Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard scored a career-high 20 points, including the game-winning 3-point shot with one second left to upset top-seeded and ninth-ranked LSU.
Nembhard 3 Buzzer-Beats Gators Past LSU in SEC Tournament Classic
Friday, March 15, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — This is a story about growth, development and maturation among young men, and the coach who has empowered, entrusted and groomed them into college basketball players.
NCAA Tournament-bound players, that is.
Florida freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard's dagger 3-pointer with one second left — on a remarkably intuitive drive and pass-out from classmate Keyontae Johnson — gave the No. 8-seed Gators a stunning 76-73 victory over top-seeded LSU in Friday's quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena. Nembhard's game-winner not only advanced UF into the tournament semifinals for the first time in five years, but also was a second defeat of the league's regular-season champion and, by all projections, locked up an NCAA at-large berth for the Gators, in what would be their third straight.
Florida (19-15) will face No. 5-seed Auburn (24-9) in Saturday's 1 p.m. (ET) semifinal, with the survivor playing for the tournament title Sunday.
One of the biggest of the last couple seasons, but bigger even more in how it shined a light on UF's two standout freshman.
There was a time, nearly two months ago, early in the SEC season, that Nembhard was shooting 35.4 percent from the floor and 30.4 percent from the 3-point. Around that same time, Johnson wasn't even starting because the UF coaches weren't seeing consistent, all-out effort from him every game.
But against the Tigers (26-6), Nembhard scored a career-high 20 points by hitting seven of his 14 shots, including three of seven 3-point attempts, to go with go with four rebounds, six assists and no turnovers over a near-flawless game-high 37 minutes. Johnson, meanwhile, had a second double-double in as many days, scoring 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting with a couple 3s, plus 10 rebounds, four steals and three assists (with one one of those dimes far more prominent than the others).
"It's hard to imagine where we'd be without them," senior center Kevarrius Hayes said of his rookie teammates.
Freshman forward Keyontae Johnson on the attack and on his way to a second double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) in as many nights at the SEC Tournament.
LSU's 6-foot-11, 255-pound manchild freshman forward Naz Reid, on his way to 26 points and 14 rebounds, hit a pair of 3-pointers over the final 56 seconds, each time pulling the Tigers even after the Gators, who had fought back from a 13-point deficit, had gone up by three. The second of those big shots came with 13.2 seconds left to knot the score at 73-all.
Timeout, Tigers, to set their defense.
In the Florida huddle, White wanted to flatten out the offense and let Nembhard work off a ball screen, but LSU threw a monkey wrench into the plan by rolling into a 1-3-1 zone. When the Gators finally got the ball into the front court — after a couple harrowing passes — KeVaughn Allen, at the hash mark on right wing, got the ball and pitched it to Johnson in the corner. The 6-5 leaper extraordinaire, shot-faked charging defender Marlon Waters into a fly-by, then drove hard into the paint as the final seconds ticked away.
That's when Johnson saw the monstrous Reid step into his path, presumably to take a charge, while LSU guards Javonte Smart and Tremont Waters collapsed with help.
"In my head, I was thinking of what Coach White always says," Johnson explained. "Play off two feet."
It's one of White's mantras because it's a practice, when done correctly, that can prevent errant passes and avoid mid-air indecision or panic. And so Johnson, indeed, came down to a two-footed jump-stop in the paint, then pivoted and kicked the ball to the top of the key, where Nembhard was open because Waters had come with the help.
The ball arrived in the perfect shooter-pocket position, as Nembhard walked into a rhythm 3 that hit nothing but the bottom of the net with :01 on the clock.
"We had to scramble," said Nembhard, who has made 42.5 percent of 3s over the last 15 games. "It was a good drive by Keyontae. He found me, I let it go and I'm happy it went down, for sure."
Some other stuff had to go down beforehand, though, to make it all possible, after the Gators were positively pulverized during a first half. The Tigers owned a 26-10 advantage in paint points through the first 20 minutes and hit 16 of their 30 field-goal attempts, while limiting UF to just 10 of 29 marksmanship (34.5 percent), and a woeful 2-for-15 from distance, as Florida went to the locker room down 35-25.
UF's offensive numbers flipped to 59 percent and 6-for-13 on 3s after the break, thanks to some straight talk from its leader.
"It wasn't simple smash-mouth basketball. We were getting dominated on the interior based off of actions that we defend every day," White said. "It was discouraging, the defensive level of intensity and accountability in the first half. We watched it all with the guys, as we always do, and there wasn't a lot that needed to be said, but Kevarrius Hayes has gotten to the point where he really runs the locker room. I stopped talking and allowed him to get into our guys a little bit."
More like a lotta bit. He struck just the right notes, too.
"I told the guys that it would be a shame to work so hard and come out here and not show up because we definitely we were not playing up to our capabilities. We were a step behind everything," said Hayes, who would finish with 11 points and eight rebounds and was every bit as terrific and energizing as in Thursday's second-round blowout defeat of Arkansas. "I told them, we had to pick it up or else it could be the last game we played together that really means something. We had to go out there and just play hard as hell."
There was different bounce to the Gators out of the locker room, but the Tigers still managed to work their lead back to 13, with Reid powering for two early buckets in deep, including an old-time 3-point play.
That's when Florida made the first of eight straight shots and 10 of its next 11.
First, it was a mini-run of 7-2, with Nembhard starting it with a 3-pointer. That got the lead inside double digits. Then came a ridiculous one-handed alley-oop power slam by Johnson off a Nembhard lob that started what became an 11-2 spurt that ended when Jalen Hudson (13 points, 3 rebounds, 37 minutes) hit 3-ball that cut the Tigers lead to just one, 48-47, and turned the mostly neutral crowd into the underdog's favor with more than 11 minutes left. It took six more minutes, but Hudson's two free throws pushed the Gators to their first lead of the game, 58-57, with just over six minutes left.
From there, the game had four ties, five lead changes and thousands of gasps and deep breaths throughout the arena.
"Every possession seemed like it was a big play by somebody," Hudson said. "For both teams."
LSU led by three, 63-60, when Johnson dropped a 3-pointer and officials also ruled Hayes had been fouled as the ball was in flight. Tigers interim coach Tony Benford, stepping in for suspended Will Wade, protested that Johnson's shot should not have counted, doing so loudly and profanely enough to get a technical.
"The shot was after the whistle," he said. "But I shouldn't have got the T."
Allen (12 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals) stepped to the line and hit the technical free throws, while Hayes made one of two free throws for a six-point possession and three-point UF lead.
Two free throws by Waters (9 points, 7 assists) and a steal/layup by Skylar Mays put LSU back in front by three, but back-to-back jumpers by Nembhard and Hayes had Florida back up 70-67 with just over a minute to go. Then came Reid's 3-point heroics -- they bracketed two free throws each by Nembhard and Allen -- with the second coming with 13.2 seconds left. After that, It truly came down to the last team with the ball. The last great freshman with the ball, that is.
In UF's case, one handed off to the other.
Andrew Nembhard gets the water bottle treatment in the post-game locker room celebration.
"These two guys have been tremendous to coach thus far in their early careers," White said. "They've developed throughout the year, just gotten better and better. They both exude accountability and toughness, and both were tough as nails today and made plays down the stretch."
The respect was mutual.
"It's very validating," Nembhard said. "Coach White has helped our team so much from where we started. It's great to get a win for him that we all deserved."
Welcome to "March Madness," young men. You guys look the part.
