Gators head coach Mike White has a talk with guard Jalen Hudson during Florida's victory Saturday. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
Gators Get Extra Cheez, Hot Hudson in Win over Baylor
Saturday, January 27, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
Guards Chris Chiozza and Jalen Hudson turned on the offense for extended stretches on Saturday to help the Gators roll over the Bears.
Chiozza can still dazzle longtime admirers – his game-winning shot against Wisconsin in the Elite Eight and his steal and buzzer-beating layup against Missouri earlier this season certainly did – but those are plays fans have come to expect from the 6-foot, 175-pound bolt of lightning from Memphis.
If the game is on the line, Chiozza has proven repeatedly that's when he is often at his best.
He was good from start to finish in the Gators' 81-60 thumping of Baylor on Saturday at Exactech Arena.
"I can't imagine he's had a better game than that,'' Florida coach Mike White said. "He was fantastic."
You could say the Gators got a serving of extra Cheez midway through the first half when Chiozza reeled off 13 consecutive points to extend a nine-point lead to 15 over a 4-minute, 26-second span. Chiozza's run started with back-to-back 3-pointers. He then added a pair of free throws, a jumper, and finally, another 3-pointer that gave the Gators a 37-22 lead with 4:52 left before halftime.
"He shot lights out,'' teammate Jalen Hudson said. "Really got us going."
Chiozza's offensive surge gave Florida a 43-31 halftime lead, which served notice to the Bears they were in trouble. Baylor entered the game 9-0 when leading at halftime but only 1-7 when trailing by four or more.
Baylor coach Scott Drew's game plan was to limit Chiozza's ability as a distributor and take his chances with Chiozza the shooter. Chiozza came heavily armed, hitting 7 of 10 shots and 4 of 7 from long range for just the second 20-point game of his career. Chiozza finished with 20 points, six rebounds and six assists, scoring the second-most points in his 126 career games, surpassed only by his career-high 26 earlier this season in a double-overtime win over Gonzaga.
The role fit Saturday and Chiozza was glad to oblige.
"Normally I hit one, I hit a couple," Chiozza said. "Once I hit two, I said, 'I'm just going to come down and shoot another one, and see what happens.' And they went in, so I was like, 'Alright, I might shoot some more.'
"I was just out there playing and it just felt good when I had the ball in my hands."
In the second half, it was Hudson's turn to get hot.
As Chiozza poured in 15 points in the first half, Hudson went to the locker room with just three. With Baylor still within striking distance midway in the second half, trailing 58-48 following a basket by Terry Maston with 10:50 left, Hudson scored 10 consecutive points to give Florida a 68-50 lead with 7:05 remaining.
The Bears were done. Hudson finished with 17 points on 6 of 13 shooting and 4 of 6 from behind the 3-point line.
"I hit one shot, and I was like, 'alright, that felt kind of good.' Then Coach White kept calling plays for me to see if I would be able to sustain it," Hudson said. "I did for a while. It was nice."
Not so much for Drew, whose team lost for the third consecutive time and fifth time in six games.
"Any time we got it to where it was close to 10, they went on a run,'' Drew said. "They made some tough shots. They went on that spurt when Hudson knocked down some 3s, I thought we did a really good job of contesting them. Players make plays."
The Gators shot 51.9 percent (27 of 52) and a blistering 56 percent (14 of 25) from beyond the arc to hand the Bears a dose of what South Carolina did to them in a mid-week home loss to the Gamecocks.
When the Gators shoot as well as they did Saturday, they are difficult to beat. And when it's Chiozza and Hudson taking over at different stretches, there are few answers defensively.
"That's hard to guard,'' said Egor Koulechov, who chipped in 16 points and finished 3-for-3 from distance. "I'm not surprised by anything [Chiozza] does anymore."
No one is. Well, that might not be entirely true.
Unaware of Chiozza's 13-point run in the first half, White mustered a "wow," then paused.
"That's a good play,'' he said. "He's never looked that confident."
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