Sophomore guard Riley Kugel tallied career highs of 25 points and nine rebounds, but the Gators fell victim to Baylor's blistering 3-point shooting Friday night in Brooklyn.
Baylor 3-Bombs UF in NIT Final Shootout
Saturday, November 25, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – The Florida Gators had battled back from a double-digit first-half deficit Friday night and even once, early in the second half, took short-lived two-point lead over 13th-ranked Baylor. The Bears, with one of the most lethal offenses in college basketball, had an answer for every UF run, with most of them gut punches. One in particular.
Midway through the second half, two Walter Clayton Jr. free throws erased what was a six-point deficit and tied the game. The Florida faithful at Barclays Center were very much into the scene. On the ensuing Baylor possession, forward Jaylen Bridges penetrated the lane, was met by a wall of two UF defenders and pivoted to pitch the ball to reserve 6-foot-8, 250-pound forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua who was parked alone at the top of the key. Tchamwa Tchatchoua began the night averaging 7.6 minutes, with three shot attempts on the season and scoring 0.7 points per game.
Bang! He was good from 3.
That was pretty much the Baylor story during its 95-91 victory in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off. The unbeaten Bears (6-0) were frighteningly efficient on the offensive end, shooting 52 percent for the game and burying a whopping 14 makes from the arc for an assassin-like 56 percent. The Gators (4-2) stuck around and kept the margin mostly in the three-to-seven-point range in the final 10 minutes, but every time they needed a stop, the Bears were there for a big bucket.
Baylor forward Jaylen Bridges (11) launches one of his five 3-pointers over UF's Walter Clayton Jr.
"Like I told our guys in the locker room, we need to limit [3-point] attempts better, but once that ball is in the air there is only so much you can do about controlling the outcome – and 56 percent is going to be tough to overcome," UF coach Todd Golden said. "We out-rebounded them, turned it over less than they did, shot a better percentage from 2 than they did, but they won the game because they shot the ball better from 3 than we did."
Way better. UF shot 45 percent overall for the game, but connected on just eight of 26 from distance (30.8 percent). Florida won the battle of the boards, 33-33, including 19-11 on the offensive end, out-scored the Bears in the paint, 38-26, and were electric in transition with a 21-2 advantage. The Gators were even better at the free-throw line, at 77.8 percent, where they'd struggled all year.
The difference was the long ball, as six different Bears drilled 3s, led by forward Jalen Bridges, who dropped five of seven attempts and went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line on his way to 23 points. He was second-high scoring man to crafty point guard RayJ Dennis, who tallied 24 points, four rebounds, eight assists and three steals.
Florida was led by sophomore guard Riley Kugel's career highs of 25 points and nine rebounds. Kugel was 10-for-20 from the floor, four of six from deep, had three assists and was sensational on the defensive end in getting Baylor leading scorer Ja'Kobe Walker in early foul trouble and holding him to a season-low 11 points. Forward Tyrese Samuel had 17 points and six rebounds, while point guard Zyon Pullin had 18 points, five assists and no turnovers.
The Gators played minus starting 7-1 center Micah Handlogten, who suffered an ankle injury less than a minute into Wednesday night's opening-round defeat of Pittsburgh. They also played with an under-the-weather Clayton, who fell ill the morning after his 28-point outburst against the Panthers and was far from 100 percent on his way to scoring 11 points, but making just three of 12 shots and one of eight 3s.
With Handlogten out, UF started four guards: Pullin, Kugel, Clayton and Will Richard.
"We definitely had the chemistry there already," Kugel said of the smaller lineup. "All four of those guys can hoop, so we kind of got a good feel."
Indeed, the lack of size wasn't a problem. Baylor's lack of misses was.
"Their starting lineup surprised us," Bears coach Scott Drew said. "We knew they were going to go four guards, we just didn't think they'd start with it and play with it as much as they did."
Florida forward Tyrese Samuel (4) in the two tournament games totaled 33 points, made 16 of his 19 field-goal attempts, grabbed 16 rebounds, had three assists, three blocks, five steals and just one turnover.
UF scored the first seven points of the game, but before the 10-minute mark Baylor was up 10 and had made five 3s. The lead got as high as 11 when the Gators ended the half on a 16-5 run to send the teams to the locker room tied at 41.
Florida's lone lead of the game came on the first bucket of the second half, a driving layup by Kugel, but Baylor scored seven of the next eight points, including a 3 by Dennis to go up four. There were two ties, at 59 and 61, the second of which was met by back-to-back 3s; the first the scouting-report shocker from Tchamwa Tchatchoua and the second from Bridges. Just like that, the margin was six.
When the Gators again closed within three a minute later, Dennis hit a step-back 3. And when Clayton hit his lone triple of the game – around the seven-minute mark to pull his team with 72-69 – backup guard Jayden Nunn, 1-for-8 for the game, nailed a 3.
"Obviously, they hit big, big shots at big, big moments," Golden said.
Florida had its share of big shots, especially Kugel and Samuel, but in the end it was about Baylor's bombs. The Gators definitely missed Handlogten – the team's best rim protector – but how much his presence could have helped on shooters 23 feet from the basket no one will ever know.
If nothing, Florida showed its versatility amid depth challenges, with the four guards and Samuel each logging at least 28 minutes.
"We still scored 91 [without Handlogten]," Golden said.
On most nights, that should be enough. For Baylor, which came into the game at 37 percent from 3 on the season, this wasn't one of those nights.
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