PORTLAND, Ore. —
Todd Golden watched some of Oregon State's game against Duke Thursday live. The Florida coach watched all of it on tape later in the day, after the Gators had been beaten by Xavier and were looking at a second-round Phil Knight Legacy matchup with the Beavers, who hours earlier threw a scare into the eighth-ranked Blue Devils. Of greater basketball significance, they threw a smothering defense at one of the nation's true powerhouses in a game that went down to the final possession.
"This game concerned me," Golden after studying how OSU held Duke to 27-percent shooting and lost by just three points in a contest played less than 90 miles from the Beavers' campus in Corvallis. "They did a really good job zoning [Duke] for the majority of the game and just really dictating the tempo and flow."
The Gators' charge was to do the dictating.
And dictate they did.
UF jumped on OSU by scoring the game's first nine points, grew the margin to 23 midway through the opening half and went on to do a wire-to-wire number on the Beavers in posting an 81-68 victory without ever being seriously challenged at Moda Center. Junior guard
Trey Bonham, the Virginia Military Institute transfer making his second start, led all scorers with 19 points to pace a quartet of Gators into double-figure scoring. Guard
Will Richard, the transfer from Belmont, had 13 points and five rebounds. Fifth-year forward
Colin Castleton finished with 12 points, six boards, four assists and three blocked shots. Freshman guard
Riley Kugel came off the bench to score 10 points in his best all-around game.
"Really, all 10 guys that got in and played tonight played well. That was really pleasing," Golden said. "I feel like this is a game we can really build off of."
Rewind back to Thursday. Before the Gators (4-2) were beaten 90-83 by Xavier in their tournament opener, the Beavers (3-3) stressed the unbeaten Blue Devils by limiting them to 26.7 percent from the floor (16 of 6) and 17.2 from deep (5 of 29). Duke escaped for a 54-51 win. On Friday, Oregon State watched Florida shoot 56.6 percent for the game (30 of 53) — including 60.0 in the second half — to go with a solid 42.1 from the 3-point arc (8 of 19) and 86.7 from the free-throw line (13 of 15).
And the Gators arrived at Moda with the hot hands.
"We were focused on delivering the first punch," fifth-year point guard
Kyle Lofton said. "I thought we did that for sure."
Four quick free throws (two from Castleton, then two from Bonham) on the first two possessions, then a Castleton layup, then Richard 3-pointer had UF up 9-0 less than three minutes in. The score was 22-4 at the 11-minute mark, with the Gators making eight of their first 11 shots and the Beavers just two of 13, including 0-for-8 from the arc.
"We hit shots early, got stops early," Bonham said.
Florida led by as many as 23 deep into the first half and Oregon State never threatened beyond pulling within 11 with 1:30 to go before a driving layup by Kugel and 3-pointer from reserve forward
Alex Fudge nixed any weird late-game vibes.
The Beavers finished at 46.4 percent for the game, 38.1 from 3, and were led by guard Jordan Pope and backup forward Tyler Bilodeau's 12 points.
It was a far cry from the OSU-Duke drama the day before when twice in the final five seconds the Beavers launched 3-pointers, either of which would have sent the game into overtime.
Hence Golden's "concern," which was almost instantly allayed by his team's fast start
"I thought we got some run-outs early that kind of took the lid off the rim," he said. "We saw our first couple perimeter shots go in, which bred confidence within our club. This was our best offensive game of the year."
It included another energetic performance from Bonham, who scored just three points and saw limited action during the team's first three games, but since starting the second half a week ago in the comeback from 17 down against Florida State has made a major impact on both ends of the floor. The night before, in his first start as a Gator, Bonham poured in 23 points.
Against the Beavers he knocked down seven of his 12 field goals, including three of six from deep, both his free throws, and posted three rebounds, three assists and did not turn the ball over.
"I've been playing basketball a long time and I feeling like my old self," Bonham said with a smile. "It feels good."
So does winning a game in an event of his caliber. Now the Gators want another. They'll get West Virginia (5-1) in their final game here Sunday.
Richard put it this way: "If we can go 2-1 in a tournament like this, that wouldn't be bad at all."
