UF Seeks Carryover In Road Trip to Bama

Tuesday, February 27

Tuscaloosa, AL

7 PM

Florida Gators

Alabama

Florida played half a basketball game the last time they faced the Crimson Tide, who overwhelmed the Gators out of the locker room in their first meeting back on Feb. 3 on the way to handing the Gators a 68-50 blowout loss on the home floor.

UF Seeks Carryover In Road Trip to Bama

Tuesday, February 27, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

The Gators hope the energy and 3-point shooting from Saturday night's big win over Auburn show up in Tuscaloosa.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The home team led by six at halftime. Through the first 20 minutes of Florida's game Feb. 3 against Alabama, the Gators shot 47 percent, forced 14 turnovers and were in a decent place, as well as a friendly one, what with a sold-out house at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center in their corner.

UF had no answer for Alabama freshman guard Collin Sexton, who riddled the Gators for 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Then the second half started. Then the O'Dome roof caved in.

On everybody, but the Crimson Tide.

For a moment, think back to the first half of last week's horror show at Knoxville, where the Gators scored 17 first-half points. Well, that felt like PK80 stuff — OK, that's hyperbolic, but you get the picture — compared to what went down against the Tide in the last 12 minutes of the game.

Bama scored the period's first eight points, with a couple run-outs off live-ball turnovers, while UF missed its first three shots and played giveaway. Guard KeVaughn Allen, though, kept the Gators around, scoring their first eight points of the period, including a pair of 3-pointers. When forward Egor Koulechov hit a turnaround jumper at just inside 12 minutes left, the game was tied at 43.

Alabama then scored 11 straight. That was four more than Florida scored the rest of the game.

The Tide pulled away in a laugher, 68-50, as UF scored its fewest points during Coach Mike White's three seasons.

"We watched it that following day, and watched in again [Sunday], bits and pieces. A couple highlights — there weren't many — and a few of the lowlights, which we had to condense," White said. "Transition defense. Communication. Our lack of ability to score it, get to the foul line, finish for 2, finish for 3. It was just a very poor half for us."

Then he offered up the obvious.

"We're going to have to be a lot better, of course."

[Read senior writer Chris Harry's "Pregame Stuff" setup here]

With one of the biggest wins of the season fresh in the rearview, the Gators (18-11, 9-7) now get a rematch with the Tide (17-2, 8-8), this one on the road, Tuesday night at Coleman Coliseum. UF stopped a three-game losing streak Saturday by upending Southeastern Conference-leading Auburn in a 72-66 thriller at the O'Dome that not only provided flashes of the Gators at their most deadly on offense (13-pointers were their most in SEC play in 10 games), but also
featured high effort and heavy doses of toughness — both mental toughness and defensive toughness — down the stretch.

Will those traits travel?

They'd better.

"We're going to try to build on this and try to maintain it for the next game," senior point guard Chris Chiozza said. "If we play like this, we'll have a chance."

The Gators didn't always play great against the Tigers, but they played hard. In losing three nights earlier at Tennessee, same thing. Ditto, the losses at Vanderbilt and home against Georgia the week before. In both the latter, UF frittered away double-digit leads in the second half, but did so putting up a fight.

Such was not the case in the second half against Alabama. When Florida hit an offensive wall, its defense got both lazy and careless. Tide freshman point guard Collin Sexton took over, on his way to 17 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Center Donta Hall scored 14 points on 7-for-7 from the floor (mostly dunks) and grabbed 11 rebounds. Bama smashed Florida on the glass 43-25, scored 46 of its 68 points in the paint, and outscored the UF bench 29-1.

The 50 points were the Gators' fewest in a home loss in 26 years.

If they take nothing else from that first meeting, they should know that anything other than max effort will not do against an athletic, physical bunch like Bama. It'll take a certain mentality UF showed on the earlier this SEC season, revisited briefly with a tenacious win at South Carolina this month, then displayed for 30 minutes (rather than 40, unfortunately) in a couple other road trips.

Allen, who went off for 24 points against Auburn, has really struggled on the road this season. He's shooting just 15.6 percent from the 3-point line away from home (compared to 43.1 percent at home), but if his level of aggression is anywhere close to what he put forth against the Tigers he will be a factor.

"It's a mindset," Allen said of his burst of aggression Saturday night.

After what happened in Gainesville to start the month, this is a mindset kind of game for the Gators.

All of them.