COLUMBIA, Mo. – Micah Handlogten repeated the word three times for emphasis. That made sense because the Florida center and his teammates probably heard their coaches repeat it a hundred times the last few days.
"It was all about physicality, physicality, physicality," Handlogten said. "I'm glad we got to show it tonight."
In assessing UF's 79-67 victory Saturday night over Missouri – the team's first road win of the season – Handlogten could just as well have talked about balance, balance, balance after UF had five players find double-figure scoring for a second time in three games. Instead, the preferred takeaway for the Gators (12-6, 2-3) was about a defense that rolled out its best performance on the road in 2023-24 and how they took advantage of their size and length to beat up the Tigers (8-10, 0-5) on the glass. Together, those elements allowed Florida to gradually stretch a small second half lead to a bigger one and eventually pull away for a sorely needed win that capped a rough week of travel to a couple frigid venues.
"This was a really challenging game for us," Florida coach Todd Golden said. "We came in 1-3 [in SEC play]. We had not had a lot of conference success yet, but I think we have a really good team. To come in here on the road and control the game like we did, especially going up by double-figures the way we did, was a growth moment for our group."
Handlogten, the 7-foot-1 sophomore and transfer from Marshall, had his second double-double of the season (his first since Nov. 10 against Virginia) with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting and 13 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Grad-transfer forward Tyrese Samuel led the way with 17 points, followed by 15 and three assists from junior guard Walter Clayton Jr., 13 and five rebounds from junior wing Will Richard, plus 11 points by grad-transfer point guard Zyon Pullin.
Sophomore guard Riley Kugel nearly gave the Gators a half-dozen in double-digits, finishing with a complete floor game of eight points, seven rebounds, three assists and two steals in 21 minutes off the bench.
"We got [points] in a lot of ways," Golden said.
Enough to offset a career-high 36-point night from junior guard Tamar Bates, the transfer from Indiana, who came in averaging 11.6 points a game. Bates was basically a one-man scoring show for the home team, finishing 13-for-21 from the floor and nine of nine from the free-throw line. The rest of the Tigers went 10 of 32, with only one, guard Nick Honor (10 points), finding double figures.
Reserve Gators Denzel Aberdeen (left) and Thomas Haugh (center) wall up against a Missouri ball-handler, with Alex Condon (background) waiting with help.
The Florida frontcourt did a nice job attacking Missouri's middle ball-screen defense that fanned out on the wings and basically left the UF "bigs" in man-to-man, downhill attack situations, Samuel in particular. He went five of nine from the floor and got to the free-throw line 12 times on the attack.
"I thought eventually they'd switch once I started getting some baskets, but they stayed with it," Samuel said. "We were like, 'All right then.' We got a lot of versatility with our bigs. If that's what they want to do they're going to have to pick their poison and live with it."
UF forwardTyrese Samuel (4) on the attack against the Tigers.
The Gators shot 44.6 percent for the game and dropped nine of 22 from the 3-point line (40.9 percent), while out-rebounding Mizzou 40-27, including 13-4 on the offensive glass. The Tigers scored just 18 points in the paint and finished with only two second-chance points. And UF had only eight turnovers, one of its season low, against a team that emphasizes steals and playing the passing lines.
"This was a huge game for us," Golden said.
The first half was a ping-pong match with eight lead changes and seven ties and ended with Florida taking a 37-34 lead to the locker room. Missouri twice went up by a point early in the second half, the second time just inside 17 minutes remaining. But over the next 90 seconds Samuel drove for a layup, Richard hit a 3, Clayton drove for a bucket and Samuel sank one of two free throws for a run of eight straight points that pushed the Gators in front by seven, 50-43, with 15 minutes left.
Consecutive baskets by the Tigers cut that lead in half, but a steal in the halfcourt by Kugel and his feed to Richard for a layup was followed by a deep 3-pointer by Pullin at the end of the shot clock to take the lead to eight. When Mizzou got it back to six, Clayton hit a couple free throws, Kugel bombed a logo-range 3-pointer and Clayton knocked down a couple more free throws for a splash of seven in a row that pushed the Gators in front by 13.
Missouri never got the margin back to single digits.
"We allowed them to be a little more comfortable than they should be on the road," Tigers coach Dennis Gates said.
That most definitely had not been the case this season for the Gators, who were winless in three tries on the road (and out-scored by an average margin of 16 points), while allowing 90 points per game and nearly 54-percent shooting from the floor. Missouri shot just 43.4 percent for the game and canned only three of 16 from the 3-point line (18.8 percent). Their 67 points were a low in five SEC games.
"We preached about it all week and in practice. We had to come out and be the more physical team," Handlogten said, invoking the P-word once again. "Hopefully, we can build off it."
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