By Franz Beard
A few thoughts to jump start your Wednesday morning:
YA GOTTA BELIEVE! GATORS STAGE IMPROBABLE RALLY TO BEAT VANDY
Improbable might be the wrong word to use here. Impossible might be better, because Florida’s 82-78 come-from-behind win over Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym Tuesday night had that impossible feel to it and left you wondering how it happened.
“You feel like you stole one,” Florida coach Mike White said after the Gators (19-11, 9-8 SEC) kept their NCAA Tournament hopes from slip-sliding away by outscoring the Commodores, 9-0, in the final 31 seconds. “You’re always talking about trying to steal one on the road. We really stole this one.”
Scotty Pippen Jr. hit a pull-up jumper in the lane with 44.3 seconds remaining that gave the Commodores a 78-73 lead. The ball wasn’t the only thing that drained through the bottom of the net. So did the collective stomachs of the entire Gator Nation. Dead-in-the-water? That was the feeling, but if there is one thing that is becoming increasingly evident about this Florida team it is they don’t give up. They may lose games, but not because they gave up.
Thirteen seconds after the Pippen dagger, Vandy made the mistake of fouling Colin Castleton. He was on radar lock, knocking down both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 78-75 but on the inbounds pass, Vandy found Pippen sprinting behind the Florida defense past midcourt. Pippen, who had already worn the Gators out for 29 points, gathered in the pass and streaked to the basket for what looked to be a breakaway dunk.
Here is where that never give up attitude showed up. Phlandrous Fleming Jr. trailed Pippen, caught up with him at the rim and got a hand on top of the ball for a clean block. Tyree Appleby retrieved the ball and started a fast break the other way that ended Fleming finding Tuongthach Gatkek for a layup to cut the Vanderbilt lead to 78-77 with 21 seconds remaining.
“Everybody in the gym thought he [Pippen] had it,” Fleming said. “I thought he was going to try and dunk it. My teammates even told me that they if they would have seen the picture, they didn’t think I was going to go and get it.”
Vandy called a 30-second time out with 19.9 seconds remaining to set up an inbounds play, knowing fully well the Gators were going to foul whoever caught the ball. With the 5-second count about to expire, Jordan Wright’s inbounds pass skipped out of bounds without touching anyone. Florida basketball. Still 19.9 on the clock.
The Gators inbounded the ball to Appleby, who evaded defenders and then dumped the ball off to Castleton. Three Commodores converged around Castleton but before they could collapse on him he passed to the left corner to Fleming, who drilled a three with 6.3 seconds to go, giving the Gators an 80-78 lead.
There was still enough time for Vandy to either tie or win the game. The Commodores put the ball in Pippen’s hands and he dribbled down the sideline only to be fouled by Brandon McKissic. Pippen at the line, 1-and-1, 2.3 seconds to go. At that point, everyone at Memorial Gym was thinking overtime but Pippen did the unthinkable, hit the back rim on the first shot. Castleton rebounded, was fouled with 0:00.5 left, and hit the two free throws that finalized a win nobody expected with a half minute to go in the game.
This was a game that had a Florida loss written all over it in the second half when Vanderbilt drained seven 3-pointers and led by as many as nine (65-56) with 8:58 to go. It was eight (76-68) with 3:50 to go when Trey Thomas hit his fifth three of the game. The rest of the way, however, the Gators outscored Vanderbilt 14-2 and 9-0 in the final 31 seconds.
For the second straight game, Fleming was a hero. He scored a season-high 27 back on Saturday to lead the Gators past Georgia, a game played before a huge contingent of family and friends in his home town of Athens. Fleming scored 16 against Vandy to go with four rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and three steals.
He loved making the game-winning shot, but admitted post-game that his highlight was the block.
“I’m a defender first,” Fleming said.
Thanks to this impossible win, the Gators are in far better shape when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. A loss would have seriously harmed UF’s chances but this win keeps the tournament very much in play. A win over Kentucky in the O-Dome Saturday could seal it.
Beating Kentucky? Impossible? So was outscoring Vandy 9-0 in the last 31 seconds.
Tuesday’s scores: FLORIDA (19-11, 9-8 SEC) 82, Vanderbilt (14-15, 6-11 SEC) 78; No. 13 Tennessee (22-7, 13-4 SEC) 75, Georgia (6-24, 1-16 SEC) 68; No. 7 Kentucky (24-6, 13-4 SEC) 83, Ole Miss (13-17, 4-13 SEC) 72; South Carolina (18-11, 9-8 SEC) 73, Missouri (10-20, 4-13 SEC) 69Wednesday’s games: Texas A&M (18-11, 7-9 SEC) at No. 25 Alabama; No. 5 Auburn (25-4, 13-3 SEC) at Mississippi State (17-12, 8-8 SEC); LSU (20-9, 8-8 SEC) at No. 14 Arkansas (23-6, 12-4 SEC)
GATORS WIN SIXTH STRAIGHT WITH 11-2 WIN OVER UNF
Josh Rivera led a 13-hit Florida attack with a homer and five RBI Tuesday night as the 14th-ranked Gators hammered North Florida, 11-2, for their sixth straight win. Six Florida pitchers combined to limit the Ospreys to four hits as Brandon Neely got the win with five strikeouts and one hit allowed in two scoreless innings.
This was the third straight game the Gators have scored at least 10 runs. Rivera had a 2-run single in the fourth, a bases-loaded walk in the fifth and 2-run homer in the ninth to pave the way. The homer was his second of the season. Also leaving the yard for the Gators were Sterlin Thompson (4th) with a solo homer in the seventh and freshman Deric Fabian, who had a two-run homer in the eighth. Fabian went 3-4 while brother Jud had two hits and an RBI single.
