I think Franz is one of the best writers when it comes to Gator basketball
Gators flip the switch and leave Texas A&M gasping for air
Franz Beard2 hours ago
Following the under-8 minute media time out with 3rd-ranked Florida holding a shaky 65-59 win over 12th-ranked Texas A&M, Will Richard and Alex Condon turned the next 70 seconds into their own personal daggers to the heart of the Aggies. A 3-pointer by Richard on an assist by Condon with 7:34 left and two hammer-like 2-handed jams by Condon that sandwiched a tip-in by the Aggies’ Henry Coleman III had the effect of flipping a take no prisoners switch that ended any hope Texas A&M had of springing a much-needed upset.
Until that sudden change mini-run that saw the Gators create 11 points of breathing room (72-61) with 6:24 left in the game, the Aggies had been wearing the Gators down. Trailing by 17 at 51-34 in the first 90 seconds of the second half, the Aggies ratcheted up their defense to start chipping away at the deficit. The combination of some poor shot selection and way too many fouls allowed the Aggies to cut the margin to six points on two occasions. Had a Wade Taylor IV 3-ball found the mark just prior to the media time out with 7:45 to go, it would have been a 3-point game that would have given a collective case of the yips to the 10,784 shoehorned into the O-Dome.
The yips turned into one deafening outburst after another starting with Richard’s three. Two Condon dunks later and the Aggies were never the same again. Florida (25-4, 12-4 SEC) outscored Texas A&M 17-9 the rest of the way for a comfortable, 89-70, win that convinced Aggie coach Buzz Williams that the Gators have everything it takes to win a national championship.
“They’re as good as any team in the country,” Williams said of Florida after the Aggie tailspin continued with a fourth consecutive loss. Texas A&M, meanwhile, has gone from an almost surefire No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament to one that might fall all the way down to a six or seven if they can’t regain their winning ways. “Coach [Golden] has done a fabulous job, the staff, the roster construction, the way they play … I think Florida’s talent is elite, among the best in the country per position including the guys off the bench.”
The Gators needed the talent to step up to erase the bad memories of what happened at Georgia earlier in the week. That shocking loss had bracketologists Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm knocking the Gators off their NCAA No. 1 lines while casting doubt on Florida’s ability to hang on to the double bye at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Everything changed Saturday as the Gators showed how they are capable of withstanding body blows from an opponent then putting together the kind of spurts that leave the other team gasping for air.
Saturday we saw just how resilient the Gators can be and just how dangerous a team they are moving forward. When you couple Florida’s win with losses by Alabama and Missouri Saturday, it creates an opening for the Gators to storm past the field for a second place statement of a finish. The Gators need only a split of their final two regular season games next week to secure the double bye at the SEC Tournament. A Wednesday night win over Alabama and a regular season-ending win over Ole Miss next Saturday will put the Gators at 14-4 in SEC play and in sole possession of second place in the final regular season standings.
If the Gators merely split the last two, they will still be one of the top four teams in the regular season with a 13-5 SEC mark. At 13-5 the Gators will have the assurance of not having to play until the Friday quarterfinals at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Now, if the Gators beat Bama and Ole Miss, it seems almost a certainty that Florida will be back on the No. 1 seed line after being busted down to a No. 2 due to the loss to Georgia.
The first 13 minutes of the first half at Georgia was rock bottom. The rally from 26 down to actually take the lead late in the game was conclusive evidence that this Florida team has gears no one else has. The way the Gators dismantled a very good Texas A&M (21-8, 9-7 SEC) was further proof that the Gators can go toe-to-toe for so long before they turn up the tempo and blow past. When the Gators do that, they’re scary good.
😌
So how good can this Florida team be? The definitive answer to that question will come in the weeks ahead. Right now, we can only speculate but the Gators have a roster that can allow them to play any style and still be successful. The Aggies wanted a slow, grind it out game but they couldn’t match Florida’s outside shooting and their bigs had no chance in containing the Gators in the paint. That they were able to outrebound the Aggies enabled the Gators to get out on the run to force A&M into a tempo it did not want to play.
When the Aggies were able to get the game going at their desired tempo, the Gators ratcheted up the defense to force the action on one end, spread the floor and moved the ball unselfishly at the other. It created the ultimate dilemma: clog the paint and guys like Will Richard tear your apart or defend the perimeter and the big guys cut loose.
