Florida Gators

What Happened

Colorado point guard KJ Simpson hit a fall-away baseline jumper with 1.7 seconds left and the 10th-seeded Buffaloes handed No. 7-seed Florida, after a stunning late comeback, a crushing 102-100 defeat Thursday in opening-round play of the NCAA South Region at Bainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Simpson's game-winner came after the Gators erased a 13-point deficit over the final four minutes, capped by junior guard Walter Clayton Jr.'s 35-foot 3-pointer that tied the game with 10 seconds remaining. The Buffs got the ball into the halfcourt, called timeout and drew up a play for Simpson, the All-Pac-12 guard and team's leading scorer. He got the inbound pass, dribbled to the baseline, put an arm bar and nudge to his defender, guard Zyon Pullin, and threw up the shot. The ball hit in the cylinder, bounced out, then fell back in. Clayton, who finished with a career-high 33 points and scored his team's last 16 points, had a desperation heave at the horn, but it banged off the backboard. Simpson finished with 23 points in leading six different Buffs into double-figure scoring on a night they shredded the Gators by shooting 63 percent from the floor (with 48 points in the paint), including six of 10 from the 3-point line, went 28 of 33 from the free-throw line and had 27 assists. Simpson, who was 7-for-12 overall and 8-for-9 at the line, also had five rebounds and five assists. Center Eddie Lampkin followed with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, while forward Tristan da Silva finished with 17 points (7-for-10 overall, 3 of 3 from deep) had four rebounds and five assists. Clayton was spectacular for the Gators, scoring 26 in the second half. He was 10 of 17 from the floor, four of 10 from deep and nine of 10 from the free throw line. Guard Will Richard had 15 points, while UF's two grad transfers, Pullin and forward Tyrese Samuel, tallied 13 and 11 points, respectively, in their final game in a Florida uniform. CU was less than 48 hours from a tournament play-in win over Boise State in Dayton, Ohio, and showed no sign of fatigue, despite falling behind by 10 points midway through the first half. UF actually held its own through a first half that was tied at 45 at the break despite the Buffaloes hitting 61 percent from the floor. The second half was more of the same, with Colorado taking control by making 11 consecutive shots, as well as a ton of free throws (20-for-25 in the second half), which drew the ire of UF coach Todd Golden, who was hit with technical foul after what seemed like a late call went against his team, with official saying his whistle was broken. During that 11-for-11 blitz, the Buffs turned a three-point advantage into a 13-point lead over seven minutes and led 94-81 with just over four minutes left when the Gators kicked in their Clayton-led comeback, outscoring CU 21-8 until those final two seconds. Florida, playing its first game since the devastating season-ending injury to 7-1 starting center Micah Handlogten in the Southeastern Conference Tournament title game Sunday, shot 51.5 percent for the game with 22 assists, made 11 of 25 from distance and hit 19 of 22 free throws. Freshman Alex Condon, making his first career in replacing Handlogten, had six points, seven rebounds, a career-high six assists and two blocks. 

What it Means

 The Gators are headed home after the first round of the tournament for the first time since 2010.  
 

In the Spotlight

Clayton absolutely took the game over down the stretch. He deserved (as did the Gators) to play another five overtime minutes.
 

Staggering Statistic

It's rare to be out-shot by 12 percent, especially when the other team is at 63.0, and be in the game. 
 

Up Next

For Florida (24-12), the winningest season in seven years is over, but the future looks very bright for the Gators under their energetic, young coach, who will be (count on it) mixing it up in the transfer portal in next to no time.


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