Boomer Bummer: Hayes, Gators Crush Sooners in Norman

Saturday, January 28

Norman, OK

2 PM

Florida Gators

Oklahoma

Oklahoma's Kameron McGusty had no chance on this shot against sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes, who came off the bench to score 20 points, grab nine rebounds and block three shots.

Boomer Bummer: Hayes, Gators Crush Sooners in Norman

Saturday, January 28, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score Photo Gallery by Tim Casey & Greenberry Taylor

Florida demolishes Oklahoma 84-52 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NORMAN, Okla. — Three nights earlier, the Florida basketball team went to LSU, scored 106 points and handed the Tigers their worst home loss since 1964 to snap a two-game losing streak. The lopsided outcome needed a dose of perspective, however, given the Gators hit an other-worldly (plus school-record) 19 shots from the 3-point line and did so against a severely outmanned opponent beaten down by a five-game tailspin. Grain-of-salt stuff, right?

So all No. 25 UF did Saturday afternoon was chase that 36-point win by going to Oklahoma and obliterating the Sooners 84-52 in their SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup before a crowd of 7,970 at Noble Center that witnessed the program's worse home loss in 95 years.

Ninety. Five. Years.

Hence the reaction from Coach Mike White after the Gators (16-5) had completed their two-game, Death Star road trip.

"To come to Oklahoma and beat a Lon Kruger team by one point would have been great," White said. "We just had a really good week."

Yes, that was Kruger, the former UF coach (1990-96) and first to take the Gators to a Final Four (1994), on the opposite sideline and with a look of bewilderment afterward.

"Not much good there," he said.

Only for the guys in orange.

Sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes came off the bench to score 20 points and grab nine rebounds, both career highs, block three shots and alter a slew more for a defense that stymied the Sooners (8-12) into 27.7-percent shooting — with just 1-for-16 from the 3-point line — and won a rare rebound battle 50-39 in decisive fashion. Fifth-year senior forward Canyon Barry, another reserve, bounced back from a game's absence due to an ankle sprain by throwing in 15 points, including 13 in a first-half when the Gators pounced to a 15-point lead at the break. Junior forward Devin Robinson had 13 points, with senior point guard Kasey Hill good for 12 points, eight assists and two steals.

The UF defense thoroughly frustrated its OU counterparts, particularly standout point guard Jordan Woodard, who came into the game averaging 17.3, but finished 0-for-7 from the floor, with three turnovers and just 14 minutes after being benched for good with more than 17 minutes left in the game.

When it was over, Florida had won consecutive games by 30-plus points for the first time since 2013 and done so on the road -- wait for it -- for the first time in the more than 101-year history of the program. Also worth noting: It was the third win by more than 30 points this season; the Gators had seven all time coming in to 2016-17.

In the more immediate picture, the Gators righted some defensive ills that reared themselves in Southeastern Conference play the last few weeks — and coming off two straight losses — just in time to reset and refocus for a Thursday-Saturday league turn-around, capped by a prime-time visit Saturday night from No. 4 Kentucky.

"We came into these last two games wanting to play defense, wanting to get stops and basically with the mentality of wanting to shut them out," Hill said. "The couple games before these had been our style of defense."

Senior point guard had eight assists Saturday against the Sooners and had another outstanding day on the defensive end.

The Gators actually trailed 5-0 out of the shoot, perhaps bringing to mind some other slow starts to halves this season. The Sooners, who benefitted from by an over-fouling UF defense and 12-for-13 free-throw shooting, had a 20-18 lead when Hayes took a pass from Hill to the tie the game at the 8:10 mark. Three minutes later, Barry hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key off an inbounds pass for a 23-20 edge.

UF never trailed again.

"We didn't match their intensity," Kruger said after the Sooners worst home loss since falling 66-22 to Missouri on March 4, 1922. "They were quicker to the ball all game long."

Those Hayes-Barry consecutive baskets were part of a 25-8 sprint to halftime, with Hayes scoring 11 of those points and Barry chipping in eight, the last three coming when he head-faked an OU defender at the 3-point line, drew a foul and tossed in three underhanded free throws with 4.6 seconds on the clock to take a 43-28 lead into the locker room. The Gators hit seven of their last 14 shots and grabbed 12 of the period's last 17 rebounds.

"I can't think of another game where I felt that good about the way we rebounded the ball," White said.

That's because Hayes was chasing everything and his relentlessness seemed to trickled down through his teammates. Six UF players had at least four rebounds, with forward Justin Leon good for eight and starting center John Egbunu with seven.

That aggression carried into the second half, something that seldom has been the case through this season.

"The first four minutes of the [second] half has really been a low end for us," said Hayes, the eighth different UF player to lead the team in scoring this season and part of a bench that bested OU's 39-16. "We wanted to be strong and really committed to picking up where we left off in the first half."

A 7-0 run out of the gate— a layup from Hayes, 3-pointer by guard KeVaughn Allen (8 points) and thundering slam from Hayes off a drive and dish from Hayes — took care of that. That spurt put the Gators up 22. Twice the Sooners cut the lead to 13, the second time at 58-45 with 8:45 remaining.

Kevarrius Hayes was the man in the middle for the Gators -- and grabbing a rebound in the middle of four Sooners on this play.

Then Barry hit two free throws, Hayes hit two more and, after an OU bucket, Leon swished a 3-ball from the corner to push the lead back out to 18. Four minutes later, it was 27 and on the way to 32.

What a road trip.

"The next issue is the obvious issue," White said. "How do we bottle this up, after playing this week on the road, and try to replicate it at home in front of our crowd?"

The next sellout at Exactech Arena awaits the answer.