At the Buzzer: Florida 83, Providence 51 (Instant Breakdown)
Tuesday, December 17, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
AT THE BUZZER
FLORIDA 83, PROVIDENCE 51
FLORIDA 83, PROVIDENCE 51
WHAT HAPPENED: Sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, had four steals and led four teammates into double-figure scoring Tuesday night, as the Gators paired their best offensive game of the season with a nasty dose of defense to rout the Friars and win their Naismith Hall of Fame Invitational matchup at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. While Johnson was making seven of 13 shots and all four of his free throws over 29 minutes, sophomore guard Noah Locke was hitting a trio of 3s on his way to 11 points, and a pair of freshman reserve guards, Tre Mann and Ques Glover, came off the bench to combine for 23 points for a UF team that shot nearly 51 percent for the game, made eight of 18 from the 3-point line and did even worse damage on the defensive end. Florida led 12-10 eight minutes into a game that had next to no rhythm because of the multitude of fouls being called. Still, the Gators were able to take off on a run of 10 straight points that began with a 3-pointer from sophomore point guard Andrew Nembhard (9 points, 7 assists, 3 turnovers) and ended with one by Glover (10 points) that allowed UF to open up a double-digit margin. The Gators slowly were able to take the lead out on the way to shooting nearly 45 percent for the period, while the Friars threw up bricks. Providence was a dastardly 5-for-24 from the floor (18 percent) for the half, including 0-for-8 from long distance, as UF took a 37-22 lead to the locker room and never led by fewer than after its first bucket of the period. The Friars were led by guard Alpha Diallo's 20 points and 10 rebounds, but the Friars' scoring leader also went just 10-for-20 from the free-throw line.
WHAT IT MEANS: That's five wins over the last six games for the Gators, and arguably their most convincing all-around performance of the young season. The offense, which the coaching staff completely revamped after its ugly struggles early in the season, appeared to take significant steps in scoring a season-high 83 points with a variety of contributions and balance from the rotation.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Could this have been something of a coming-out party for Mann? The 6-foot-4, 175-pounder is often spectacular in practice and had a highlight moment in the first half when he attacked the rim, hung in the air, took straight-on body contact from a PC defender, but still put the ball off the window and banked in a shot. His finished with a career-high 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting, one of two from deep, and four of five from the free-throw line. Mann, who missed two games earlier in the season with a concussion, looked more comfortable and more confident than any game this season. Imagine if it carries over.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The easy way out would be to double-down on Providence's 18-percent shooting in the first half, but it's not often that two teams are called for 17 fouls between them inside the first nine minutes of the game. At one point, six straight possessions for the Friars were stopped by a UF foul. By halftime, there had been 27 fouls called (15 on Florida, 12 on Providence) and the Gators had six players with two. If PC could have capitalized at the free-throw line (instead of going 12-for-21, including just six of 13 for Diallo), the score might have looked much different. Then again, that 5-for-24 was pretty significant; and that percentage pretty much held up, as Providence shot 26 percent for the game and went 1-for-18 from deep. Ugh.
UP NEXT: Florida (7-3) has a second straight neutral-site game, this time Saturday afternoon against Utah State (10-2), a team that was ranked 15th a month ago, in the Orange Bowl Classic at BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla. The Aggies returned the bulk of a team that won 28 games last season on the way to capturing the Mountain West Conference regular-season co-championship (sharing it with Nevada) and winning the league's postseason tournament. They began the season with seven straight wins to rocket up the polls, including an upset of LSU in the Jamaica Classic, but fell back to 24th after a loss at Saint Mary's, then out of the rankings with a four-point loss Saturday at Brigham Young. USU plays at South Florida on Wednesday before heading to South Florida.
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