Hoops Hodgepodge: LSU takeaway, Braxton O, tweets, etc.

Saturday, January 9

Gainesville, FL

1:30 PM

Florida Gators

10-5,2-1SEC

LSU

9-6, 2-1SEC

LSU

Florida

JuCo transfer forward Justin Leon is one happy guy leaving the floor Saturday.

Hoops Hodgepodge: LSU takeaway, Braxton O, tweets, etc.

Saturday, January 9, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Here are three 'Next-Day Takeaway" thoughts from Florida's 68-62 defeat of LSU that pushed the Gators to 10-5 overall and 2-1 in league play.

1) Judging by the chatter on Twitter and the media crowd around him after the game, Justin Leon's performance in UF's win Saturday caught some folks off guard. He put up career highs of 14 points and nine rebounds, made two of his team's three 3-pointers, drew two charges, defended monstrous Ben Simmons at times and led the Gators in effort. OK, so maybe some of those stats were a surprise -- but the last one was not. UF coach Mike White signed Leon out of junior college because of that very characteristic of his game. And the 6-foot-8, 200-pounder is going to play that hard all the time whether he's on the floor for three minutes (like against Oklahoma State) or five (like Florida State) or 25 (like LSU) because he plays that hard at practice every day. He has limitations on offense, but so what? When there are no limitations on determination, players overachieve. Leon knows his role in White's system and he's ideal for it. Want a comparison Gators fans can relate to? Try Will Yeguete.

2) So the worst free-throw shooting team in the Southeastern Conference lives up to its billing by starting 8-for-20 from the line, then finishes the game by sinking nine of 10 in the final six minutes. John Egbunu, who had made -- get this -- just four of his previous 23 attempts over the last five games, hit all four of his tries in the last 2:08 -- each one absolutely pressure-packed. Even backup center Schuyler Rimmer, who missed the previous five games with a back injury and had not attempted a free-throw in a game since Nov. 25 against Vermont, canned two big ones. So much about free-throw shooting is mental toughness, which is something the program has lacked the last two seasons. It's also something the Gators exhibited against the Tigers. So they know it's there.

3) I got a kick out of the criticism directed at Simmons via social media during the game. Someone even asked me if really thought Simmons was a superstar. My answer: "Um ... yes." Simmons got some heat for his eight turnovers, all of which came in the second half. OK, so that's a bunch, but good grief! What about the 28 points, 17 rebounds, the 15-for-17 from the line and four assists? He scored LSU's last 12 points. The guy is phenomenal. He'd be an NBA all-star this season. As far as the turnovers, the majority of them came when he was in attack mode and looking to carry his team. And I marveled at his passing skills. Almost every one of his passes landed in the perfect place for his teammates, be it in their shooting pocket, on their fingertips for a lob or leading them downcourt in transition. Someone is going to be very happy on lottery night.

UF TURNS FOCUS TO FIRST-PLACE AGGIES

The Gators didn't spend a lot of time reveling in a win that was desperately needed, given the look of that loss Wednesday at Tennessee.

Nor could they afford to.

Florida goes to Texas A&M (13-2, 3-0) Tuesday night to face the Southeastern Conference's only team that is unbeaten through three games. The Aggies came from 11 down on the road Saturday to beat the very same Volunteers team that ran the Gators out of the gym.

A&M has a good nucleus leftoverS -- Danuel House, Jalen Jones, Alex Caruso -- from the team that went 21-12 that season and looked like an NCAA Tournament lock until losing its final three regular-season games, including a 66-62 defeat to the Gators that turned out to be Billy Donovan's final game at the O'Dome. The Aggies ended up in the NIT and were eliminated by an 84-72 home loss to White's bunch from Louisiana Tech.

GATOR ALUM OF THE WEEK

This week we catch up with Braxton Ogbueze, who signed with Florida in 2011 -- part of a class with Michael Frazier II, DeVon Walker and Dillon Graham -- as the fifth-ranked ranked point guard in the country (by Scout.com) and the nation's No. 50 overall prospect (ESPN.com). As a freshman, the 6-foot-1, 180-pounder from Charlotte, N.C., totaled 19 points, 13 rebounds and six assists mostly mopping up in 23 games on a team that won the SEC regular season title and was beaten by Michigan in the Elite Eight.

That offseason, Ogbueze transferred home, to UNC-Charlotte, where he's now in his second season as a starter -- his coach is former NBA star Mark Price -- and averaging a team-leading 12.3 points per game, while shooting 39 percent from the floor and 41 from 3-point range. Earlier this year, he went for 25 in a win at Appalachian State, which was two off the career-high he set last year in scoring 27 against George Washington.

Ogbueze scored 22 points in 41 minutes in Saturday night's 93-90 overtime loss at Louisiana Tech, the program White coached for four years before coming to UF. Ogbueze went 6-for-13 from the 3-point line in that game. Earlier in the week, Ogbueze had 17 points and six assists in an 82-76 win at Southern Miss.

