At the Buzzer: LSU 70, Florida 63 (Instant Analysis)
Saturday, February 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
AT THE BUZZER
LSU 70, FLORIDA 63
WHAT HAPPENED: At Baton Rouge, La., forward Jarrell Martin scored 28 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and provided a SportsCenter Top 10 highlight moment that ignited the Tigers on a 17-2 blitz that bridged the first and second halves in LSU's win at the Maravich Assembly Center. The Tigers scored the game's first 12 points, but the Gators fought back to take a 26-24 lead with 2:40 to go before intermission. That's when Martin (see below) and the home team took off on their spree. LSU also got 14 points and six rebounds from forward Jordan Mickey. Florida, which shot just 35 percent from the floor and 26 from the 3-point line with its two leading scorers -- Michael Frazier II (injured) and Dorian Finney-Smith (suspended) not playing, got 14 points from junior guard Eli Carter, plus 12 from freshman forward Devin Robinson. Senior walk-on forward Jake Kurtz scrapped out 9 points and 8 rebounds.
WHAT IT MEANS: A fourth loss in five games for the Gators, who fell a game under .500 overall and two below in Southeastern Conference play. UF is trying to stay out of the bottom four spots in the league standings and avoid the Wednesday first-night draw of the SEC Tournament next month at Nashville, Tenn. UF coach Billy Donovan was denied his first crack at career win No. 500. Instead, he fell to 499-203.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Martin did something in a real-life basketball game you only ever see in a Harlem Globetrotters show. With the score tied late in the first half, Martin came up with a steal high in the UF halfcourt, broke toward the goal and upon his takeoff put the ball through his legs -- like something from the NBA slam-dunk contest -- and then stuffed the ball to give the Tigers the lead -- for good, as it turned out. Wait, what? Oh, yes he did.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The game marked the fourth time this season UF has fallen behind by at least 12-0 to start the game. It also happened against North Carolina in the Battle 4 Atlantis (down 12-0, lost 75-65), at Georgia (down 12-0, lost 73-61), at Vanderbilt (down 15-0, lost 67-61) and now here at LSU. For what it's worth, this was the only time in those situations the Gators came back and actually took the lead, although it lasted for just 34 seconds.
UP NEXT: Florida (13-14, 6-8) will try to climb back to even when it goes on the road to play Missouri (7-19, 1-12) on Tuesday night. It's worth noting that while in the midst of one of its worst seasons in years, Mizzou defeated LSU at Columbia for its only SEC win of the season to date. Those Tigers play at Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon.
