UF forward Colin Castleton (left) drew lots of attention, from the likes of OU forwards Jalen Hill (1) and Tanner Groves (35), when he got the ball in the post during Wednesday night's loss at Norman.
Sooners Hand Gators First Loss of Season
Thursday, December 2, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
NORMAN, Okla. — The post-game comments from both locker rooms made mention of the high-level atmosphere Wednesday night at sold-out Noble Center. The bedlam generated by Oklahoma's home fans had a lot to do with Florida's shaky start to its first road game of the season, and passionately pushed the host Sooners to finish the game in the waning minutes.
Yes, it was definitely a factor.
Florida coach Mike White acknowledged the effect the environment had on his team, but eventually broke the game down in a simpler, more succinct way.
"OU was just better than us," White said.
Forward Tanner Groves scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while forward Jalen Hill added 18 points, including a killer old-time three-point play with a minute and a half to play, and helped the Sooners put away 14th-ranked UF 74-67, handing the Gators their first defeat of the 2021-22 season in what was also their first road game.
Groves, the 6-foot-10 grad-transfer from Eastern Washington, made eight of his 11 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers and won his big man battle against Florida 6-11 forward Colin Castleton (14 points, 11 rebounds, 6 turnovers). Hill, the junior, was six of eight from the floor and six of seven from the free-throw line. His "and-one" bucket and foul on UF guard Myreon Jones sent the home crowd into a tizzy with 1:33 to play after the Gators (6-1) had scored eight consecutive points in barely 90 seconds to cut a 10-point lead to just two.
Point guardTyree Applebyscored 11 points and went just 2-for-10 from the 3-point line, but made two late to draw the Gators within two.
At that point, down 69-67, UF needed the defense and connectivity that had defined it through the first three weeks of the season to step up for one more stop. Instead, Hill caught the Gators flat-footed on a cut through the lane, the catch, the finish, the foul and the five-point lead.
Florida fifth-year senior point guard Tyree Appleby (11 points, 2 assists, 3 turnovers), who had just buried back-to-back 3s to draw his team within two points, missed his next attempt from distance on UF's next possession. The lead remained at five OU's after Elijah Harkless bounced the front-end of a one-and-one, but Florida grad-transfer swingman Phlandrous Fleming Jr., who tallied a team-high 17 points and six rebounds, missed a jumper on the next offensive trip.
Hill's two free throws with 18 seconds to go put the game away.
Coach Porter Moser praised the performance of his players, but also the Oklahoma fans who filed into Noble and, probably, blew off some steam two days after some news from the other side of campus (the football side). It was as if they needed this.
"I'd be remiss if I didn't say 'Thank you' for the students and people here. They created a great atmosphere and great crowd," said OU coach Porter Moser, who in his first season with the Sooners earned his 300th career victory, dating to stops at Arkansas-Little Rock, Illinois State and Loyola Chicago, which he led to the 2018 Final Four. "The energy they provided made a huge difference."
Oklahoma (7-1) shot 49 percent for the game against a UF defense that began the night ranked 11th in the country in efficiency, only to surrender too many easy baskets on the way to allowing 38 points in the paint. The Gators, despite their early woes, shot 53.8 percent in the first half and also had success inside with 34 paint points. Their shooting percentage, however, went wickedly south in the second (32.3) — Appleby and Jones combined to make just three of 16 from deep — but it was the defense, the Florida calling card through the season's first six games, that let the team down.
"We really struggled to get some stops," said White, who used just seven players, with Jones logging the entire 40 minutes. "We had some defensive lack of communications possessions. We forced a couple tough ones where we didn't get in there and get a tough rebound with five guys like we've been doing lately. [Oklahoma] is a team that hadn't shown a lot of full court pressure, but I thought they were really good with their half court pressure and really sound in staying in front of the basketball, contesting shots and taking us out of some our actions."
Offensively, the Gators got off to a miserable, turnover-plagued start — OU led 9-0 two and a half minutes in; UF had — but managed to settle down and whittle back into the game.
"The atmosphere was crazy. Their crowd was really into it and we got a little out of character early on," said Fleming, who kept his team in the game during the first half by scoring of his 14 points before the break. "For our first road game, we didn't respond as well as we thought we should, being an older group."
Florida wing Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (24) gets in a stance against Oklahoma point guard Jordan Goldwire.
For sure, Florida appeared rattled from the tip, what with six of its 16 turnovers on the first nine possessions. Oklahoma quickly jumped ahead by 10, but then went on a nearly five-minute scoring drought that allowed the Gators, despite missing all nine of their 3-point attempts, to inch back and even take a momentary one-point lead with a minute to play in the half, with OU eventually taking a 37-36 advantage to the locker room.
The Sooners put five quick points up to start the second half and the Gators were chasing again. They eventually caught up, though, grabbing just their second lead of the game, 45-43, on a reverse layup from guard Brandon McKissic (11 points). A couple ties and a couple lead changes followed. A soft bank shot by Castleton gave UF what turned out to be its last lead, 52-20 with 11:37 to go, after which the Gators went into an eight-minute drought when they failed to score a field goal.
Meanwhile, the Sooners took the lead out to 69-59 before Appleby rained two 3s around a layup by forward Anthony Duruji that momentarily hushed the crowd and made it a two-point game.
The head-banging decibel level returned with Hill's timely three-point play.
"We try to learn from wins, but a loss stings a little more," Fleming said. "We're a good basketball team and they're a good basketball team."
True. On this night, the Sooners were just better.
