UNCASVILLE, Conn. — The first-game jitters, butterflies, rust — whatever you want to call the nervous maladies the Florida Gators said collectively affected them in a lackluster 2020-21 season opener Wednesday — did not accompany the team to "Bubbleville" Thursday night.
Nope, UF was on it from the opening tip. The Gators hit shots early, forced turnovers, played better defense and had an altogether different bounce about them in a 90-70 flattening of Boston College at Mohegan Sun. Junior forward
Keyontae Johnson had a double-double of 24 points and 12 rebounds, while sophomore
Tre Mann was impressive in his second career start at point guard in scoring 17 points and dishing six assists to only one turnover.
"It was our first game and we had a lot of nervous energy. We made a lot of simple mistakes," Johnson said of the come-from-behind win over Army the day before, a game his team trailed by 12 in the first half and, later (and late), by two with less than three minutes remaining. "Today, we just locked in and played defense like we were supposed to."
Immediately.
The Gators (2-0) were shoved into a 12-2 hole by the Black Knights barely three minutes in Wednesday. Against the Eagles (2-2), UF trailed twice in the first few minutes before Mann, who scored 15 points and carded five assists in the first half, and Johnson, with 14 points and six rebounds through 20 minutes, got things going.
Florida took the lead (for good, as it turned out) on a Johnson 3-pointer at the 16:30 mark to go up 8-6. Next time down, Mann went one-on-one against his BC defender, took him to the rack and finished while being fouled for an old-time three-point play.
It was 10 minutes later that the Gators, up 29-20, took off for a run of 13 consecutive points, with Mann scoring the first five, sophomore wing
Scottie Lewis converting a three-point play, followed by five more from Johnson to move the lead to 42-20.
When the two teams broke for halftime, UF was up 20 and had shot 56 percent from the floor— with 10 assists on 18 made field goals, after having just 10 for the entire Army game — and buried six of 11 from distance, while limiting BC to 43 percent and forcing 10 turnovers that became 11 points at the Florida end.
Tre Mann scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half. (Photo: Bob Blanchard/Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame)
"Offensively, I thought we were more in character, in terms of searching for the right shot — and our shot selection wasn't perfect at all. but it was better. We executed for each other at a higher level," said Gators coach
Mike White, whose team eventually built a 31-point cushion with less than eight minutes to play. "But more importantly, we played harder, with more discipline and more pop on the defensive end. Our attention to detail and our buy-in to getting stops was higher than it was [against Army]. We grew [this game], got better, and that's the biggest thing."
And did it against a team that was playing its fourth game against high-major competition, including a season-opening loss to No. 3 Villanova that the Eagles led by nine with 13 minutes to play.
Johnson converted 10 of his 13 field goal attempts, two of three from deep and both his free throws. Mann did almost all his damage in the first half, scoring 15 of his 17, on six-for-seven shooting for the period.
"They made a bunch of shots, and every contested shot in the lane," BC coach Jim Christian said.
Not every one, but definitely, like he said, a bunch. And with consistency. After that 56.5-percent effort in the first half, the Gators hit at a 56.7 clip in the second. Of UF's 90 points, 50 came in the paint, which was nearly twice BC's 26.
Lewis had 14 points and five rebounds, junior shooting guard
Noah Locke threw in 12 and sophomore forward
Omar Payne made five of his six shots for 10 points to give UF five players in double figures. The Eagles were led by 13 points from guard Rich Kelly, a graduate transfer from Quinnipiac who finished with 13 points.
The Gators didn't do their damage by pressing much, though that remains their goal. They lacked discipline in retreating on defense and did not fare well in their communication against the Knights, so White pulled back on it. Not completely, though.
But what his players demonstrated the second time out likely bought some needed trust.
"We played back, but still played fast," Johnson said. "The outcome came out great."
