Chiozza, Gators Close Out Cincinnati Late

Saturday, December 9

Newark, NJ

6 PM

Florida Gators

Cincinnati

Jalen Hudson, who had 17 points and a trio of big plays in the final minute, exhults as time expires in Saturday night's win over Cincinnati.

Chiozza, Gators Close Out Cincinnati Late

Sunday, December 10, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

Senior point guard Chris Chiozza scored the game's last six points over the final 86 seconds.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NEWARK, N.J. — They carved a reputation the first two weeks of the season by scoring points on top of points. That identity took a hit over the previous five days when shots didn't fall and two opponents basically punk'd them in back-to-back home games.

So there were the Florida Gators Saturday night, tied up with the bare-knuckle bullies of Cincinnati. Just under a minute and a half remained and it was UF's ball after Coach Mike White called a timeout. The focus of the huddle was the next possession, but that quickly changed as the meeting was about to break.

Sophomore forward Keith Stone, hardly known for being verbose, didn't just speak, he shouted.

"We gotta get stops!" yelled Stone, perhaps feeling chippy in the midst of his most physical effort of the season. "Get stops!"

It was a declaration that instantly was seconded by the rest of his team. Player after player, one after another, screamed about stops. The mostly hush-hush, nice-guy, offensive-minded Gators got out of character.

Then won the game behind a familiar character.

Senior point guard Chris Chiozza broke the tie by scoring the game's final six points and the fifth-ranked Gators answered the self-imposed challenged with stops on the Bearcats' final two possessions to finish strong for a much-needed 66-60 victory in the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center. With the win, Florida (6-3) snapped a three-game losing streak and staved off what, with a fourth straight loss, would have equaled the program's worst nine-game start in 22 years.

Chiozza, who finished with 15 points, four rebounds and six assists, hit a dribble-drive into the lane with 1:09 left, then two free throws (after a stop and offensive rebound) with 20.1 remaining, then a layup (after a stop) with 10 seconds to go to finish things off, all of it occurring about 15 miles from where he etched his name in Gators' and NCAA Tournament lore at Madison Square Garden last March. He had help along the way Saturday — a little bit from everyone — with grad-transfer forward Egor Koulechov throwing in 21 points and grabbing seven rebounds, and junior swingman Jalen Hudson tallying 17 points, but also carding a blocked shot, offensive board and steal all in the final minute.

"Really big win against a very good team and a really, really consistent program that we have a lot of respect for. One of the toughest teams in the country, in our estimation, both mentally and physically," UF coach Mike White said of UC. "For my guys to have endured what they have endured over the past week — it's been a really rough week for us, to say the least, as you guys probably can imagine — so just a huge bounce-back win for us. Very, very proud of my guys' effort."

Monday night, it was an eyesore 83-66 clubbing at the hands of Florida State. Then came Wednesday's 65-59 egg-laying against mid-major Loyola Chicago. White had no idea how the Gators, with their hurt feelings and bruised egos, would respond in a neutral-site date with Cincinnati and its pack of hyenas.

"We just focused on ourselves, what we can do better, and especially our mental toughness," Koulechov said. "I thought we were really soft this past week. We took a step forward [Saturday] with a win against a tough team."

After those consecutive shooting displays of sheer horror — combined numbers of 36.6 percent from the floor and 8-for-44 from the 3-point line (18.1 percent) — they shot 42 percent against the Bearcats (7-2) and made good on six of 15 from deep (40 percent). Not great, but good enough because the Florida defense, choosing to double-team Cincinnati's size advantage on post feeds, limited UC to 42.6 percent, just 4-for-15 from the arc, and forced the Bearcats into a season-worst 21 turnovers that Florida converted to 27 points.

"Mind-boggling," UC coach Mick Cronin said. "We didn't play well by any stretch of the imagination."

The Gators also were far from perfect, but so much better than what they put on tape the previous five days.

They fell behind 10-4 early, managing just one field goal against three turnovers through the game's first 6 1/2 minutes. Then Koulechov came alive to score six straight, all on shots in close, to kick in an 18-4 run, with Hudson accounting for half those points. The surge put UF up by eight with just over five minutes to go in the half.

The lead was six, 34-28, at intermission.

Down by five four minutes into the second half, the Bearcats got some offense off the bench from backup point guard Cane Broome (15 points) to retake the lead, the first in nearly 18 minutes at 42-40. Gators guard KeVaughn Allen's lone field goal of the game had his team back up up 49-47, but the Bearcats ran off six straight, with Jarron Cumberland's basket on the block pushing UC in front by four, 53-49, with 7:53 left.

Florida, though, ran off the next six on a stickback and two free throws from Koulechov and reverse layup from freshman guard Deaundrae Ballard with just over five minutes remaining.

Said White: "We seemed to make the plays down the stretch that we needed to, against a team that we knew was just going to keep swinging and keep swinging."

The next three-plus minutes brought three lead changes and two ties, with forward UC Gary Clark (9 points, 13 rebounds) hitting one of two free throws with 1:32 to play to make the score 60-all.

Timeout, Florida.

Time to get fired up, Florida.

"They usually don't say anything," UF assistant Jordan Mincy said. "But they were really good. All of 'em."

Especially Chiozza.

"I wasn't looking to take the game over," Chiozza said. "I was just trying to make good plays for my team and a couple fell into my hands."

First, he beat Broome into the lane and threw a floater hoop for the lead.

At the UC end, point guard Jacob Evans had his jumper at the free-throw line tipped by Hudson, with the Bearcats batting the loose ball out of bounds. Chiozza worked the clock on the ensuing possession and inside five seconds found Stone barreling down the lane for what could have been a dunk that brought the goal down. Instead, the ball caromed high off the back of the rim and almost out of bounds at the top-of-the-key extended, where Hudson grabbed it before it headed into the front-row seats for a clock reset. The Bearcats fouled Chiozza, who made both free throws for a four-point lead with 20 seconds to go.

Out of a Cincinnati timeout, a drive into the lane by Evans was tipped by Stone, with Hudson scooping it and forwarding it to Chiozza for a run-out and game-sealer as the UF bench — having secured those big stops — cheered wildly.

Chris Chiozza makes the night for some Gator fans by snapping a group selfie following his game-ending heroics.

"When the horn [sounded], I'm sure a few of our guys, especially our younger guys, felt a relief," said White, who about an hour later watched his players laughing it up in a snowball fight as they waited to board the charter flight home from the Teterboro Airport. "I bet more so for the older guys, it was a sense of pride and accomplishment in that, again, just what a bounce-back it was for this team."

A big one, but also just one. There's so much of the season left. So much work to do. The win was timely and felt great, but it won't be any more of a referendum on the Gators than the past two games were.

It's still early December.

"We have to improve on everything," Chiozza said. "Defense? We still have to get better every day at that, try to get tougher, and just continue to play together as a team and not worry about individual stats and things like that. Just play for one another. That makes the game come easier to everybody."

Getting stops helps, too.