GAINESVILLE, Fla. — During each practice over the last week, Florida coach Mike White passionately stressed to his players -- sometimes stopping the action and drawing them into a huddle, and trying to make it clear -- that South Carolina, regardless of its record, would come in and punk the Gators if they weren't ready for a 40-minute dogfight.
"Coach White has been doing this a while, so we have to listen to him more," freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard said late Saturday night. "He predicted what was going to happen."
Actually, no one could have predicted the manner in which the Gators lost their Southeastern Conference opener at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. Seeing it, even on replay, was hard enough to believe.
And yet there was Gamecocks forward and renowned Gator-killer Chris Silva leaping over a pair of UF defenders, snaring a 90-foot baseball inbounds pass from teammate Felipe Haase and throwing down an uncontested dunk with 2.3 seconds left that dealt the home team a numbing and bitter 71-69 defeat. The play capped an all-out, second-half meltdown by the Gators (8-5, 0-1), who lost their SEC debut for the first time in six years by blowing a 14-point lead with 11 minutes left and missing 11 of their final 12 field-goal attempts, including their last eight over the final six and a half minutes.
"Great play, great pass, great seal," Florida coach Mike White said of the freakish ending. "They were prepared and it won them a game."
USC fifth-year senior guard Hassani Gravatt came off the bench to lead all scorers with 22 points, one off his career high, but it was the return of Silva, limited to just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, that keyed a second-half comeback and doused whatever fire of momentum the Gators had in winning five of their previous six and three straight, including last weekend's 34-point clobbering of Butler. That elite-defensive version of Florida was nowhere to be found, as the Gamecocks (6-7, 1-0), losers of four of their previous five and the lone SEC team with a sub-.500 record, shot 52 percent in the second half while holding the Gators to just 33.3 percent after intermission.
"I'm not stunned. I'm disappointed," White said. "Our defensive effort wasn't the same as it's been. I thought we felt too good about ourselves all week and I said that to our guys every day. … We didn't have a lot of maturity this week coming off the performance against Butler. We didn't get better. South Carolina out-prepared us, out-fought us, out-disciplined us. They came in here and deserved to beat us."
Silva finished with 18 points, on 5-for-6 from the floor and 8-for-9 from the free-throw line, to go with six rebounds and three blocked shots in just 19 minutes. Gravatt, who averaged just 9.8 points coming in, was 7-for-11 from the floor and hit four of his seven attempts from the arc.
For the fourth straight game, freshman guard Noah Locke was UF's high scorer, this time with 17 points, but on just 5-for-15 from deep. Nembhard had 10 points, seven assists and three steals, while senior guard KeVaughn Allen had 10 points and three assists. Florida was just nine of 31 from distance (29 percent) and turned the ball over 15 times.
Florida led 36-32 at the break — despite forcing 15 turnovers — with both Hayes and fourth-year junior power forward Keith Stone saddled with foul trouble and reduced to a combined 10 minutes, no points and one rebound through the first period. With Hayes on the bench — he got a quick third foul to start the second half — the Gators' defense suffered, but UF used a couple spurts to surge to a 58-44 lead after a tip-in by redshirt freshman center Isaiah Stokes (6 points) at the 11:01 mark.
Then everything went haywire for the home team.
Keyontae Johnson (11) and Kevarrius Hayes (13) can only watch as Chris Silva grabbed Felipe Haase's 90-foot baseball pass with two hands. Everyone knows what happened next. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
The Gamecocks scored seven straight points to get within single digits. The lead was nine inside seven minutes when USC reeled off nine straight, the last six by forward Keyshawn Bryant (8 points, 5 rebounds, 7 turnovers) on buckets in close, to tie the game at 65-all. After UF freshman forward Keyontae Johnson made one of two free throws, Silva gave USC its first lead since it scored the game's first free throw, but Florida went back in front on two free throws by third-year sophomore forward Dontay Bassett (6 points, 5 rebounds) at the 1:55 mark.
Silva returned the favor with a pair of free throws of his own, putting South Carolina ahead 69-68 with 1:36 remaining. Each team misfired at its end on the next two possessions, with Hayes being fouled in a loose-ball scrum with 3.5 seconds to play, sending the 60.7-percent free-throw shooter to the line. Hayes missed the first, but sank the second after a USC timeout, during which Gamecocks coach Frank Martin drew up the home-run play. Martin told forward Maik Kotsar he'd be throwing the pass, like he'd done in practice before. Kotsar told Martin his shoulder hurt and that he didn't think he could throw the ball far enough.
Martin tabbed Haase, the sophomore forward from Miami Christian, to throw a pass he'd never attempted before.
"Got to have courage to make that pass," Martin said.
Added Silva: "I didn't think he had the courage to throw it."
The Gators helped make things easier for Haase by failing to line up in their man press, which would have put a defender on the ball. Instead, all UF players retreated after Hayes' make, several appearing somewhat confused, looking to match up while Haase ran the baseline and put himself in prime launching position.
"Everybody got the word," White said of the defensive call. "It was very clear."
Not as clear as Haase's sight line to his target, who was still 90 feet away. The ball, though, sailed perfectly over the out-stretched arms of Johnson, UF's best leaper, while Silva created just enough space with his forearm to nudge Hayes, who was supposed to be set up between his man and the basket, out of the way. Hayes fell to the floor.
Catch. Gather. Lift. Dunk. Ballgame.
The Gators' ensuing attempt at a similar play went about as well as their final 10 minutes went.
"We have to find a way, in a long basketball season, to maintain an edge," White said. "The SEC is a grown person's league. Every team is really, really good and each win should be celebrated."
Rest assured, the Gamecocks did just that. For the Gators, this one is going to sting for a while.
