Gators Let PK80 Title Slip Away vs No. 1 Duke

Sunday, November 26

Portland, OR

10:30 PM

Florida Gators

Duke

A dejected Jalen Hudson, who led UF with 24 points, leaves the Moda Center floor after UF's crushing 87-84 loss Sunday night to No. 1 Duke.

Gators Let PK80 Title Slip Away vs No. 1 Duke

Monday, November 27, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

The Blue Devils came from 10 down with less than four minutes to steal the win.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. — Chris Chiozza was asked if fatigue played a part in the ugly and maddening manner his Florida basketball team let what would have been not just a gold-star win, but an historic one slowly bleed away Sunday night. Fair question. Forty-eight hours earlier, the Gators had waged a double-overtime war before surviving a shootout against 17th-ranked Gonzaga to earn a date with No. 1 Duke.

"Definitely," Chiozza said after the Gators blew a 10-point lead with four minutes left in falling 87-84 to the Blue Devils in the Motion bracket title game of the PK80 Invitational before 15,365 at Moda Center. "You could see in the second half, we just didn't have enough gas to finish it off."

After Chiozza left the interview room, a similar question was lobbed at UF coach Mike White. Specifically, if he agreed with his senior point guard's assessment.

"No I don't, and we're going to have a conversation about that, because I think fatigue played a factor for both teams," White said. "They were tired, too."

The Blue Devils (8-0), though, showed nothing but energy in the waning moments, coming from 17 down with 10 minutes to go — and 10 back with just over four minutes remaining — to steal the tournament trophy from the Gators (5-1). Duke made all the plays late, while the Florida offense that got it to the tournament's marquee game and was the catalyst in building the fat lead evaporated down the stretch.

Duke freshman forward Marvin Bagley III scored 30 points and grabbed 15 rebounds, but it was four free throws from fellow frosh Gary Trent Jr. (15 points), that proved the difference in the final 71 seconds. Sandwiched between those free throws were a missed front end of a one-and-one with 54 seconds left and turnover with just under 10 seconds left, both from junior swingman Jalen Hudson, who was otherwise sensational in tallying his first double-double (24 points, 10 rebounds) in a UF uniform.

A driving layup by Hudson with 4:32 left put the Gators up 82-72, but from there Duke scored 15 of the game's final 17 points, while UF was missing five of its final six shots, turning the ball over three times, and misfiring on that big one-and-one.

"We just have heart," Bagley said of his team's big finish. "That's all it is."

Well, not exactly. The Blue Devils, as usual, also have future "one-and-done" NBA talent, what with four freshmen — all ranked as the No. 1 prospects at their position by various recruiting services — plus senior All-American and former Final Four MVP Grayson Allen, who had 14 points, seven assists and hit a big 3-pointer with three minutes left that closed the UF lead to three.

Duke guard Grayson Allen hit four 3-pointers, including a big one late, on his way to 14 points, four rebounds and seven assists.

For Florida, a mostly experienced team with four upperclassmen in the starting lineup, the poise that White gushed about after Friday night's sterling effort against Gonzaga wasn't nearly as sharp in closing time.

"Really tough loss," White said, after his team went just 1-for-7 from the 3-point line in the second half. "We had a huge opportunity in front of us. We really played well for about 35 minutes and put ourselves in a really good position. Just couldn't finish against a terrific team."

Florida jumped ahead 21-6 out of the gate, but Duke chipped away at that fat lead to eventually surge in front by seven, 44-37, before a late UF push, including a 3 by Hudson at the buzzer, sent the Gators to the locker room up 53-49 and on pace for a fifth 100-point game in their six outings.

Thirteen straight second-half points had UF cruising at 74-57, when the Blue Devils kicked in their comeback. The 6-foot-11, 235-pound Bagley was virtually unguardable in the post. Didn't matter if it was undersized Egor Koulechov, tall Gorjok Gak, thick Keith Stone or long Kevarrius Hayes. When Bagley got his spot, he scored, hitting 10 of 20 shots, or getting to the free-throw line, where he made good on nine of 10.

"You have to hope he misses shots and keep him from getting his own rebound," Chiozza said of the difficulty of the Bagley matchup. "He's a great player and sometimes you just cant' stop great players."

That's probably how the Blue Devils felt about the Gators, particularly Hudson, as they jetted to the big lead. But UF went cold and a little bit loose with the ball on the way to the finish line. A driving jumper by guard KeVaughn Allen (17 points) had Florida up 84-79 with 2:35 left, but Bagley made back-to-back post-up baskets, and after a turnover by Chiozza (13 points, 6 rebounds, 7 assists), Trent knocked down two free throws with 1:11 left for an 85-84 Blue Devils lead.

At Florida's end, Hudson was fouled driving the lane, but the 82-percent free-throw shooter missed the front end.

On the ensuing possession, the Gators's defense forced a shot-clock violation with 23.4 seconds left, gaining possession and still down just by a point. Hudson, though, had the ball stripped by Trent as he sized up the Duke defense for a drive at around the 10-second mark. Trent secured the ball, was fouled, hit both free throws with 8.9 seconds, and UF's final attempt to tie the game was an off-balanced, contested 3-ball by Koulechov (15 points, 6 rebounds) that had no chance.

The Duke bench emptied and celebrated a big win.

"This is as good a team as we'll play this year," said Blue Devils coach Mike Kzyzewski, whose team went 5-for-6 in the final four minutes, with an offensive rebound and putback on the lone missed shot. "I think [Florida] can beat anybody."

The Gators left the arena thinking the same thing.

Probably thinking they'd just beaten themselves, also.

"We probably took four or five pretty quick [shots] when we're up maybe 13 or 16, somewhere in there, but that's what we do. I want to stay aggressive and play the way we play," White said. "But whether it's against Duke or Gardner-Webb, that's something, as a staff, we'll spend time considering; what we do when we get a big lead. It's still early in the season."

But not too early to bemoan — especially on the 2,900-mile trip home — one really big one that got away.