Colby Halter, who had an 8-13 weekend, continued his hot hitting with a 2-3 night to raise his batting average to .447.
The Gators have their final tuneup for their weekend series at Miami when they play host to Florida A&M tonight at the Florida Ballpark.
UF SOFTBALL: GATORS HOST SOUTHERN MISS
The 3rd-ranked Gators go for their 17th straight win this evening against Southern Miss (11-5) at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium (6 p.m.). With Elizabeth Hightower (4-0, 0.69 ERA) potentially sidelined for awhile with back issues, Tim Walton might be using this game to get some innings and experience for Rylee Trlicek (1-0, 3.09 ERA) and Marissa Mesiemore (1-0, 5.00 ERA). Lefty Haley Pittman hasn’t seen any action in the circle all season.
Walton might need all three of these pitchers this weekend when the Gators play doubleheaders Friday, Saturday and Sunday as part of the Bubly Invitational.
KIKI SMITH MAKES FIRST TEAM ALL-SEC, ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM
Kiki Smith, who averaged 14.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.4 steals to lead Florida’s resurgent women’s basketball team to a 20-9 regular season finish, was selected first team All-SEC and to the All-Defensive Team Tuesday. Smith is the first Gator to make first team All-SEC since Ronni Williams did it in 2017. She is just the third Gator selected to the All-Defensive team.
Named to the All-Freshman team was Alberte Rimdal, who averaged 5.3 points and 1.1 rebounds per game in SEC play.
The Gators face the winner of the first round matchup between Texas A&M and Vanderbilt Thursday at 3 p.m. in the SEC Tournament in Nashville.
TRINITY THOMAS SEC GYMNAST OF THE WEEK
After a nation-leading 39.850 all-around and a perfect 10 on floor to help the 3rd-ranked Gators beat 2nd-ranked Oklahoma, who else but Trinity Thomas could have won SEC Gymnast of the Week? Thomas won or shared the title in all four events against Oklahoma with a 9.925 on vault, 9.950 on bars, 9.975 on beam and the final 10 that sealed Florida’s victory. The 10 was the fifth this season and the 13th of her career. It was the 16th time in her career that Thomas has won SEC Gymnast of the Week.
The Gators travel to No. 6 Auburn Friday with a chance to clinch the outright SEC championship. The Gators (10-0) already own a share of the championship, the fourth straight year they’ve been SEC champs.
SEC FOOTBALL/BASKETBALL NOTES
Alabama: Former Auburn wide receivers coach Cornelius Williams is now an offensive analyst at Alabama.
Auburn: Walker Kessler is a semifinalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Kessler is averaging 4.7 blocked shots per game, which leads the nation.
Georgia: Georgia has hired Stacey Searels from North Carolina to coach the offensive line. Searels was Georgia’s offensive line coach from 2007-10. Searels almost became Florida’s O-line coach in 2014 when Will Muschamp tried to hire him away from Texas.
Kentucky: Scott Woodward, who was an analyst last season, is the new wide receivers coach, replacing Jovon Bouknight. Bouknight, who had some off the field issues, has taken an off-the-field role with the UK staff … Oscar Tshiebwe, who leads the SEC and nation in rebounding (15.3 per game), is a semifinalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Tshiebwe had 18 points and two steals in Kentucky’s win over Ole Miss Tuesday night.
LSU: Tari Eason is a semifinalist for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year. Eason is averaging 16.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.1 blocked shots per game.
ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: Oh, the fun we’re about to have with college football’s version of No Child Left Behind. In other words, expansion, contraction and of course, court cases. We can’t have schools shuffling from one conference to another without some lawsuits, now can we?
Comparatively speaking, Texas and Oklahoma leaving the Big 12 for the SEC is Romper Room. Eventually, they’ll pay a whopping exit fee that the Big 12 will, in turn, use to help offset the exit fees Houston, Cincinnati and UCF have to pay the American Athletic Conference. Meanwhile, the AAC has compensated for its loss ty raiding Conference USA for UAB, Rice, North Texas, Texas-San Antonio, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic.
Conference USA probably could have handled losing those six schools but then Marshall, Southern Miss and Old Dominion bolted for the Sun Belt, which also added D1AA powerhouse James Madison. That left Conference USA with Florida International, Louisiana Tech and UTEP. Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee flirted with joining the MAC only to decide to remain in Conference USA, which also has added Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State from D1AA, and New Mexico State and Liberty. Those four join in 2023.
This is when things get fun. The Sun Belt has released its schedule for 2022 with all four of the newbies playing eight league games. Marshall, ODU and James Madison are all in the Sun Belt East while Southern Miss will be in the Sun Belt West.
There is only one teensy little problem. Conference USA has requested a court injunction to keep Marshall, ODU and Southern Miss in the league at least for 2022. There is no doubt these three will be leaving Conference USA, but the question is when? Conference USA by-laws require a 14-month notification when teams wish to bolt and clearly, that has been ignored. There has been no attempt at arbitration by Conference USA to force the three departing schools to pay an exit. So far, courts seem to be siding with Marshall, ODU and Southern Miss.
The chaos that is ahead causes me to believe one of two things happening: (1) The Big Ten will raid the Big 12 for Kansas and Iowa State which will result in the Pac-12 cherry picking Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU and Oklahoma State from the Pac-12; or (2) what we now know as Division I contracts from more than 130 schools to somewhere between 80 and 96 with rules limiting the new Division I to football schools to those with stadiums that seat more than 30,000 that average more than 20,000 in attendance.
