FORT MYERS, Fla. — California arrived as one of the slowest-playing teams in the country, checking 341st out of 358 Division I teams in adjusted tempo. For the first dozen minutes Monday night, the Bears sucked 23rd-ranked Florida into a methodical kind of pace that had the score knotted up with just over eight minutes to play before halftime. Offensively, the ball wasn't moving like it had during UF's first three games and that lack of pop bled over to the defensive side. Things just seemed kind of flat out there.
But out of the media timeout, and fueled by some encouraging, prodding words from their coach, the Gators livened things up.
"Credit the guys, not the adjustments," Mike White said after his team's 80-60 victory in opening-round play of the Fort Myer's Tip-Off. "I thought our energy level picked up."
Read: The defense.
Over the course of the last seven-plus minutes before halftime, UF extended its defense and became more active with their pressure and traps. What was a one-possession game was soon a three-possession game. Then the lead grew to double double digits and soon to a whopping 19 points by the break. The Gators got back to swarming the basketball, creating havoc and converting the game to a style of their liking.
"We tried to speed them up," backup forward CJ Felder said. "We started falling back to what we do best. That's when the game started to get out of hand."
Backup forward CJ Felder (1) hit a couple 3-pointers on his way to pitching in eight points off the bench.
It stayed that way, with senior forward Colin Castleton scoring 16 points and grabbing eight rebounds and fifth-year senior point guard Tyree Appleby scoring 15 points, making all seven of his free throws, plus carding three assists and a couple steals. Senior guard Myreon Jones tossed in 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and backup swingman Phlandrous Fleming Jr. had 11 points. All told, 10 different Gators found the scoring column on a night they shot 51.9 percent from the floor, banged eight of 19 from deep and hit 18 of 21 free throws (85.7 percent).
With the win, Florida (4-0) locked up a spot in the Tip-Off tournament championship game Wednesday night against Ohio State (3-1), which won a 79-76 thriller over No. 21 Seton Hall in the early first-round game when guard Meechie Johnson Jr. drained a 3-point shot from the top of the key with 2.2 seconds to play.
If the Gators are to beat the Buckeyes, they'll need to play much better than the did Monday.
"We have a standard, and we came out a little sloppy and not to our standard," Castleton said. "We're going to keep harping on that because we're an old group of guys that knows what we're capable of."
Backup guard Niels Lane (44) drove and elevated for a wicked slam late in the game.
It starts with really good defense. The under-8 media timeout came at 7:29, with the Gators up by just a bucket, 19-17, and the Bears (2-3) shooting 50 percent from the floor. After that, Cal made just two of its last eight shots before intermission and turned the ball over three times, while Florida, with Jones dropping three straight 3-balls, hit seven of its last eight shots during a 29-10 half-finishing run that sent the Gators to the locker room with a 46-27 lead.
The standard carried over into the second half. UF built the lead to as many as 26, then started subbing generously down the bench. The Bears, who were forced into 18 turnovers that became 19 points for the Gators, got no closer than 18 during a second half of very little drama other than a couple splash plays.
Like when Castleton made a steal and engineered a fast break with an excellent bounce pass through two defenders to forward Anthony Duruji for a dunk. Or when grad-transfer guard Brandon McKissic chased down a Bear in transition and, from beyond, reached around to swat the ball off the Bear and out of bounds to the cheers of the partisan crowd and bench. Or when reserve guard Niels Lane drove the lane late and thundered down a two-handed slam for his first field goal of the season.
"We just have to stay in character and do what we do," said Felder, who had season-high eight points (with a pair of 3s) and a trio of boards off the bench. "We know we what we're capable of."