Richard, who scored a career-high 30 back on Tuesday against Georgia, followed that up with 25 against the Aggies. He hit 6-9 from the 3-point line, 5-6 coming after halftime. Alijah Martin and Tommy Haugh were the hot hands in the first half. Martin went 4-6 while Haugh went 2-3. Overall, the Gators were 14-33, a very respectable 42.4 percent.
The outside shooting was made possible because the Gators unselfishly shared the basketball. The Gators finished with 21 assists of their 32 made baskets. Ten of those assists came from Florida big guys: Condon (4); Haugh (4); Handlogten (2) and even Rueben Chinyelu (2) whose foul difficulties kept him on the bench for 33 of the 40 minutes.
Contributing to the outside shooting was Florida’s dominance on the backboards. The Gators outrebounded the Aggies 42-37 with 14 on the offensive end. Not many teams outrebound A&M, which is the national leader in offensive rebounds.
That stat made Golden almost giddy.
“To go +5 on the boards against A&M it’s like going +20 against a normal team,” Golden said.
It wasn’t just rebounding where the bigs excelled. They clogged the paint and when the Aggies tried to take them outside they went with them and matched stride for stride when the Aggies tried to put the ball on the deck and drive. Condon blocked three shots, Micah Handlogten two, with Chinyleu and Haugh each rejecting one.
When Chinyelu and Condon picked up two quick fouls in the first half, Haugh and Handlogten stepped things up. Haugh, whose two threes early in the first half led to the Gators breaking away and putting some distance in the rearview, scored eight of his 17 points which included consecutive threes in the first 20 minutes. Handlogten came off the bench to be Florida’s wall at the rim. In his 20 minutes on the floor he impacted winning without scoring. Handlogten finished with two points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals.
Golden gushed over Handlogten’s performance.
“He’s been such a luxury to have back and just shows how much of a winning player someone can be without scoring a lot,” Golden said. “He only had two points tonight but he was +16 (points) in 19 minutes. I thought he was maybe not the only one but one of the differences on the glass.”
From Williams’ perspective Florida’s bigs create the perfect storm because the Gators have outstanding shooters, big guys who get the ball back for second chance opportunities and the size to alter shots.
“I think they play with great physicality,” Williams said. “Like all teams, regardless of your defensive principles, it’s probably predicated on not allowing it to get into the paint and to try to defend without fouling.
“I think at the rim they may be the best I have seen and I have been doing this a long time, but I’ve been doing it awhile. They are perfect. I haven’t been to Florida’s practice since Coach (Billy) Donovan was here but every shot at the rim their thumbs were behind their ears. Even though many of those guys can block shots, their verticality is perfect.”
When the Gators get it going at both ends of the floor, they might be the most difficult team to play in the entire country. They can win basketball games in so many ways and what should be so frightening to opposing coaches is depth that allows Golden to sub in and out without fear of a dropoff.
There is a lot of basketball still to be played and so much can happen in both positive and negative ways but this is a Florida team that could very well win it all. For all the talk about Auburn, which clinched the SEC regular season title Saturday, the Gators went to their place and completely dominated them. That wasn’t a fluke. A fluke is what happened at Georgia.
If Florida can maintain its focus and play with purpose and the kind of intensity we saw against Texas A&M, they are everybody’s nightmare matchup the rest of the way.
Gators flip the switch and leave Texas A&M gasping for air
Franz Beard2 hours ago
Following the under-8 minute media time out with 3rd-ranked Florida holding a shaky 65-59 win over 12th-ranked Texas A&M, Will Richard and Alex Condon turned the next 70 seconds into their own personal daggers to the heart of the Aggies. A 3-pointer by Richard on an assist by Condon with 7:34 left and two hammer-like 2-handed jams by Condon that sandwiched a tip-in by the Aggies’ Henry Coleman III had the effect of flipping a take no prisoners switch that ended any hope Texas A&M had of springing a much-needed upset.
Until that sudden change mini-run that saw the Gators create 11 points of breathing room (72-61) with 6:24 left in the game, the Aggies had been wearing the Gators down. Trailing by 17 at 51-34 in the first 90 seconds of the second half, the Aggies ratcheted up their defense to start chipping away at the deficit. The combination of some poor shot selection and way too many fouls allowed the Aggies to cut the margin to six points on two occasions. Had a Wade Taylor IV 3-ball found the mark just prior to the media time out with 7:45 to go, it would have been a 3-point game that would have given a collective case of the yips to the 10,784 shoehorned into the O-Dome.
