UNCASVILLE, Conn. — With just under two minutes to play Wednesday, Florida trailed Army.
In basketball, not war.
Senior guard Lonnie Grayson rained down a 3-pointer with 2:45 remaining to give the Black Knights a two-point lead against a Gators bunch that long before had pumped the breaks on its shiny, new full-court philosophy and through three-quarters of the game had made less half of their 20 free throws.
This was how the long-awaited, week-delayed and COVID-impacted 2020-21 season opener was going to go down? Really? Against a service academy team?
"The biggest thing was stops," UF sophomore
Tre Mann said. "We needed them late in the game."
Needed some points, also. As it turned, the Gators managed a handful of both inside those last three minutes, scoring the game's final nine points, while forcing four missed shots and a pair of turnovers to skate out of the empty Mohegan Sun with a 76-69 victory in the place they're calling "Bubbleville."
Mann, making his collegiate debut at point guard, tallied a career-high 19 points, sinking seven of eight free throws over the final 39.5 seconds to ice an outcome that was very much in doubt from the opening tip. Fourth-year junior guard Tyree Apple, the transfer from Cleveland State, came off the bench with 15 points, all in the second half, in his first game as a Gator after sitting last season per NCAA rules. Junior forward
Keyontae Johnson navigated foul trouble on his way to 16 points and three rebounds, while center
Colin Castleton, the instant-eligible transfer from Michigan, was good for nine points and eight rebounds in his UF debut.
Two free throws each, first from Appleby with 2:23 remaining, then from sophomore wing
Scottie Lewis (8 points) at 1:40, gave the Gators (1-0) the lead for good, as it turned out. Army freshman center Charlie Peterson had a chance to tie the game from the free-throw line, but bounced his two attempts with 40.3 seconds remaining, with Mann gathering the rebound, drawing a foul and knocking down two at the other for a four-point lead. They were the first his five conversions from the line in crunch time to close things out.
"We looked a little more confident down the stretch and played with a little bit of moxie to do just enough," Coach
Mike White said of his sixth season opener on the UF sideline. "Obviously, it wasn't a great performance, but it was our first performance against another team and we were very much out of character in a lot of areas as compared to practice. That's why you play these games."
Army (3-1) had played three games already, including two in "Bubbleville." The Knights proved to be a less than favorable matchup for a Gators team that spent the offseason (what there was of it) installing a new, 94-foot, uptempo and pressing style of play. Army needed barely three minutes to shred the UF pressure and take advantage of the Gators' inability to get back on defense or sprint to the open man after misfiring on four of their first five shots and turning the ball four times before the first media timeout and falling behind 12-2.
"A lot of guys had butterflies," Mann said.
They were all wearing the white uniforms with the orange-and-blue trim.
Junior center Colin Castleton dropped in nine points and grabbed eight rebounds in his first game since transferring from Michigan during the offseason. (Photo: Bob Blanchard/Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame)
Nearly 11 minutes in, the margin was a dozen, at 27-15, and White had junked the press against a team that — not surprisingly, given the pedigree — was more disciplined and in better condition.
"They exposed us," White said. "Our urgency was not what it needed to be. We had six possessions offensively off a make where we were kind of jogging to press. Casual. Not good enough. Therefore, we're just putting ourselves in peril in transition defense when we don't need to be."
So Florida went more conventional and began climbing back in the game, with a bucket or two here, a stop there, but still trailed by eight, 39-31, at the break and had been out-rebounded by the smaller Knights. UF did not score a field goal the last 3:30 of the period.
"We just had to remember it was a long game," Mann said.
UF scored the first two baskets after halftime, then after a 3-pointer from Alex King took the Army lead back to seven, the Gators used a 12-0 spree to grab their first lead of the game, at 43-42, with Appleby swishing a 3-ball in transition, and accounting for nine of his team's 13 points during one stretch.
"He really gave them a lift," Knights coach Jimmy Allen said.
Florida led by five, but Army stuck around, and then some. The Knights regained the lead six times (with another three ties) over the final 12 minutes, with the 3-ball by Grayson (13 points, 8 rebounds) pushing Army in front 69-67 with 2:45 remaining.
That's when Appleby stepped to the line, tied the game with a pair of free throws and commenced UF's nine-point run-out to end the game, courtesy of 9-for-10 work from the line.
When it was over, Florida had shot 48 percent for the game (52.0 after halftime), but made just 4-for-15 from the arc. Army shot nearly 43 percent, including 10-for-24 from distance (42 percent), but committed 20 turnovers — mostly after UF pulled out of the press — with those miscues converted into 24 Florida points.
It was far from aesthetically pleasing, but the result ultimately effective.
"We had a lot of new people out there trying to adjust to that first game and everybody playing together," said Appleby, who averaged 17.3 points a game and shot nearly 39 percent from the arc two years ago in the Horizon League. "We just had to get into a groove."
Now, they must figure out how to stay in one, what with a game late Thursday night against Boston College, a team that will be bigger, more athletic and also has three games in the books.
"If you asked our guys, 'Do you want to wait three or four days or play tomorrow,' I think they'd all agree, let's play tomorrow. It's been
nine months," White said. "We were all excited and chomping at the bit to play against someone else and see where we are and evaluate. … We can sit here and dwell on the negatives and the drama, but we were appreciative to be out there today."
The 2020-21 season, finally, has begun.
Now, the improving has to start. Pretty much immediately.
