BATON ROUGE, La. — His team was clinging to a 3-point lead in overtime and on the road against a ranked opponent in as hostile a setting as it had faced all season. Florida senior shooting guard KeVaughn Allen, who less than a minute earlier had given the Gators that lead, watched from his spot on the left mid-wing of the 3-point line as teammate Noah Locke missed a trey from the far corner. The ball caromed short, off the fingers of UF's Kevarrius Hayes and into the hands of Locke, who followed the shot, gathered the miss and kicked it out to point guard Andrew Nembhard at the top of the key, as the shot clock reset with just over a minute to go.
The Gators had the lead, the ball and a chance to run off half the final minute of the extra period.
Nembhard whipped a pass to his left for Allen, who two seconds into the possession, unguarded, let a wide-open 3-ball fly. To hell with time and score.
"It was open," Allen said later. "And I got in trouble for the last one I didn't shoot."
UF coach Mike White recalled his thought process: "It was a 'No! No! No! Great shot!' I didn't know if that was the play we needed."
Desired or not, the result of the play was exactly what UF needed. The ball splashed through the bottom of the net for a six-point lead, induced a collective groan from the mad house at Maravich Assembly Center, and helped the Gators steal a spectacular 82-77 upset road win Wednesday night over 13th-ranked Louisiana State, a team that began the night tied atop the Southeastern Conference standings.
The victory was gargantuan for the Gators (15-11, 7-6), who won a third straight, beat a ranked opponent for the first time in seven cracks this season, and put a shiny purple-and-gold star on their postseason resume. The Tigers (22-5, 11-2), winners of 14 of the previous 15 (including a road upset at Kentucky last week), began the day ranked 14th in the NET metrics system that ultimately will seed the NCAA Tournament, so Florida picked up a pivotal "Quadrant 1" win, its fourth in a league-high 14 such games this season.
Few could have seen this one coming. The Tigers, included.
"They are just a really tough team," said LSU's 6-foot-11, 250-pound freshman forward Naz Reid, one of several beasts who represented arguably the most vicious rebounding team the Gators will face this season. "I cannot say much besides the fact they clearly wanted it more than us."
Allen did the heavy lifting with a game-high 21 points, all coming after a scoreless first half, including 12 in overtime when he hit all three of field-goal attempts, both 3-point tries, and four of five from the free-throw line. He had lots of help, though, and needed it, given the way the bigger and longer Tigers attacked the glass.
Locke, who scored just two points the previous two games while dealing with hip and groin pain, had 15 points, with a trio of 3-balls, five rebounds, and two mega-clutch free throws with 8.6 seconds left to seal the deal. Fifth-year senior Jalen Hudson came off the bench and equaled his season high with 15 points. Hayes scored 10 points and made all four his field-goal tries to go with seven rebounds, while freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard tallied eight points, eight assists, three steals and just two turnovers over a career-high 42 minutes.
A true, collective team effort against an opponent in contention for a league championship and high NCAA seed.
"This was big. It shows maturity," Hudson said. "Everybody did their part. The whole team battled, back and forth, lots of lead changes, and just getting a lot of tough stops, especially against a team that was so much bigger than us. We fought till the end."
Both did.
Florida players celebrate as the final horn sounds Wednesday night Baton Rouge.
The lead changed nine times. The game was tied 13 times. The Tigers, thanks to a 1-for-10 UF drought, led 60-57 with three minutes to go, but the Gators hit their last three shots of regulation, including an Allen 3, and led 64-62 until Reid tied the game with a putback — one of 18 offensive rebounds for the Tigers — with 34 seconds left.
Both teams had a chance to win the game on their final possession of regulation, but both teams had horrible possessions. The Gators blew their late-game chance by waiting too long to initiate the play, with Allen forcing a late pass in traffic that led to a shot-clock violation with 5.7 seconds to go. The best the Tigers could do after that was a desperation 3-point heave by point guard and leading scorer Tremont Waters (10 points on just 3-for-12 shooting, 4 assists, 3 turnovers) that was an airball.
In overtime, LSU twice took the lead early, but then came a Florida flurry.
His team down one, UF freshman forward Keyontae Johnson (7 points, 6 rebounds) hit one of two free throws. After a stop, Johnson drove hard on the baseline, but as the defense collapsed threw the ball out to Locke at the top of the key for a go-ahead 3-pointer. Waters, though, tied it with a 3 of his own,. Then Allen dropped a ridiculous one from the Tiger head logo (closely guarded, too) with 2:01 left to push the Gators in front 73-70.
At the LSU end, Reid turned the ball over and the next UF trip turned into the "no-no-no-yes" sequence (which was better for the Gators than a "no-no-no-no" version).
What did Allen's teammates think when he launched?
"Cash money," Hudson said. "I knew it was going in."
"Honestly, with 'K5,' I was happy he shot it," Nembhard said. "It showed confidence. It was clutch. It was a big play. Coach talks all the time about making winning plays."
The hustle plays by Hayes and Locke to keep the ball alive and get the offensive rebound that eventually found its way into Allen's hands for the no-conscience 3 were every bit as "winning" plays as the shot.
But the fact Allen took it was far more topical.
"They tell me all the time to stay aggressive," Allen said.
This time, he definitely listened, but just as important was the across-the-board effort the Gators rolled out on the road in dictating pace of a game the Tigers much rather would have played at a different, faster tempo. UF was on point with its floor balance and rotations and did not let LSU get its leak-out game on the run. As for the war under the rim, LSU out-rebounded Florida, but only 38-36 (and only by three, 18-15, on the offensive end). The Gators also withstood 40 minutes of regulation when they shot just four free throws versus 18 for the home team.
Defensively, the Gators limited the Tigers 42.9 percent from the floor (just 7 of 22 from distance) and 19 points below their season's average of 82.9 per game through regulation.
"Florida was able to impose their will and their style of play on us," LSU coach Will Wade said. "And KeVaughn Allen was phenomenal."
Allen was 6-for-9 after halftime, including 5-for-7 from the arc. The Gators needed all of them.
UF led by seven with 47.9 seconds to go, but guard Skylar Mays (18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals) and Waters sandwiched an old-fashion 3-point play and a regular one, respectively, around a pair of Allen free throws to cut the lead to three, 80-77, with 19.4 seconds left. After the latter, the Tigers' full-court pressure forced a bad pass and turnover by Allen, but Waters' 3 attempt for the tie with 12 seconds left bounced away to Locke, who was fouled and calmly went to the other end and knocked down the free throws to finish things off.
"We needed this one," Allen said. "Now, we need to build off it and just keep it going."
