NIT Ends in DC

Wednesday, March 23

Washington, D.C

7:00 PM

Florida Gators

George Washington

Dorian Finney-Smith, Kasey Hill, Devin Robinson

The 2015-16 season ended Wednesday night for UF's Kasey Hill (0), Dorian Finney-Smith (10) and Devin Robinson in an 82-77 loss in the NIT quarterfinals at George Washington.

Thursday, March 24, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

George Washington made the plays in the final minutes to edge past the Gators and finish Mike White's inaugural UF season.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

WASHINGTON — Dorian Finney-Smith hadn't bothered thinking about the big picture when he was stopped outside the Florida locker room Wednesday night. The Gators' season had just ended with an 82-77 road loss to George Washington in the National Invitational Tournament, which meant Finney-Smith's college career had ended, as well.

It was too soon to sum it all up.

"I don't really know what to say," the fifth-year senior shrugged. "I just know I got a chance to meet these great coaches and play with some great players."

With that, Finney-Smith headed out of the Smith Center and the UF program headed into the offseason.

GW forward Tyler Cavanaugh scored 18 of his 23 points in the final 10 1/2 minutes, while beefy center Kevin Larsen beasted his way to 19 points and 13 rebounds to help the Colonials surge past the Gators down the stretch of their NIT quarterfinal match with a trip to Madison Square Garden next week in the balance. Cavanaugh scored eight points in the last 92 seconds, including a dagger 3-pointer with 53 seconds and the shot clock winding down to turn a one-point game into a two-possession game. His four free throws in the final 16 seconds sealed the deal.

UF, which closed out Coach Mike White's inaugural season with a 21-15 record, trailed by eight with 13 minutes left, only to tie the game three times and once take the lead — at 71-70 with 3:42 remaining — but GW's offense was just more efficient than Florida's defense on the big possessions late.

"We had our chances," junior backup forward Justin Leon said. "But basically, we let them get any shot they wanted."

Pretty much. The Colonials shot 51.6 percent in the first half, 47.7 for the game and roughed Gators up on the boards 40-35, including 15 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second-chance points. Florida wasn't bad on offense, with freshman guard KeVaughn Allen pouring in 22 points on 8-for-15 shooting. The Gators just couldn't outscore the Colonials, with Cavanaugh and the 6-foot-10, 260-pound Larsen combining to make 15 of 29 shots, with Cavanaugh a deadly 4-for-5 from the 3-point arc.

"Our energy on defense wasn't where it needed to be in the first half, but in the second half I thought we left it all out there," White said. "Did we make all the correct decisions? No."

GW had a lot to do with that.

This loss couldn't be pinned on any level of disinterest relative to being in the NIT, a popular crutch for college basketball's second-tier tournament. The Colonials just played better and made the Gators pay for being out of position or out-hustled on the defensive end.

"Offensively, we've come a long way the last month and I wish we had continued to progress defensively as much as we did offensively," White said. "But overall, did I like our mentality in terms of how we handle this tournament? Yes."

Florida was one of the top seeds in the tournament and would have been at home for all its games had the O'Connell Center back in Gainesville not commenced the interior phases of its $65 million renovations last week. Instead, the Gators were forced to hit the road in the tournament. They opened at North Florida and won big, went to Ohio State and prevailed and would have booked a trip to New York City with a win Wednesday night.

It was certainly there for the taking. Cavanaugh got in foul trouble in the first half and again early in the second, but Larsen picked up the slack and did a ton of damage inside on his way to making eight of 15 shots (including a 3) and clearing five offensive boards. The Colonials had their way with the Gators inside most of the game (34 points in the paint) and when Cavanaugh got back on the floor, GW had its two bigs spaced and got its inside-outside post game going.

"When I got that third foul, Kevin went on a tear," Cavanaugh said. "When he's playing like that, no one can guard him."

No Gator could, for sure.

And when Cavanaugh began getting shots, no one could guard him either. Nearly all his baskets came when UF was right on GW's heels.

"He hit two huge shots down the stretch; one in zone, where we didn't do a good job of matching to him; and one in a pick-and-pop situation," White said. "Both he and Larsen are very good players. And that's a very good team."

UF freshman center Kevarrius Hayes, playing for the injured John Egbunu, had his hands full with Larsen, but made another impressive accounting of himself by matching the career-high 14 points he had at Ohio State to go with six rebounds and two blocked shots. Leon had 11 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. Junior guard Kasey Hill had a tough night shooting (5-for-18), but still had 12 points, seven assists and two steals.

The score was 73-all after a drive and bucket by UF sophomore guard Chris Chiozza (7 points, 5 assists, 0 turnovers) with 2:20 left. The Gators forced a missed shot on GW's next possession, but the Colonials got the offensive rebound — a popular refrain during the night — that led to a UF foul and single free throw from Cavanaugh that gave the Colonials a one-point lead with 1:32 to go.

Finney-Smith (9 points, 8 rebounds) missed a long 3-pointer at UF's end and Cavanaugh answered by making his late 3-ball when he went uncovered off a ball-screen and got a wide-open look.

That was it.

"They kept capitalizing on our mistakes," Finney-Smith said.

There were enough of them. Sort of like the UF season in microcosm. When a team loses 15 games, mistakes are happening.

They caught up with the Gators in the end.