UF fifth-year guard Alijah Martin eggs on the crowd during the Gators' 27-0 run over the first and second halves that broke open the game and sent the Gators to an 88-51 blowout defeat of Wichita State in the ESPN Events Invitational championship game.
Shell Shockered: UF Crushes Wichita State in ESPN Title Game
Friday, November 29, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – From their place at the post-game podium the night before, the Florida Gators talked about the improved defense and a commitment to playing at an altogether different level than a season ago when their inability to stop opponents too often undermined one of the best offenses in the country. The subject was both topical and appropriate, given the way the Gators had throttled Wake Forest by 17 points and held the Demon Deacons to 15 below their season scoring average.
Friday was more of the same on the floor and more of the same after the game, much to the dismay of the dismantled Wichita State Shockers.
Sixteen to zero. That was how the 18th-ranked Gators finished the first half of Friday's championship game in the ESPN Events Invitational at State Farm Arena.
Eleven to zero. That was how the Gators started the second half. Yes, that's correct. UF reeled off 27 consecutive points on the way to overwhelming WSU 88-51 to win the program's first holiday tournament in three years and start a season with eight consecutive wins for the first time since 2009.
Walter Clayton Jr. scored a game-high 19 points, thanks to five 3-pointers, and was named the tournament Most Valuable Player, but the story of this game – like the game before – was what the Gators (8-0) did on defense. The previously unbeaten Shockers (6-1) came in averaging 80.8 points and shooting 45.8 percent on the season, but were held to just 29.8 percent, including 18.8 percent from 3, and converted just two of 20 shots from the 2-point area during a first half when they fell behind 19 at the break.
"Just really proud of the way we played. I felt we made a jump as a team the past couple days," said UF coach Todd Golden, whose squad defeated the Demon Deacons 75-58 barely 24 hours earlier by defending at 37.5 percent and allowing just three of 20 makes from distance. "We've shown an ability to guard. If we can continue to grow on that side of the ball and maintain our efficiency on the offensive end we're going to be tough to beat."
The Gators, wearing Mickey Mouse ears, raise the ESPN Events Invitational championship trophy.
Sophomore forward Alex Condon had 17 points, going 3-for-3 from deep, and nine rebounds, while sophomore forward Rueben Chinyelu, the transfer from Washington State, had his finest game in a UF uniform with 14 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and four blocks in 20 minutes.
"I'd say it's beautiful," Chinyelu said of his first UF double-double through his Nigerian accent. "It's something you always feel happy about, but I appreciate my teammates. Without them, I could not do a double-double. They trust me. They trust me to do [what I do] defensively."
It was Chinyelu who set the game's tone with a ferocious first few minutes. At the first media timeout (15:39) he had four points, five boards, a block and assist.
"Insane energy," Clayton said of his teammate. "We see it all the time. We were just waiting on it to translate to a game. You all got to see who Rueben is."
The UF lead at that first media, though, was a modest 9-3.
It was an even more modest 21-18 at the six-minute mark when all orange-and-blue hell broke loose. As in that 27-0 run.
Chinyelu had a fierce dunk on an alley-oop from feed from Will Richard that marked the fifth and sixth points of the spurt and forced WSU coach Paul Mills to call a timeout with 4:39 left as his team was dealing with an 0-for-7 drought. The Shockers, though, only trailed by nine.
That 0-for-7 spell soon became 0-for-10 with six turnovers over the final 7-plus minutes. Along the way, Condon hit a 3, Clayton threw down a transition slam on another lob from Richard and followed it with a short jumper, and guard Alijah Martin drained a corner 3 at the halftime buzzer to finish off the spree.
"We said in the locker room, 'Full steam ahead,' " Condon said. "Coach told us not to take our foot off the gas."
And they didn't. The second half started with a Clayton 3, then a Richard 3, then another Chinyelu slam (this one in transition) and another Condon 3. All in the first 3:03 of the period.
"A 27-0 run is impressive," Golden said. "Again, we have the capability to play really, really well and that group was connected. They guarded. We finished with rebounds. We didn't give them second chances with rebounds or bail them out with fouling. We took great care of the ball to prevent us from giving them run-outs. It was just really good basketball."
The Gators were up by 48 when they emptied the bench, including a trio of walk-ons. From there, the Shockers finished the game on an 11-0 run of six consecutive makes from the floor, edging them upward to just shy of 30 percent for the day, but still with their most lopsided defeat since 1945.
"It was a beatdown," WSU center Matej Bosnjak said. "It was mostly them imposing their physicality on us and we weren't up for the challenge. We've got to give [Florida] credit. They were super physical and their motor was running all day."
When it was over, the Gators mugged at midcourt with Mickey Mouse caps and hoisted the tournament championship trophy as a cannon of confetti rained down on the winners.
These holidays proved very happy.
As for that UF defense, the Gators combined to guard at 33.6 percent, including 18.1 percent from the 3-point line, and allowed 54.5 points in the two tournament games. They came to Orlando ranked 47th in the country in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com. They left at No. 18.
They were 94th last season.
"We just have a bunch of guys who care about the defensive side of the ball and mainly understand we want to get out in transition. The best way to do that is to get stops on defense," Clayton said of UF's new-found commitment to guarding. "Been talking about it over the whole summer, practicing defense so much, everybody' mentaly bought in. And anytime you can win a championship that adds so much more to it."
* Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