The 49ers are currently 4-11 overall and 1-2 in Conference-USA.

Good luck, Brax!

TWITTER PATTER

I can't. Won't even try.

@GatorsChris how do we explain this?
— Scott Glazier (@sglaze1) January 9, 2016

Who doesn't like biscuits? And where was I when they were handed out?

Had fun feeding the @MBKRowdies w @ForrestGmitro this AM. @ChickfilA biscuits were snapped up by hungry #Gators. pic.twitter.com/URys2IaI1T
— Mike Hill (@rmikehill) January 9, 2016

Gators got back to taking care of the basketball.

LSU's Ben Simmons had more turnovers (8) than #Gators (6) did today.
— Scott Carter (@GatorsScott) January 9, 2016

Wait, what?

Gators fall to Simmons, LSU #Gators https://t.co/co9c43mnxF pic.twitter.com/hatpYgwLxO
— Gators BB Report (@gators_bb_fanly) January 9, 2016

He does.

@GatorsChris need Leon to play like this every game
— Robert Caridi (@rjc1112003) January 9, 2016

CHARTING THE GATORS

Ben Simmons isn't the No. 1 overall pick in the draft yet, but he will be come June. When that becomes official for some fortunate team, Simmons will join the below list of No. 1s who have played in the O'Connell Center. Figured it'd be interesting to go back and see how the previous seven No. 1s who made O'Dome appearances fared against the Gators. Not surprisingly, most won, including the guy to the right -- three times.

Player	Opponent	Date	Stats	Outcome
Shaquille O'Neal (3 times)	LSU	2/27/90	19 pts, 19 rebs, 5 blx, 8-14 FG, 3-6 FT	W 76-63
		2/27/91	9 pts, 15 rebs, 3 blx, 4-7 FG, 3-4 FT	L 79-66
		2/5/92	23 pts, 15 rebs, 6 blx, 7-10 FG, 9-17 FT	L 70-50
Tim Duncan	Wake Forest	12/9/95	14 pts, 14 rebs, 9 ast, 7 blx 7-10 FG	L 77-53
Greg Oden	Ohio State	12/23/06	7 pts, 6 rebs, 4 blx, 2-6 FG	W 86-60
John Wall	Kentucky	1/12/10	19 pts, 4 rebs, 6 ast, 7-17 FG, 1-7 3pt	L 89-77
Anthony Davis	Kentucky	3/4/12	22 pts, 12 rebs, 6 blx, 9-13 FG	L 74-59
Andrew Wiggins	Kansas	12/10/13	26 pts, 11 rebs, 2 blx, 4-9 3-pt, 8-8 FT	W 67-61
Karl Anthony-Towns	Kentucky	2/7/15	10 pts, 8 rebs, 2 blx, 6-10 FG, 7-7 FT	L 68-61

ASK @GatorsChris

@GatorsChris when is coach going to change his offensive strategy? Coach should change to fit his teams not the other way around
— Brad Grant (@BJGrant_85) January 9, 2016

White is coaching this team, but also for future teams, as well. He has a system, and that system not only worked at Louisiana Tech, but was a big reason why he was attractive to Florida when Jeremy Foley and Mike Hill went looking for a new basketball coach. If he was in a third or fourth year, sure, maybe you make some tweaks and adjustments based on players. For now, White, his staff and players are in the discovery process with this bunch, but what the Gators are doing is laying the foundation for the program's future.

FREE THROWS

LSU's 62 points were its second-fewest of the season (the Tigers scored just 58 in a loss at College of Charleston) and more than 22 points under the team's season average of 84.3. Look no further than the defensive job turned in against guards Keith Hornsby and Tim Quarterman, who were averaging a combined 27 points and nine field goals per game. They finished 5-for-16 from the floor, including 1-for-10 from 3, for 13 points. ... UF shot just 38.1 percent against LSU, making for just the second time in the last five seasons the Gators had converted 38.1 percent or worse and still won agame. The other time? The 70-50 defeat of Florida Gulf Coast earlier this season. The Gators were 36.6 in that one. ... Walker, the fourth-year junior forward, took his turn guarding Simmons during 11 minutes and had some battle scars to prove it. Walker left the game twice; once after being poked in the eye and later due to a right ankle sprain that kept him sidelined. He should be fine for the Texas A&M game. ... Heard an interesting stat that the Florida game was just the fourth time Simmons had ever played a true road game. Ever. His club team in Australia played all home or neutral-site games, as did Montverde (Fla.) Academy, so it was little wonder he praised the Rowdy Reptiles and O'Dome environment and spoke how much he loved playing here. .... Senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith has at least one 3-point shot in 14 straight games. ... Sophomore point guard Chris Chiozza had eight assists and zero turnovers in the game. That's the eighth time a UF player has had that many assists without a turnover since the 1996-97 season. The others: Kasey Hill (who did it against Yale), Nick Calathes, Justin Hamilton and Eddie Shannon.