ATHENS, Ga. — Imagine if
Phlandrous Fleming Jr., who grew up four miles from the University of Georgia campus, had played a career's worth of games at Stegeman Coliseum.
Instead, he'll gladly settle for Saturday's career game there as a Florida Gator.
Before tipoff, Fleming, the Athens native, got a loud ovation during team introductions. A couple minutes after tallying 27 points, five rebounds, four assists and steal and two drawn charges in UF's 84-72 victory over UGA, Fleming was wearing a headset and doing an ESPN post-game interview from midcourt when his on-site fan club of about 60 or 70 hometown homies went crazy with cheers up in the stands.
"It felt amazing," Fleming said after his finest game in a UF uniform. "All glory to God, man. I'm just so excited."
Fifth-year senior point guard
Tyree Appleby had 21 points, with five 3s, and seven assists, while senior guard
Myreon Jones threw in 13 points and senior forward Colin Castleon totaled 10 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and a career-high five assists, all of them leading to 3-pointers. UF (18-11, 8-8) shot 51.7 percent from the floor, posted SEC season highs of 20 assists on 31 field goals — versus a season-low six turnovers — and 14 made 3-pointers.
"As well as we've played offensively all year," Gators coach
Mike White said.
By itself, that that would have been a solid storyline, but this day belonged to Fleming, who knocked down 11 of his 18 field-goal tries and four of nine 3-point attempts, including a high-arching black-and-red exclamation 3-ball from about 27 feet with 11 seconds to go in the game.
"Just crazy and awesome to see because he really, really puts in the work," Castleton said of his teammate. "There's probably no better feeling in the world than having all those people who love you and support you and care about you in the house, and you go off and have a career night as a Gator. I'm so happy for him."
To backtrack, Fleming was the 2017 Georgia Class 5A Player of the Year at Athens Cedar Shoals High, but went virtually un-recruited. Mark Fox, then the coach of the Bulldogs program that Fleming cheered for growing up, told Fleming his offense wasn't good enough for the Southeastern Conference. He ended up signing with Charleston Southern, where he enjoyed a 1,500-point career as a first-team All Big South performer and that league's two-time defensive player of the Year.
Fleming grad-transferred to UF last spring. He'd had a decent enough season in averaging 10.1 points and 4.2 rebounds, with one of his highlights beating Fox, now coach at California, in November. That was a good box to check.
This was
the box to check.
"I felt like I was right back in a Cedar Shoals jersey again," Fleming said.
The Gators, coming off Tuesday night's disappointing home loss to 18th-ranked Arkansas and minus starting forward
Anthony Duruji (ankle injury), needed this one, given their current place on he wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. A loss against the SEC cellar-dwelling Bulldogs (6-23, 1-15) likely would have been the coup de grace as far as a fifth straight tournament berth.
Fleming, Appleby, Castleton, et al didn't let it happen.
The two teams went back-and-forth for eight lead changes through the first nearly 10 minutes. The score was tied at 20 wen the Gators took off on a run of nine straight points. Along the way, Fleming hit a 3, then gladly took a leave-off pass from Appleby and flushed the ball in transition.
Back came the Bulldogs with seven straight to make it 29-27, but a 3-ball from Jones and layup by
Niels Lane on a feed from Fleming started a 12-7 run to finish the half, capped (of course) by a 3 from Fleming with 22 seconds to go, as the Gators hit their final three shots. UF connected on 50 percent in the first half, with its 12 assists as many or equal to the number they'd had in 14 games this season.
An Appleby 3, Fleming's second dunk and a put-back by Castleton were the first three buckets of the second half and opened a 17-point lead.
The Bulldogs, who were led by 20 points and six rebounds from guard Kario Oquendo, plus 16 points and seven rebounds by forward Braelen Bridges, got the lead to seven inside 13 minutes left, but Appleby hit consecutive 3s to squelch that rally. When UGA cut it to 11 inside five minutes to go, guess who hit a 3 then came off an elbow curl on the next possession to drop a 15-footer and push the Gators in front by 16.
Yes, that guy. The one whose mom, dad, siblings grandmother and nine aunts and uncles (and others) were waiting for him outside the arena afterward.
Phlandrous Fleming Jr. and a (small) portion of family that was in the house Saturday meet up by the team bus after the game.
"Coach told me to relax, keep it simple and don't try to do too much," Fleming said. "That's what I did."
In doing so, he did a little bit of everything, while giving the Flemings of Athens an afternoon they'll never forget.
