TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — That visiting Florida got off to what could be construed as another slow start was merely a footnote to the outcome of the Gators' lopsided loss Wednesday night at third-ranked Alabama.
It was the Crimson Tide's blistering start that proved much more of a problem because it basically lasted an entire half and laid the base for what became a 97-69 wipeout home win at Coleman Coliseum.
Freshman forward Brandon Miller, the Southeastern Conference's scoring leader and 2023 NBA lottery pick in waiting, scored 24 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished three assists for the Tide (21-3, 11-0), who further distanced themselves from the league pack with a 10th straight double-digit victory over a conference foe. Miller was joined in double-figure scoring by guards Mark Sears (19 points) and backup Jahvon Quinerly (11), but it was the totality of the Bama onslaught — both inside and out — that was the story of this game.
"We just go hit with a buzz saw," UF coach Todd Golden said.
Mostly in a rain of first-half 3-pointers and second-half slam dunks. Alabama hit 56 percent in the first half, including 9-for-17 from distance (53 percent), while Florida was shooting 23 percent overall and missing all five of its deep ones. The math added up to a 52-23 halftime lead for the Tide, armed with the nation's No. 5 overall defense, thus rendering the second half basically moot.
"That was the way we wanted to come out," Bama coach Nate Oats said. "The first half was great."
So was the end of the second half for the home team and its fans. The last time Bama started the SEC season with 11 straight wins was in 1956. The last time Florida lost a SEC game by this wide a margin was a 35-point loss at Tennessee in 1999.
UF got a third consecutive outstanding performance from fifth-year forward Colin Castleton, who tallied game highs of 29 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman guard Riley Kugel's 15 points marked a career-best while his six rebounds equaled his high to date. Those two combined to make 15 of 27 shots and 13 of 17 free throws, but the rest of the Gators (13-11, 6-5) mostly struggled in going a collective 7-for-36. Florida upped its shooting 45.5 percent in the second half on the way to scoring 46 points, but still finished just 34.9 for the game and 4-for-14 from the 3-point line.
Alabama, meanwhile, went 15-for-34 from the 3-point line (44.1 percent), making for the most made 3s by any team this season against a UF defense that began the day ranked 10th nationally in overall efficiency. Seven different Tide players made 3s.
Bama also went 21-for-39 inside the 3-point area, utilizing its array of guards who can score on all three levels, with the Gators being victimized by a handful of blow-bys for a second straight game.
Freshman guard Riley Kugel (24) either set or equaled his career highs with 15 points and six rebounds.
"Obviously, Brandon Miller is one of the best players in the country, but they have guards that aren't tall or really strong, so if you just stay in front you can make it tougher on them," Castleton said. "They didn't run a whole lot of sets. We did a lot of scouting, but they might have run like four plays over and over and over again and were able to get to the basket."
The Gators, who had hung their hats on defense the better part of the last two months, will probably fall a few statistical notches after the Tide scored the most points in regulation by a UF opponent since Tennessee went for 104 in 2008.
"We knew this was going to be a challenging game for us," Golden said.
It ended a four-game bloodbath stretch that sent UF to No. 5 Kansas State for the SEC/Big Challenge (64-40 loss), brought No. 2 Tennessee to town a week ago (67-54 win), followed by a road trip Saturday to Kentucky (72-67 loss) and wrapped with a date against the nation's No. 3 squad on its home floor.
The Gators played like a team that was spent both physically and emotionally.
"I thought Alabama looked fresh," Golden said. "We couldn't take away the 3 in the first half and that allowed them to separate. They're ranked in the top five for a reason."
Miller started the game with a 3-pointer, as Alabama scored the game's first five points and never trailed. The Tide's third 3 came at the 14:15 mark and put them up 15-7; the fourth at the 12:57 for a 20-11; the fifth about 90 seconds later to put the Tide ahead 25-11, as part of a 12-0 run.
It was 31-15 when Bama reeled off nine straight: an old-time 3-point play by backup guard Dom Welch, followed by a pair of long ones from Noah Clowney and Rylan Griffen. Five different players had 3s in the scorer's book when teams broke for intermission and the Tide up by 29.
"It could've gone to 50 in the second half," Golden said.
Like it did last week when Alabama beat Vanderbilt by 57, their most lopsided SEC win in program history, but the Gators did not let it come to that. They battled in the second half, even carved the margin down to 17 early in the period, shot the ball better and got out of the building with a second straight loss and some hurt feelings.
But also undeterred.
UF coach Todd Golden, huddling with his team during Wednesday night's rout, will try to "flush" this one and focus on a more favorable stretch run of games, starting Wednesay at home against Vanderbilt.
"We're going to flush this one," said Golden, who will immediately look to this week's home game against Vanderbilt, which shocked sixth-ranked Tennessee at the buzzer earlier Wednesday. "There's not a lot you can take away from this, so it's more of mental and physical recovery and making sure we're ready to go for Vanderbilt."
UF lost by 29 against West Virginia earlier this season in its final game of the Phil Knight Legacy in Portland, Ore. Golden did not flush that one. Instead, he called his players out for not competing after things got out of hand. That didn't happen this time. They fought.
Now, with the their brutal stretch behind them (and back-to-back home games coming up) the Gators will do a reset. They'll need to.
"We can't lose. That has to be the mindset," Castleton said. "Figure out a way to win the rest of our games."
Along with a way to forget about this one. Quickly.
