Florida Gators
Purdue
Boilermakers Pound Gators Inside and Out
Monday, November 23, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- The backup point guard summed up Sunday's thumping succinctly.
“Our depth and playing hard really wore them down,” he said.
Unfortunately for Coach Mike White, who wants those traits to be the “MO” of his Florida basketball team, those words came from the mouth of Purdue guard P.J. Thompson after the No. 21 Boilermakers ran over and shot over the Gators in an 85-70 victory in the championship game of the Hall of Fame Tipoff at Mohegan Sun Arena. Thompson was one of five Purdue players to finish in double-figures -- one of six that accounted for the Boilermakers' 11 3-pointers -- on a night the Gators surrendered the most points in a regulation game since a 93-75 loss at Ohio State on Nov. 16, 2010.
More than five years and 184 games ago.
“Purdue is really good,” White said after the first defeat of his UF tenure. “I'm not pleased with a lot of things we did, especially defensively, but a better team beat us and beat us soundly.”
The Boilermakers (5-0) trailed only twice -- and for just 30 seconds -- but the Gators (3-1) were hanging around, down only three just inside nine minutes, thanks to productive outings from sophomore center John Egbunu (19 points, 7 rebounds), who played far and away his finest offensive game as a Gator before exiting late with cramping, and senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith (17 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists).
![Senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith (10) tries to knife through Purdue's giant defense, with 7-foot-2 center Isaac Haas (44) and 6-8 forward Vince Edwards (12) challenging the shot. [Photos by Bob Blanchard, RJB Sports]](http://www.gatorzone.com/gallery/photos/3360/-7-Purdue-Florida-31.jpg)
The score was 63-60 when a 3-pointer by backup guard Dakota Mathias started a blitz of 12 straight Purdue points that fed into a 19-3 run and had UF down by 22 at the under-4 media timeout.
By game's end, the Gators had seen everything the Boilermakers had to offer, from their two talented 7-footers (one who doesn't even start), relentless work on the glass and a knack for finding open shooters on the perimeter. Purdue started the game 7-for-12 from deep, cooled off with a 1-for-10 drought, then heated up again in the final minutes to sap whatever will UF might had left.
“Coming into the season, everybody said we had really good bigs and terrible guards,” said guard Raphael Davis, who was anti-terrible in scoring 18 points, dropping a couple treys, grabbing five rebounds and going 8-for-8 from the free-throw line. “We showed the country today.”
The Gators were fully aware of Purdue's across-the-board assets, but surely exited the game with a greater appreciation for a team that should contend for the Big Ten title. In their first four outings, all against significantly overmatched opponents, the Boilermakers averaged 86 points.
They missed by one against their toughest opponent to date.
“It seemed like they had six or seven dudes that were 7-footers, but they were also knocking down wide-open shots,” Finney-Smith said. “They play great team basketball.”
Added White: “We actually stressed defending the 3 at a high level, that being as important as anything else. [Their bigs] can make hard, contested shots whether they're turn-around jumpers or jump hooks with either hand. There's not really a lot you can do about that. We figured if they made six, seven, eight jump hooks over length, so be it, but we'd better defend the 3-point line. They just beat us in all areas. We weren't great defensively, and they were really good offensively.”
After Davis and Thompson (15 points, 3-for-6 from deep), forward Vince Edwards scored 14 on 5-for-6 from the floor and 2-for-3 from deep, forward Caleb Swanigan got 12 points and six boards, and 7-2 center Isaac Haas dumped in 11 on 5-for-6 shooting (almost exclusively on soft-touch hooks in the paint).
For UF, Finney-Smith and Egbunu combined to make 14 of their 26 shots, with freshman guard KeVaughn Allen throwing in 12 more on 5-for-9 shooting. After those three, though, the rest of the Gators combined to make just seven of 31 shots. UF hit only 35 percent after halftime, compared to Purdue's 54.
“It was a game of runs,” Boilermakers coach Matt Painter said.
Mostly Purdue runs.
UF had a 9-2 spree toward the end of the first half to take its first lead since the game's opening basket. A driving, left-handed bankshot by Allen pushed Florida in front 38-37 with less than a minute to go before intermission, prompting some noise from the New England Gator Club contingent was very much in the game.
The final 40 seconds of the period, though, were a disaster.
Thompson bombed a 3 to give Purdue the lead again (for good, as it turned out), then Allen fouled off a UF miss, giving the Boilermakers a couple free throws with six seconds left. The lead, though, was just four.
But Finney-Smith and point guard Kasey Hill weren't on the same page on the inbound. Thompson swiped the ball, was fouled, hit two more free throws, as Purdue went to the locker room with a five-point lead and the momentum.
“We watched film at halftime and it didn't seem like we put up much of a fight on the defensive end, especially the rebounds,” said point guard Chris Chiozza, who had eight points. “They had several offensive rebounds and some wide-open 3s.”
Yet, the Gators, even after falling behind by 11 early in the second half, three times whittled the margin down to three. Each time, the Boilermakers had an answer.
Eventually, they had the last word.
