Wednesday, January 18, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
WHAT HAPPENED: Texas A&M forward Julius Marble scored a game-high 19 points and the visiting Florida Gators could not overcome an historically bad first half of shooting, as the Aggies closed out a 54-52 victory in their Southeastern Conference game Wednesday night at Reed Arena. UF had a chance with 2.5 seconds to go, but fifth-year guard Myreon Jones'attempt to get off a hard-contested 3-pointer had no chance, falling a good 10 feet short of the goal, ending the Gators' chances at a furious comeback as well as their three-game winning. Florida need only look in the mirror as to the difficult predicament the Gators put themselves in, thanks to making just two first-half field goals, an absolutely mind-numbing number but also along the lines of the way they've started every SEC game this season; as in playing from behind in every first half. Still, Florida cut an 11-point lead to make it a one- or two-possession game over the final eight minutes. Guard Wade Taylor IV, a Gator killer the last two years, hit two free throws with 1:01 to go after UF forced an A&M miss, but the Aggies secured the offensive rebound, Taylor was fouled and converted both. At the Florida end, the Gators missed a pair of 3s, but not the third, as freshman guard Riley Kugel swished a third-chance possession with 29.6 seconds to go to draw UF within a point for the first time since the game's first five minutes. Out of a timeout, the Gators went to full-court pressure, but fouled an attacking Taylor with 23.3 seconds to go. Again, he sank both, but this time only for a three-point lead. A missed driving layup by Lofton and block of a Castleton putback attempt turned into a run-out layup and slam dunk by Tyrece Radford for the five-point lead (and the building going nuts), but Jones nailed an open-floor 3-ball with 4 seconds left to make it a two-point game again. This time, the Aggies failed to handle the Gators' pressure, with the ball going out of bounds in front of the UF sidelines, setting up Jones' last-ditch attempt. Florida was led by fifth-year forward Colin Castleton's14 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks. Jones had 10 points. The game could not have started worse for the Gators, at least offensively. Jones threw in a 3-pointer for UF's first bucket at the 16:54 mark, then went the next 12 minutes, 41 seconds without a field goal. When point guard Kyle Lofton put in a teammate's miss, the Gators were 2-for-22 from the floor, but only trailed by six because of their defense. When intermission arrived, the Aggies led 23-12 and the Gators had gone 2-for-26 from the floor (7.7 percent) and missed 10 of their 11 3-point attempts. The second half was a different story. UF hit five of its first nine while A&M was missing nine of its 11. When Castleton converted an old-fashion 3-point play with 8:35 left the Aggies' lead was just two, 37-35, but a minute later the home team scored five straight. Yet, a minute later after that, the Aggies' lead again was two and it bounced back and forth between two and four until the first free-throw sequence for Taylor. The Gators managed to work their field-goal percentage back to 26.2 for the game at 16 of 61, including 6-for-26 from the arc. Texas A&M shot 35.5 percent and went just three of 16 from deep. Aggies forward Dexter Dennis had 11 points and 16 rebounds, while Taylor finished with eight points (just 2 of 15 from the floor and 0-for-5 from distance), four rebounds and five assists. The win was A&M's seventh straight and kept them as one of two unbeaten teams (along with No. 4 Alabama) in league play.
Myreon Jones (0) made his first start of the season and hit the first of the Gators two first-half field goals, a 3-pointer. (Photo: Maddie Washburn/UAA Communications)
WHAT IT MEANS: Another Quadrant 1 opportunity goes by the wayside, as the Gators fall to 0-7 in such games, as defined by the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) that will seed the NCAA Tournament. UF had hoped to fix the turnovers and straight-live defensive lapses that plagued the team in their loss to the Aggies exactly two weeks earlier and mostly managed to do that. The Gators could not fix the slow-start issue, however, which has become maddening. This one, however, was next level.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Marble beat up the Gators in their first meeting, scoring 17 points, and pretty much had his way in this one, too. Of his six first-half field goals, five of them were jump hooks within 10 feet and over Castleton. He finished nine for 18 from the floor.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: Two field goals in the first half. Pretty staggering, right?
UP NEXT: Florida (10-8, 3-3) is back on the SEC road Saturday night against Mississippi State (12-6,1-4). The Bulldogs started the season with 11 straight wins against a light schedule, but have dropped six of the last seven, with their lone league win coming against rival Ole Miss and their most recent outing Tuesday night's 70-59 home loss against No. 9 Tennessee. UF has not won in Starkville since 2017.
