Next-Day Takeaway (Florida 81, Mississippi State 78)

Tuesday, January 19

Gainesville, FL

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

12-6, 4-2,SEC

Mississippi State

7-10, 0-5SEC

Mississippi State

Florida

Mississippi State proved a tough out for the Gators Tuesday night, but UF found a way late.

Next-Day Takeaway (Florida 81, Mississippi State 78)

Wednesday, January 20, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Three follow-up observations from Florida's win Tuesday night that upped the Gators to 12-6 on the season and 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference.

1) From the moment Coach Mike White arrived on the Florida scene last spring, he spoke about Dorian Finney-Smith taking the next -- and logical -- step in his development and maturation. Candidly, White said Finney-Smith needed to be an All-Southeastern Conference player. Rolled into that were some leadership requirements that may not have suited Finney-Smith's personality, but were necessary for a team heavy with underclassmen. Maybe Finney-Smith needed some time to find a comfort zone in that off-floor role that meshed with his all-purpose on-floor game, but the fifth-year senior clearly has found some balance. Against the Bulldogs, Finney-Smith scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his third straight double-double, his fourth in five games and fifth this season (he had five for his career coming in). He joined Udonis Haslem, Al Horford, David Lee, Chandler Parsons and Marreese Speights as the only UF players the last 20 seasons to have three straight double-doubles. In SEC play, he's averaging 14.5 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 46.4 percent from the floor, 46.2 from the 3-point line and 76.7 from the free throw line. He's also at 32.2 minutes per game, which would have seemed high a month or so ago, given Finney-Smith's penchant for taking some plays off, especially on the defensive end, or getting in foul trouble. Those traits, however, haven't shown up too much of late.

2) Point guard Chris Chiozza did not have his best game against Mississippi State. In fact, the sophomore only played six minutes in the second half after Bulldogs point guard I.J. Ready (9.8 ppg) did a 16-point number on the Gators through the first 20 minutes. During one stretch, Ready scored 14 of his team's 16 points as MSU erased an eight-point deficit to go up five at the break. Chiozza has been terrific since taking over the starting point spot. He had five assists and three turnovers Tuesday to run his total since assuming the starter's role to 55 assists and 10 turnovers over 10 games. This wasn't his best night, though. Instead, White went heavy with junior Kasey Hill (17 second-half minutes), who has developed into UF's best on-ball backcourt defender. Hill struggled on offense, as he's been known to do, but finished with four assists and four rebounds. More importantly, Ready was limited to four points in the second half.

3) Mississippi State has a couple bad losses this season. The Bulldogs were blasted by 20-plus by both Miami and Florida State (two teams that defeated the Gators, by the way) and also lost at home to Southern and on the road at Missouri-Kansas City. But since SEC play began, Coach Ben Howland's squad has battled league foes to the end and have yet to be rewarded. The Bulldogs are 0-5 in league play, but check out these losses: Texas A&M 61-60 (Aggies are the conference's lone unbeaten team at 6-0); at Arkansas 82-68 (it was a 3-point game with six minutes left); at Kentucky 80-74 (3-point game with 1:15 left); Tennessee 80-75 (Volunteers made their last six field-goal attempts to hold on); Florida 81-78 (Bulldogs twice led in the final two minutes). As Howland pointed out, more than 80 of the team's 200 minutes Tuesday were logged by freshmen, two of whom, guards Malik Newman and Quinndary Weatherspoon, will be in the all-league rookie conversation. Expect MSU to be heard from in the coming weeks.