Healthy Lofton Takes Control in Rout of Ohio

Wednesday, December 14

Tampa, FL

7 PM

Florida Gators

7-4,0-0SEC

Ohio

5-5,0-0MAC

Ohio

Florida

Point guard Kyle Lofton (11) attacks the rim Wednesday night against the Bobcats.

Healthy Lofton Takes Control in Rout of Ohio

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

TAMPA — A week ago, Kyle Lofton's back pain was such that he couldn't bend over and touch his toes. Lofton, though, had missed two games and despite not practicing for eight days the fifth-year point guard wanted to give it a go when unbeaten Connecticut, the nation's fifth-ranked team at the time, came to Gainesville.

It did not go well.

For Lofton or the Florida Gators.

Fast forward eight days to Wednesday night's game against Ohio U at Amalie Arena. Lofton, the St. Bonaventure transfer coming off the first scoreless game of his collegiate career, not only had a couple practices but a slew of treatments over the post-UConn week. As such, he was back on the floor with UF's starting unit and in command of the Gators during their 76-40 skinning of the Bobcats. Lofton had 15 points, seven assists and just two turnovers over his 25 minutes, finishing at whopping plus-41 in theh plus-minus category, the highest of any Florida player in a game this season.

Sophomore guard Kowacie Reeves threw in a season-high 20 points over just 18 minutes, banging four of seven 3-pointer attempts, plus grabbed a season-best six rebounds. Sophomore forward Alex Fudge, in his fourth start, posted the second double-double of his career with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while junior guard Trey Bonham had 12 points. For the game, the Gators (7-4) shot nearly 52 percent, hit 10 of 22 from long range (45.5 percent) and won the rebounding margin 39-26, while limiting the Bobcats (5-5) to just 31 percent overall and three of 14 on long balls.

Unlike the previous 10 games, Florida didn't play at a tempo that had the Gators among the nation's top-30 teams in pace of play. This time out, the kind of quick shots that put the team in defensive-transition peril gave way to Lofton taking measure of the halfcourt and getting guys touches inside and out. Once Lofton and his teammates settled in, everything just had a more fluid feel on the offensive end.

**Kyle Lofton** on the move and running the UF offense.

"I thought we looked like an improved team. Multiple guys played well," UF coach Todd Golden said. "I thought we took care of the ball well and were more organized than in the past."

At the heart of it all was Lofton, who started every game of his four seasons at St. Bonaventure, scored more than 1,600 points there and averaged better than five assists. He was on the ball this game and looking better than any point this season — "He looked like a point guard with a lot of pop," Golden said — and taking the Florida offense with him.

"Coming into the game I knew I was going to get it going early. I felt good, whereas last game was iffy," said Lofton, who finished four of six from the floor, two of three from the arc and hit five of six free throws. "We made a huge jump."

Granted, it was against another overmatched opponent, though Ohio U, at No. 174 coming in, represented the highest-rated NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) opponent that Florida has beaten this season. The Gators will have plenty of cracks at better, higher-rated NET teams and the all-important "Quadrant-1" victories, in the weeks to come — perhaps starting Tuesday against Oklahoma in Charlotte — but what had the team feeling better on the bus ride home was the all-around improved chemistry of this performance.

It took a few minutes to get there, but when Florida found its rhythm the Gators were gone, with Reeves, off the bench, the hottest hand.

"People are saying I like playing here," he said with a grin.

True that. The last time Reeves took the floor at Amalie, he poured in a career-high 21 points in a last-second overtime loss to Texas A&M in second-round play of the Southeastern Conference Tournament last March 10 in what turned out to be Coach Mike White's final game. Reeves came within a field goal of eclipsing that number.

**Kowacie Reeves** (14) lets fly a 3-pointer on his way to a season-best 20 points.

He dropped seven of his 11 shots, including four of seven 3s, and both of free throws. Reeves' pull-up 3 with four seconds to go in the half sent the Gators to the locker room with a 42-18 lead after ending the period on a 26-8 run over the final 10 minutes, including 17 straight points during one stretch.

That late 3 by Reeves, by the way, came on a nice cross-court find by Lofton with the clock winding down.

"He looked like himself tonight," Golden said of his floor general. "When Kyle plays like that we have a chance to be a really, really special club."

The second half started a little sloppy (four turnovers before the first media timeout), but Lofton and his teammates quickly recaptured their first-half groove by hitting 10 of their first 16 shots and opening a 36-point lead with 12 minutes to play. The margin ballooned to as large as 40 inside three minutes to go.

"There wasn't that much talking [after UConn]. Everybody knew what we had to do and the mistakes we made," Reeves said. "It was about coming out to practice and competing and making sure you get better at practice and that it translates to the game."

It did.

Ohio U's worst loss to date was by 14 points. The Bobcats' average margin of defeat in four previous losses was 8.3, including a four-point overtime loss at Michigan.

"In terms of building our program, and where we are, beating a team like this by 34 is not easy to do," Golden said. "Our next jump, our next step as a program and a team, will be finishing the job against a Quad-1 opponent."

The Gators' next opportunity may very well be their next game, with a handful of more days to get well (and better) along the way.