with 24 points and passed 1,000 for his UF career in Saturday's 88-71 rout of No. 9 West Virginia.

Gators Offense Overwhelms No. 9 Mountaineers

Saturday, January 30, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- After three days of watching tape of No. 9 West Virginia mauling opponents and practicing against its vaunted pressure with six and seven players on defense, it's not like the Florida Gators needed a reminder of the physical and intimidating nature the Mountaineers and their nation's top-ranked defense likes to play.

Yet, there was WVU, as the UF team lined up for the national anthem Saturday, huddling, chanting and stomping in the Gators' collective faces, as players, coaches and officials converged to break things up.

Moments later, senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith was huddling with his teammates and screaming above the pre-game din at the soldout O'Connell Center.

"We ain't letting them come in here and punk us like that!"

Quite the contrary, actually.

Finney-Smith poured in a game-high 24 points and grabbed five rebounds, while freshman guard KeVaughn Allen threw in 19 points and sophomore point guard Chris Chiozza added 10 points and six assists as the Gators shredded the Mountaineers 88-71 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, making a mockery of the WVU defense with deadly shooting that delighted the crowd of 11,611 at the O'Dome.

The victory, the first in five tries against ranked opponents for Coach Mike White and his inaugural UF team, gave the Gators (14-7) a signature NCAA resume victory to build on when the Southeastern Conference season reconvenes next week.

"Sometimes, it just comes down to making shots," White said after his team's blistering offensive performance. "We've had games where we've played with tremendous energy and been off the charts defensively and couldn't throw it in the ocean. This was one of those [games] where we put it all together."

To appreciate what Florida did, it helps to know what the Gators were going up against in a game that both sides figured would be a back-alley brawl (the 48 fouls called confirmed as much, by the way). The Mountaineers, always pressing and always the aggressors, came in ranked No. 1 nationally in defensive efficiency (just .859 points per 100 possessions), turnovers forced (19.8 per game), steals (10.8) and 3-pointers allowed (4.5), plus second in 3-point percentage defense (.268).

Conversely, UF came ranked near the bottom of the SEC in every shooting category, including last in free throws.

Got that?

Now get this.

The Gators hit 53 percent from the floor, went 12-for-20 from the 3-point line (60 percent) and went completely out of character in going 24-for-31 from the free-throw (77.4 percent), including 22 of their last 24 and a 9-for-9 effort from Allen.

Even UF redshirt freshman Brandone Francis-Ramirez, just two of last 32 from beyond the arc, got into the act, burying all three of his long-ball attempts.

"They shot 60 percent from 3, which they haven't done and we hadn't given up," WVU coach Bob Huggins said. "They played really well and we didn't."

Florida also beat West Virginia at its own game, forcing the Mountaineers into 18 turnovers (while committing only 14) and converting those miscues into 21 points.

The Gators were on point from the tip, maybe aided on the emotions front by that pre-game visit from the Mountaineers. Both teams were down a starter -- UF minus forward Justin Leon (head injury), WVU without forward Jonathan Holton (suspended) -- and likely came in with a desperation edge.

"We knew if we didn't come in and play with as much mental and physical toughness as we'd played with all year, it would get ugly," White said. "Maybe that little amount of fear was used as motivation."

Maybe the Mountaineers' psychological pre-game punch was also.

"They're a tough team and they try to make you scared with the way they play," Chiozza said. "We weren't trying to start anything with them, but we wanted to make sure they knew we weren't going to back down from any of that stuff."

Added Allen: "We did a good job of keeping our cool."

Florida scored the game's first basket -- a 3-pointer by Finney-Smith, who went 5-for-7 from deep -- and never trailed. The Gators' first half lead swelled to as many as 16 with just over the eight-minute mark before WVU (17-4) scored 12 straight to cut the lead to four, 31-27, with White calling a timeout with 5:54 left in the period.

As it turned out, free throws stemmed the Mountaineers run, as Allen, Finney-Smith and Devin Robinson (7 points, 5 rebounds) hit five of six to take the margin back out to nine, but the Gators soon had three starters -- Finney-Smith, Chiozza and center John Egbunu -- on the bench with two fouls each. Up 36-30, UF just needed to survive the final few minutes of the half with four reserves on the floor.

Instead, the Gators scored the period's final nine points. It started with a 3-pointer from Francis-Ramirez, followed by two free throws from center Schuyler Rimmer (2 points, 6 rebounds in a career-high 21 minutes), two more from Robinson, then a driving reverse layup by Kasey Hill to make it 45-30 at the break.

"I think we did a great job of keeping the energy up," Rimmer said. "We might not have played fanastic offensively, but we maintained the same energy the guys who were out there started the game with."

The second half started like the first, with a Finney-Smith 3, as the Gators eventually raced the lead out to as many as 21, with timely treys and that astounding performance at the free-throw line eliminating any chance of a WVU comeback.

"We needed a win like this to let us know we could do it," said Finney-Smith said, who late in the game became the 51st player to surpass 1,000 points in UF uniform (1,001). "You just have to bring it every game. You're not always going to make shots, but we can always defend like we did today and control how hard we play."

White took that discovery a few steps further.

"As I told our guys, 'Congratulations, but in a way you've exposed yourselves,' because this is what they're capable of," he said. "Now, that's the game; whether we can match it or not."

The bar is now pretty high. But that's a good thing.