Forward Devin Robinson howls in the waning moments of Florida's 57-53 win Tuesday at Georgia.
Gators' Offense Catches Up With Defense in Second-Half Rally at Georgia
Wednesday, February 17, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
ATHENS, Ga. -- At halftime Tuesday night, the Florida box score was abysmal. Even for a team that has had some clunkers and clangers this season. Try 7-for-29 from the floor (24.1 percent) and -- Warning! -- 1-for-17 from the 3-point line (5.9 percent).
Once again, the Gators could not score.
Then again, neither could the Georgia Bulldogs, thanks to a robust defensive effort by the visitors that never wavered despite the crimes against basketball humanity playing out on out the opposite end of the floor.
UF, despite just 19 first-half points, trailed by only six at intermission.
"We know what we're capable of on the defensive end," sophomore center John Egbunu said. "Give credit to Georgia for what they did in the first half. We just had to come out and play hard and look for shots to fall and keep getting stops."
And, yes, that was all it took.
Freshman guard KeVaughn Allen scored 14 of his game-high 19 points in the second half, as the Gators rallied from seven down in the final 15 minutes to leave Stegeman Coliseum with a 57-53 victory and a jolt of confidence courtesy of just the third road win of the season. After amassing those hideous first-half number, Florida hit 50 percent after intermission from the floor (13 of 26) and 3-point line (4-for-8), with Allen banging in a trio of 3s, including a tougher-than-nails longball with 3:20 remaining just after Georgia's Charles Mann rained in a 3 to tie the game at 47.
UF (17-9, 8-5) never trailed after that Allen shot and his free throw with 2.4 seconds remaining sealed the win by pushing the margin to two possessions. The victory was big on several fronts. First, it helped ease the sting from Saturday's home defeat against Alabama when the Gators shot 28.6 percent (the third-worst performance in the last 20 years), including 3-for-21 from deep. Secondly, it provided some separation from the Bulldogs (14-10, 7-6) in the Southeastern Conference standings, as UF moved into a three-way tie for third place (along with Texas A&M and South Carolina, which the Gators face Saturday on the road). Third, it was another win -- on the road, no less -- to pad Florida's work-in-progress resume to be presented next month to the NCAA Tournament selection committee.
"Hopefully, this will give our guys some confidence and show them what they're capable of," UF coach Mike White said.
On display was an ability to win despite leading scorer Dorian Finney-Smith going 1-for-10 from the floor and finishing with just seven points. Faced with that scenario against Alabama, the Gators had no one step to the forefront.
Against Georgia, basically everyone did.
Egbunu scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked five shots. Forward Justin Leon had five points and eight rebounds and forward Devin Robinson came off the bench to score five points, grab six boards and hit a huge 3-pointer during UF's second-half surge. Point guard Kasey Hill, starting in place of Chris Chiozza, had seven points and five assists. Chiozza hit two big free throws with 32 seconds left to keep his team ahead by four.
And every Gator guarded, as the Bulldogs finished at 32.3 percent and lost at Stegeman for only the second time.
"When you play defense like that, it makes the game a lot easier," said Finney-Smith, who was matched mostly against UGA forward Yante Maten, who went 4-for-17 for the night. "I told you after the Alabama that there'd be more games where we didn't shoot the ball and we would have to make up for it on defense."
He smiled.
"But I didn't want it to be the next game."
Yet, it was.
UF's first 3-point make of the night -- after nine misses -- came when Allen hit one from the corner with 8:10 left in the first half to tie the game at 18. The Gators scored just one point the rest of the period. Lucky for them, Georgia only scored six, as the UF defense continued to fight through the frustration of all those missed shots and remained steadfast in their commitment to defend.
"That's how you should play," White said. "You can't rely on having to see the ball go through the basket in order for you to play hard. We've done that a few times this year."
That Allen 3 was answered by Maten to give the Bulldogs a lead they held a third of the way into the second half and twice took to as many as seven points -- the last time at 33-26 with 13:38 left. It was another Allen 3-ball that triggerd an 8-0 UF run that eventually gave the Gators their first lead. At one point, UF made a trio of 3s over a three-minute span.
Suddenly, shots were falling.
"I really couldn't get a rhythm in the first half," Allen said. "In the second half, I found it."
Through it all, the Gators guarded.
"Florida's defense was very good," Georgia coach Mark Fox said. "We didn't get many shots. And we didn't get many free throws."
Only eight for the game, compared to UF's 21. The Gators not only were defending, they were defending intelligently, oftentimes showing their hands to the point of exagerration when the Bulldogs initiated contact on drives off ball screens.
The lead changed hands seven times in the final 11 minutes, with a great drive and dish from Hill to Egbunu for a dunk pushing UF ahead 47-44, only to have Mann swish a 3 for the tie to jack the crowd at the 3:48 mark.
Then Allen quieted things on the very next possession from outside the arc, with the shot clock set to expire. Huge shot.
"That's his gift," White said. "He can go get baskets."
The Gators got the lead to five, but Mann made two more long balls inside the final 36 seconds. Chiozza answered the first with a two free throws to take the lead from two to four and Finney-Smith the second to make it a 3-point game with 19.7 seconds left.
The Bulldogs had one more chance. This time, Mann's long ball was an airball.
"We never lost our composure," Chiozza said.
Never stopped defending, either.
"We hit on a high percentage of doing our jobs," White said. "We were really locked in. We played quick, played fast, played strong and were determined to defend at a high level. To not be making shots and continue to do that is something we have to do more consistently."
The Gators now have the how-to blueprint for that very scenario. They hope it doesn't come again, but if it does -- given this team's track record, it will -- the reference point will be the first half at Georgia (and their response in the second).
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