When in Portland, Make It Rain

Thursday, November 23

Portland, OR

10 PM

Florida Gators

108

Stanford

Jalen Hudson scored all 17 of his points in the first half Thursday, including four 3-pointers.

When in Portland, Make It Rain

Friday, November 24, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

No. 7 Gators bombard Cardinal with 3-point barrage in 108-87 win.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. — The locals here have a saying they pitch to folks who come for a visit.

"Welcome to Portland. Enjoy the rain."

It's been pretty misty since the teams began arriving for the PK80 Invitational earlier in the week, but it was a downright downpour Thursday night inside Veterans Memorial Coliseum. That was where seventh-ranked Florida rained a deluge of 3-point shots on Stanford on the way to a 108-87 victory in opening-round action of an event being billed as the most loaded holiday tournament in college basketball history.

And with it, came UF history.

The storm arrived early, with grad-transfer forward Egor Koulechov scoring 26 points and going 5-for-5 from long-distance to lead five Florida players into double figures. All five of "3gor's" treys came in the first half, when the Gators (4-0) stroked at an unconscious 72.2 percent of their threes, hitting 13 of 18 and setting a team record for long balls in a half. Junior swingman Jalen Hudson had 17 points, all before halftime, when he knocked down four of his six attempts from deep. The Cardinal (3-2) shot 53.6 percent in the first half and went to the locker room trailing 58-39.

"Offensively, I'm not sure how much better we can play," UF coach Mike White said.

The Gators did without starting center Kevarrius Hayes, who White suspended three hours before the game for violating team rules. Hayes, who did not accompany the team to the arena, will be reinstated when UF takes on 17th-ranked Gonzaga (4-0), which crushed Ohio State 86-59, in second-round play Friday night on the winner's side of the Motion bracket. The UF-Gonzaga survivor will play for their tournament crown Sunday.

Without the 6-foot-9 Hayes, though, White started a lineup with 6-foot-8 Keith Stone at center, alongside the 6-5 Koulechov at power forward and the 6-6 Hudson at the wing forward, and played small ball against the much bigger Cardinal.

"Just a next-guy-up mentality," said Koulechov, who finished 10 of 14 overall from the floor. "We did a good job of rallying around each other and stepping up. Keith moved to the '5,' I moved to the '4,' and we just kind of adjusted to the game. Guys were getting shots and playing unselfish."

UF's selflessness and shooting totally neutralized Stanford's size advantage, with the Cardinal's 54-percent marksmanship rendered useless against UF's barrage of 3s. The Gators' quickness helped force 18 turnovers that were converted into 32 points. Often with walk-up 3s.

Senior point guard Chris Chiozza had 14 points, a career-high 11 assists, four steals and just two turnovers. Freshman guard Mike Okauru came off the bench to add a career-high 15 points, while classmate Deaundrae Ballard had 13. They all made 3s, too.

"I hope we shoot like this the rest of the season," Hudson said.

They probably won't, considering just four days earlier the Gators were a mason-like 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) on 3-pointers in a narrow home win over New Hampshire. In that one, UF tallied just three assists.

The Gators had 23 in this one.

"The way we shared the ball, the extra passes, I think we got away from it the last game," Koulechov said. "I think we got back on track. When we share the ball, we get better shots and a higher percentage chance of hitting them."

No question, 68.2 percent is astonishing (UF finished 15-for-22 from deep), but it wasn't like it took Stanford by surprise. Even after the brick fest against New Hampshire.

"This isn't something uncharacteristic of them, given what they've put on film this season," said Cardinal forward Reid Travis, who led his team with 23 points and five rebounds. "It's not something we didn't know about."

It was, however, something they could do little about.

The Gators were hot from the get-go, with Hudson draining a 3-ball to open the game and Koulechov nailing two more before two minutes and 20 seconds were even off the clock.

And they just kept coming.

Five different UF players hit 3s in the first half.

"We knew how good a 3-point team they were, especially in transition," Stanford guard Robert Cartright said. "With a great shooting team like that, if you don't get out on them early and [prevent] them getting into a rhythm they're just going to rain on you."

He looked at the box score.

"Fifteen 3s?" Cartright said. "That's just ridiculous."

It was. And it helped the Gators build a lead that swelled to as much as 38 with more than eight minutes left before White began sitting his starters and emptying his bench. UF's two walk-on players were in for the game's final four minutes.

The Gators were outscored 29-12 down the stretch, with the Cardinal making 12 of its 22 shots in the second half to give White more reason to gripe about his team's defense.

"I don't know if we can withstand another night when a team shoots 54 percent against us," White said.

Here's how: Make 15 long balls at a 68-percent clip.

Now, that's how you enjoy the rain.