Robinson Takes Charge in Gators Defeat of Ole Miss

Tuesday, February 9

Gainesville, FL

9:00 PM

Florida Gators

Ole Miss

Sophomore forward Devin Robinson flushes two of his career high-tying 15 points in Tuesday night's 77-73 defeat of Ole Miss.

Robinson Takes Charge in Gators Defeat of Ole Miss

Wednesday, February 10, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Florida Gators were clinging to a three-point lead approaching the final minute and everyone in the O'Connell knew Stefan Moody was going to take the ball to the basket.

Sure enough, the Ole Miss score-first point guard, on a red-hot second-half roll, accelerated into the teeth of the UF defense. That was when Devin Robinson, the sophomore forward, left his man and quickly shuffled to a spot beneath the basket and offered up his body -- hands straight in the air -- for contact.

Offensive foul. Moody's fifth.

At the other end, KeVaughn Allen bombed a 3-pointer inside a minute to go and the Gators rode the sequence out Tuesday night for a 77-72 victory over the Rebels before a crowd of 8,345.

With the win, Florida (16-8, 7-4) put some distance between itself and Saturday's horrendous performance in a loss at Kentucky, while also equaling the number of wins the program managed in all of 2014-15, the last under iconic Coach Billy Donovan. It took a role call of players to make it happen in a game the Gators led by 10 in the first half, trailed by three in the second and really couldn't relax until Robinson's took a pass over the Rebels full-court press and raced home for a run-out slam dunk with 4.8 seconds remaining.

Robinson came off the bench to equal his career high of 15 points to go with five rebounds (four on the offensive end), two assists and three drawn charges, including the one that disqualified Moody, who scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half.

"Devin Robinson was terrific," UF coach Mike White said. "I thought it was the best game of his Gator career."

Senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith once again led the Gators with 16 points and six rebounds, but sophomore center John Egbunu posted his fourth double-double of the season (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Allen, after scoring just three points at Kentucky, had 15, including a free throw with 22 seconds left to make it a four-point game.

Reserve junior guard Kasey Hill scored 10 points and handed out six assists (to just one turnover), but also knocked down a timely - and desperate - circus shot with 1:19 left that helped fuel the home team's end-game run.

"This was a big game for us," said Robinson, who hit five of his seven shots, including two of three from the 3-point line. "We dropped the last game at Kentucky and we needed to get back on the roll we had."

The win was UF's sixth in the last eight games and left the Gators alone in fourth place in the SEC standings, a half-game behind idle South Carolina and Texas A&M, which play Wednesday.

Chris Chiozza (11) pressures Ole Miss guard and SEC leading scorer Stefan Moody during Tuesday night's win. (Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)

Florida came into the game looking to reestablish the defensive mentality that helped carry the team through the first half of the season, but took a couple backward steps in last week's win over Arkansas and the debacle at Kentucky. The Gators didn't exactly stifle the Rebels (15-9, 5-6), who managed to hit 43.1 percent for the game, including 50 percent in the second half, and went 8-for-19 from the 3-point line.

What UF did, though, was make Moody, averaging a league-best 23.5 per game, work for his points, with mostly Hill and Chiozza chasing the Rebels mad bomber all over the floor. Just like in Florida's 80-71 road win at Oxford last month, Moody was in early foul trouble, picking up two quick ones and a third later in the first half (on another charge) and was just 1-for-4 with two points at the break, as the Gators used a 7-point run to close out the first period and lead 36-29.

"I was actually encouraged that we were still in the game despite everything we had dealt with in the first half," Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy said. "I thought we started the second half out great."

With Moody back on the floor, the Rebels scored the first seven points of the second half to take a 37-36 lead. A three-pointer by backup forward Tomasz Gielo (20 points, 8 rebounds) pushed Mississippi to a 40-37 advantage barely four minutes in, but back-to-back 3s from Robinson and Finney-Smith put the Gators back out in front.

They never trailed again, though four times over the next 11-plus minutes the Rebels made it a one-possession game, with Moody scoring eight straight points - six from the free-throw line - to make the score 67-66 with three minutes to go.

Twice, Ole Miss had chances to take the lead, but forward Sebastian Saiz, in his first game back since missing six following eye surgery, was called for an offensive foul on the first possession and had a baseline hook blocked by Finney-Smith with 1:45 to go on the second.

At UF's end, with the shot clock winding down, Hill drove the right side of the lane and was brushed by guard Martavious Newby as he was positioning for a shot. Hill threw the ball from his hip as he fouled - and it banked it at the 1:19 mark.

"That was Harlem Globetrotters stuff," Robinson said.

"What a big play that was," White added.

Hill missed the free throw, but the lead stayed at one when Moody took the ball into the Florida half court and made a wide-eyed beeline for the basket 20 seconds later.

That's when Robinson took one - another one - for the team.