Barry, Bench Bomb Bulldogs in OT

Saturday, January 14

Gainesville, FL

12 PM

Florida Gators

Georgia

Canyon Barry spills into the Florida bench after hitting a second-half 3-pointer and getting fouled on his way to a season-high 27 points.

Barry, Bench Bomb Bulldogs in OT

Saturday, January 14, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

Canyon Barry scored a season-high 27 points, including five 3-pointers, to help move the Gators to 5-0 in SEC play.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — When Canyon Barry, diploma in hand, went shopping for a school to play his fifth year of college basketball as a graduate student, he wanted to find a place where he not only would fit in and play, but have a positive and enjoyable basketball experience, with a chance to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Oh, and he also was looking for a good nuclear engineering master's degree program.

And so it was Saturday, after his season-high scoring eruption of 27 points against Georgia, Barry bathed in the euphoria of an 80-76 come-from-behind overtime win by joining his teammates for a post-game, conga line. One by one, they marched past an adoring Rowdy Reptile student section that collectively energized both its team and Exactech Arena and willed the 23rd-ranked Gators to a seventh straight victory to remain unbeaten in Southeastern Conference play.

"What a huge atmosphere. I can't thank [the fans] enough," Barry gushed after coming off the bench and nearly matching the career-high of 31 points he scored twice during his career at College of Charleston. "It's so much fun to play here."

So, to review:

* Fitting in? Check.
* Playing? Check.
* Positive and enjoyable? Check.
* NCAA berth? Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, his MBA work isn't the only thing nuclear about Barry. His shooting hand is, also. Over the last four games, Barry has averaged 18.8 points, 57.5 percent from the floor, 64.7 from the arc and converted 85.7 percent of his free throws.

Against UGA, Barry went 7-for-13 overall, bombed in five of his eight 3-point attempts — even twice converting four-point plays — and was perfect on eight free throws. His red-hot stat line helped the Gators (14-3, 5-0) withstand being outplayed for virtually three-quarters of the afternoon before tying the game late in regulation and winning it in overtime. Reserve redshirt freshman forward Keith Stone scored a career-high 17 points, hitting a trio of 3s on four attempts, as the UF bench not only outscored its starting counterparts for a second straight game (this time, 51-29), but obliterated the UGA bench to the tune of 51-5.

UF shot just 40 percent for the game, compared to UGA's 48.3, and got punished on the boards 41-32. The Gators, though, went 27-for-35 from the free-throw line (77.1 percent) and forced 18 turnovers.

Still, "I thought they were more physical the entire game," White said.

Canyon Barry greets the Rowdy Reptiles after the game.

The Bulldogs (11-6, 3-2) controlled the pace and tempo from the tip and actually led for all but 2:05 of regulation before senior point guard Kasey Hill (11 points, 4 assists), in a wild sequence, hit two of four free throws in the final 24.8 seconds of the second half to send the game into overtime.

In the extra period, a 3-pointer by Stone gave the Gators a two-point lead, 72-70, at the 4:17 mark and they never trailed again. Three times, though, the Dogs pulled within a point. To stem the tide, Barry converted a pair of free throws twice and sandwiched those makes around a driving layup from held-in-check leading scorer KeVaughn Allen (9 points, 2-for-7 from the floor). After the second set of Barry free throws with 16.7 left made the score 79-76, UGA guard J.J. Frazier (25 points) missed a game-tying 3-point try that UF center John Egbunu secured for his game-high 11th rebound. He was fouled with 5.8 to go.

Egbunu made the first of two free throws for the two-possession lead and sealed the victory.

"If we weren't at home, this one would have been very difficult to win," said UF coach Mike White, who stopped his players from exiting the arena and exhorted them to make the rounds for the Rowdies. "Our crowd was incredible — incredible! — especially late in the game. It was extremely loud and was a really fun college basketball environment."

The kind Barry went looking for last offseason ... and obviously has found.

"He was the difference in the game," Georgia coach Mark Fox said.

Added White: "He's playing with a different level of confidence, I really believe that. I think we can all see that. He's just shooting the ball better. He's shooting it better in practice, shooting it better at shoot-around and it's carrying over. I know he's spent a lot of time in the gym. I know this is really important to him."

For the 17th time in as many games wearing a UF uniform, Barry didn't start. And for the second straight game, the UF reserves (collectively, 14-for-26 from the floor and 8-for-13 from the arc) came to the rescue of the starters (8-for-28 and 1-for-10).

"It was a tough game. We didn't come out in the first half the way we wanted to. We gave them some easy looks and let them get into a rhythm," said Barry, who also grabbed a season-best seven rebounds, including a huge one on the offensive end late in overtime that led to two much-needed free throws. "In the second half, we came out and executed on offense, and our defense picked up."

Six times in the first half, the Gators crept within one or two points, only to let the Bulldogs — usually Frazier or guard Juwan Parker (17 points) or 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward Yante Manten (15 points before fouling out in regulation) — take the lead back out.

Down 33-32 at the break, UF started the second half with Hill hitting a floater to go up a point, but then UGA ran off nine straight points for a 42-34 lead, the biggest of the day. Again, Florida tried to inch back, twice getting within three, with Georgia (again) taking it back to six.

Then came a 3-pointer by Barry to cut that lead in half. Then, after a UGA miss, and nice transition feed on the wing by Chris Chiozza, came a 4-pointer — with Barry crashing into the UF bench — that blew the roof off the new O'Dome.

"It got loud in there, man," Stone said.

After coming off the bench to score 14 points Tuesday night at Alabama, redshirt freshman forward Keith Stone threw in a career-high 17 against Georgia, going 5-for-6 from the floor, 3-for-4 from the 3-point line and 4-for-5 from the free-throw line.

The play gave the Gators a 53-52 lead, just their third of the game, but then back-to-back Georgia baskets returned the lead to the visitors. The Bulldogs led by five, at 64-59, inside four minutes to go.

"Honestly, I was never really worried if things were looking good or not," Hill said. "We just had to stay in the moment and get stops. That's the one thing we've been stressing a lot; staying together and staying focused."

Two free throws and a driving layup by Hill came on each side of a Georgia missed one-and-one. When Barry drove and threw in a floater in traffic, the Gators had a 65-64 lead that the Bulldogs quickly wiped out with a free throw by Frazier and running baseline bank shot by Jordan Harris with 1:06 to go to take a 67-65 lead.

The only points the rest of the way in regulation were Hill's two free throws. He made the first of two with 24.8 left, but his miss on the second went out of bounds off Georgia. Hill got fouled again on the ensuing possession, with 6.5 remaining, and again made one of two, giving way to Frazier to miss his game-winning 3-point try.

Then came the overtime.

And lots of smiling by the home team and their fans.

'It was an interesting game," Barry said.

Fun one, too.