Instant Analysis: Florida 75, Texas Southern 50
Saturday, December 13, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
AT THE BUZZER
FLORIDA 75, TEXAS SOUTHERN 50
WHAT HAPPENED: Freshman forward Devin Robinson continued his climb up the development ladder, scoring a career-high 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor, 2-for-3 from the 3-point line and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line. After a brutal shooting start to the season, the UF coaches worked with him to fix his mechanics and his release in an effort to just get better-quality shots. In the last three games, he's 13 of 25 from the floor and 5-for-9 from the arc. Junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith added 11 points and seven rebounds, joining Robinson among the five Gators who scored in double-figures. Also, junior guard Eli Carter returned after missing the last two games with that sore left foot. He scored six points, both on 3-point shots.
WHAT IT MEANS: After that paddle-wheel of four games over the first seven against teams currently in the Top-25 KenPom rankings, the Gators appear to have settled into a rhythm and found something of an identity -- at least for now -- in back-to-back wins against a pair of mid-majors. UF is playing harder and sharing the ball much better, evidenced by consecutive games with 18 and 19 assists, respectively, to go with shooting efforts of 63.8 and 54.4.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Tigers hit a fairly non-descript and meaningless jumpshot with 5:47 to go in the game that cut UF's lead to 17. But on the play, Robinson collapsed about 20 feet from the basket and grabbing his left ankle. The O'Dome went silent while Coach Billy Donovan and trainer David "Duke" Werner came off the bench to tend to their blossoming rookie. After about two minutes, Robinson got to his feet and walked to the UF bench on his own, albeit with a grimace. He was fine ... and needed to be.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: It's really hard to believe this team had a five-game run where it shot 36 percent or worse. The Gators seemed to break out of it by hitting 54 percent in the first half at Kansas, only to revert to 34.5 in the second and blew an 18-point lead. Anyway, the Gators are a combined 59.1 percent the last two games.
UP NEXT: Florida (5-4) is home Sunday at 4 p.m. against Jacksonville (2-8). The Dolphins lost last week to Bethune-Cookman and their lone two wins of the season came against NAIA teams Florida National and Trinity Baptist.
