BATON ROUGE, La. — Upon super-microscopic review, it might have been good, but probably wasn't. Then again, it may have been a matter of the guy with his finger on the buzzer. Whatever. In the end, Florida came
thisclose Tuesday night from pulling out an incredible road comeback, but instead left Maravich Assembly Center lamenting what might have been had it better executed the keys-to-success plan before having to stage a frantic, late-game rally that took about one-tenth of a second too long.
Officials ruled that UF forward
Keyontae Johnson's layup at the final horn came with the ball still on the tip of the sophomore's finger. The basket that would have sent the game into overtime, was waved off and touched off an LSU celebration and victorious sigh of relief over an 84-82 victory that kept the Tigers alone and unbeaten atop the Southeastern Conference standings.
"We were a split-second away from continuing to fight the fight," UF coach
Mike White said.
The home team had all but served up the knock-out punch in the final minutes of that fight when the Gators (12-6, 4-2) came off the ropes, found a second (and third) wind, and went down swinging to the final millisecond. Literally.
Sophomore forward Emmitt Williams poured in 19 points in leading six teammates into double-figure scoring by pounding the interior for a beastly 50 paint points, 52-percent shooting in the second half, 15 offensive rebounds and more than twice their opponents' free-throw attempts. The Tigers (14-4, 6-0) were rolling, up 11, with just over three minutes left when the Gators went on a ridiculous 20-11 spree that included two 3s each from sophomore shooting guard
Noah Locke and Johnson, three 2-point field goals from sophomore point guard
Andrew Nembhard, and tip-in by grad-transfer forward
Kerry Blackshear Jr. with 1.4 seconds left that drew UF within two.
LSU tried to force an inbound pass to senior guard Skylar Mays, but the ball was thrown into a scrum and caromed out of bounds with just 0.1 on the clock. Officials reviewed the play and determined it hit Mays last and was out of bounds to UF with 0.5 to go.
"There was time," Nembhard said.
UF set up for a baseline out-of-bounds play beneath the LSU basket. White drew up the perfect play, with Locke picking Johnson's man, freeing Johnson to break unguarded to the block. Nembhard threw the pass, Johnson quickly deposited the layup as the horn sounds and Florida's bench celebrated.
Officials immediately went to the monitor and didn't take long to determine this call (unlike the one moments before) was going against the Gators.
The win was LSU's seventh straight, with the last five coming by a combined 13 points.
"I've seen crazier things happen in my time here, but that was just a great game," said Mays, who along with freshman backcourt mate Javonte Smart combined for 31 points and 14 assists. "Credit to them. They're a quality team. They're resilient, just like us. Luckily we were able to pull this one out."
Exactly no one in the UF locker was celebrating any sort of moral victory. Yes, the Gators made an admirable comeback, but in the coming days — with No. 1 Baylor coming Saturday night to Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center for the SEC/Big 12 Challenge — they'll try to fix what went wrong that dug themselves into such a hole.
"We had three things the coaches wanted us to do," Johnson said. "Don't let them get to the free-throw line, limit our turnovers, and keep them off the offensive glass."
Keyontae Johnson's last shot didn't count, but he finished 6-for-12 from the floor, made three of his six 3-point attempts, and finished with 16 points and nine rebounds over 33 minutes. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)
Nobody is going to do all those things to a team as athletic, active and offensively efficient as the Tigers, but limiting their opportunities in those areas is paramount to staying in the game. Instead, LSU went 24-for-31 from the free-throw line (versus 9-for-11 for UF). The Gators turned the ball over 12 times — not terrible, especially on the road — but too many of them were of the live-ball variety that became transition opportunities and led to 19 points. Finally, those 15 offensive rebounds served up second-chance opportunities and, too often, baskets or free throws.
"We just couldn't guard them one-on-one," Nembhard said of an LSU offense that began the day ranked fourth nationally in efficiency and first in the SEC in field-goal percentage "They were getting into the paint at will. They scored, dished and created fouls at the rim. That's tough."
Didn't start that way. UF led by eight with just under seven minutes to go in the first half, but a 9-0 run by the Tigers, courtesy of some sloppy play and ill-timed giveaways against the LSU pressure, wiped that out and made the game close. The Gators took a 36-34 lead into the locker room.
LSU led, 50-49, at the first media timeout of the second half, but a run of 11-3 took the margin to nine. The Tigers were cruising, 73-62, after Darius Days rebounded his own missed 3 and took it in for a layup. Days and freshman forward Trendon Watford combined for 24 points and 14 boards, while backup guard Marlon Taylor went for 10 and 11 off the bench.
After what seemed like a Days dagger, Florida called a timeout and came out of the stoppage ready to make a game of it. White called for Locke to sprint the baseline, left to right, come off a screen and get off a 3 at the free-throw line extended. He splashed it and the Gators commenced their charge, hitting eight of their last 10 shots (four of them 3s) over the final 3:13.
Unfortunately, they needed a ninth of the last 11, but replay said no.
Sophomore shooting guard Noah Locke (10) stayed hot from the 3-point line, nailing four of seven from deep to run his school record of games with multiple 3s to 14 straight. (Photo: Courtney Culbreath/UAA Communications)
Nembhard finished with 15 points and 10 assists, while Johnson had 16 points and nine rebounds. Locke had 16 points and his 14th straight game of multiple 3-pointers, going 4-for-7 from deep. He's now hit 27 of 52 from distance over the last nine games (51.9 percent).
The Gators, meanwhile, have shot better than 50 percent in each of their last three games, all in SEC play.
"We're getting better," Johnson said.
The Gators hit nearly 51 percent from the floor, including 55 in the second half, on the way to also bombing 11 3s. They got 15 points and five rebounds from grad-transfer forward
Kerry Blackshear Jr., who took violently ill with a stomach virus Monday night — while the team was dealing with a five-hour flight delay that got them to their hotel at nearly 2 a.m. ET — and twice needed IV fluids to get him game ready. Blackshear sucked it up for 33 minutes, and along with Nembhard did not let their team quit.
"Every game you learn a little more about yourselves," Nembhard said.
What did the Gators learn?
"The fight down the stretch, we'll take. We showed some scrappiness," said White, who as a counter also singled out some immature decision-making, especially with some turnovers that led to pivotal and momentum-generating runs for the Tigers. "We could have just packed it in out there, but our guys fought to the bitter end."
Now, as the calendar closes on February, there needs to be a combination of continued improvement, as well as carryover with regard to the offense. Johnson's right. The Gators are getting better. And Nembhard was right. Each game, teams learn more about themselves.
Time for more lessons to come in victory.
