SUNRISE, Fla. — Florida was toiling with Florida Gulf Coast, leading by just six, approaching the midway point of the first half when Jalen Hudson rose up for a 3-point try from the right wing. Hudson, mired in a frustrating shooting slump, had already missed one 3-pointer, which for the fifth-year senior swing man happened to be the 11th straight bounced 3-ball over a five-game run. His percentage from beyond the arc, at that moment, stood at 17.1 percent.
But this one went in.
The FGCU coach immediately jumped off the bench to call a timeout. As Hudson made his way to the UF bench, he gave an enthusiastic slap to the hand of freshman teammate Keyontae Johnson. Senior center Kevarrius Hayes gave a pat on the shoulder. And as he reached the sideline, Coach Mike White greeted Hudson with an embrace and a couple words.
"I want to say I'm really happy for him, then I start thinking I really should be happy for the team … but I'd be lying," White said later Saturday after his team's 77-56 win over the Eagles in the Orange Bowl Class at BT&T Stadium. "I am happy for the team, but I'm very happy for Jalen, as well. It's been difficult for him, so it was nice to see the ball go in for him."
It was even nicer to see Hudson's next 3 attempt go in. Then the next. And another after that. All told, Hudson dropped four treys on the way to 14 points, six rebounds, two assists, a handful of hustle plays and, ultimately, the game's Most Valuable Player honors. It was a quite a shot in the arm for a guy who had combined for 18 points over the previous six games. He had half of that by halftime Saturday.
"I just tried to step up and shoot it with confidence," said Hudson, who came in with just six makes from the arc (in 34 tries) for the entire season. "My coach and my teammates really instill confidence in me, so I just wanted to step up to the plate and shoot it with confidence."
Freshman forward Keyontae Johnson threw this one down hard in the second half on his way to eight points and five boards in just 17 minutes.
Sort of like freshman guard Noah Locke has been doing all season. For the second straight game, Locke canned five 3s and led the team in scoring with 15 points. Hayes went 5-for-5 from the floor, grabbed seven rebounds, blocked three shots and was in the middle of a UF defensive effort that forced 22 turnovers and converted them into 34 points. Sophomore guard Deaundrae Ballard came off the bench to score 11 points, while Johnson had eight points and five rebounds in reserve duty.
Locke, himself never lacking for confidence when putting the ball up, was delighted to see Hudson come out firing and (more importantly) hitting.
"We look for this guy to come in and score the ball," Locke said. "I'm just glad he came out and played with confidence. I'm glad to have him back and feeling good about himself."
Since being benched from the starting lineup in the team's second game at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas last month, the Gators had been waiting for Hudson to snap out of his scoring funk. He came in averaging 5.4 points per game, but just 3.0 since being taken from the starting unit. White tried to get Hudson, the squad's leading scorer last season at 15.5 points per game, going by putting him back in the first five Tuesday night against Mercer, but the result was two points on 1-for-7 shooting and 0-for-4 from distance.
As such, Hudson kept his afternoon against FGCU in perspective.
"It definitely feels good, but it's just one game," he said." It's a long season, but I'm excited to keep working and getting better."
In winning their second straight, and fourth over the previous five, the Gators (7-4) shot 45.2 percent for the game and reached double-figure 3s (11-for-30) for the second straight outing and fourth time this season. Defensively, UF limited the Eagles (5-9), out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, to 39.1 percent and just 2-for-14 from distance.
The only real drama of the day occurred when freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard was hit with his second foul with just over nine minutes to go in the first half. The Gators led by 15 at the time, 23-8, thanks to three straight 3s from Hudson. Minus their playmaker, though, the offense went stale and the Eagles took off on a 14-3 spree to make it 26-22 inside four minutes to go in the half.
Out of under-4 media timeout, however, the Gators scored seven straight points to go back up double digits and led 37-24 at the break. They started the second half with a 12-1 run and 22-point lead that swelled to as many as 29 on the way to the final horn.
Hudson was a big part of that defensive surge, White said. His body language was positive and strong. At one point, he passed the UF bench popping off to his fellow Gators about the way he was guarding.
The attitude was contagious.
Jalen Hudson is presented with his MVP award after the game.
"In the first half, we had a few lapses," White said of his defense. "For whatever reason, we came out salivating early in the second half; in a stance, communicating at a high level. We could hear them on the other end of the floor easier than we could hear them right in front of us in the first half. Why? So that's the challenge. Why is there a difference there? How do you get 40 minutes of that and then compliment it with making 3-balls."
How, indeed?
For one game, at least, the Gators got a nice dose of both.
But maybe most meaningful was that White dismissed his team for the Christmas break with a smiling, upbeat Jalen Hudson.
"His teammates have done a good job trying to stay optimistic with him," White said. "As a staff, we just continued to try to challenge him in all other areas, while all the time reminding him that he's a really talented offensive player. 'Shoot it! Let it fly!' Nothing different than the last couple practices, last few days. We knew, sooner or later, he was going to break out of it. He'll have a few more of these."