The yips turned into one deafening outburst after another starting with Richard’s three. Two Condon dunks later and the Aggies were never the same again. Florida (25-4, 12-4 SEC) outscored Texas A&M 17-9 the rest of the way for a comfortable, 89-70, win that convinced Aggie coach Buzz Williams that the Gators have everything it takes to win a national championship.
“They’re as good as any team in the country,” Williams said of Florida after the Aggie tailspin continued with a fourth consecutive loss. Texas A&M, meanwhile, has gone from an almost surefire No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament to one that might fall all the way down to a six or seven if they can’t regain their winning ways. “Coach [Golden] has done a fabulous job, the staff, the roster construction, the way they play … I think Florida’s talent is elite, among the best in the country per position including the guys off the bench.”
The Gators needed the talent to step up to erase the bad memories of what happened at Georgia earlier in the week. That shocking loss had bracketologists Joe Lunardi and Jerry Palm knocking the Gators off their NCAA No. 1 lines while casting doubt on Florida’s ability to hang on to the double bye at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Everything changed Saturday as the Gators showed how they are capable of withstanding body blows from an opponent then putting together the kind of spurts that leave the other team gasping for air.
Saturday we saw just how resilient the Gators can be and just how dangerous a team they are moving forward. When you couple Florida’s win with losses by Alabama and Missouri Saturday, it creates an opening for the Gators to storm past the field for a second place statement of a finish. The Gators need only a split of their final two regular season games next week to secure the double bye at the SEC Tournament. A Wednesday night win over Alabama and a regular season-ending win over Ole Miss next Saturday will put the Gators at 14-4 in SEC play and in sole possession of second place in the final regular season standings.
If the Gators merely split the last two, they will still be one of the top four teams in the regular season with a 13-5 SEC mark. At 13-5 the Gators will have the assurance of not having to play until the Friday quarterfinals at the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Now, if the Gators beat Bama and Ole Miss, it seems almost a certainty that Florida will be back on the No. 1 seed line after being busted down to a No. 2 due to the loss to Georgia.
The first 13 minutes of the first half at Georgia was rock bottom. The rally from 26 down to actually take the lead late in the game was conclusive evidence that this Florida team has gears no one else has. The way the Gators dismantled a very good Texas A&M (21-8, 9-7 SEC) was further proof that the Gators can go toe-to-toe for so long before they turn up the tempo and blow past. When the Gators do that, they’re scary good.
😌
So how good can this Florida team be? The definitive answer to that question will come in the weeks ahead. Right now, we can only speculate but the Gators have a roster that can allow them to play any style and still be successful. The Aggies wanted a slow, grind it out game but they couldn’t match Florida’s outside shooting and their bigs had no chance in containing the Gators in the paint. That they were able to outrebound the Aggies enabled the Gators to get out on the run to force A&M into a tempo it did not want to play.
When the Aggies were able to get the game going at their desired tempo, the Gators ratcheted up the defense to force the action on one end, spread the floor and moved the ball unselfishly at the other. It created the ultimate dilemma: clog the paint and guys like Will Richard tear your apart or defend the perimeter and the big guys cut loose.
Richard, who scored a career-high 30 back on Tuesday against Georgia, followed that up with 25 against the Aggies. He hit 6-9 from the 3-point line, 5-6 coming after halftime. Alijah Martin and Tommy Haugh were the hot hands in the first half. Martin went 4-6 while Haugh went 2-3. Overall, the Gators were 14-33, a very respectable 42.4 percent.
The outside shooting was made possible because the Gators unselfishly shared the basketball. The Gators finished with 21 assists of their 32 made baskets. Ten of those assists came from Florida big guys: Condon (4); Haugh (4); Handlogten (2) and even Rueben Chinyelu (2) whose foul difficulties kept him on the bench for 33 of the 40 minutes.
Contributing to the outside shooting was Florida’s dominance on the backboards. The Gators outrebounded the Aggies 42-37 with 14 on the offensive end. Not many teams outrebound A&M, which is the national leader in offensive rebounds.
That stat made Golden almost giddy.
“To go +5 on the boards against A&M it’s like going +20 against a normal team,” Golden said.
It wasn’t just rebounding where the bigs excelled. They clogged the paint and when the Aggies tried to take them outside they went with them and matched stride for stride when the Aggies tried to put the ball on the deck and drive. Condon blocked three shots, Micah Handlogten two, with Chinyleu and Haugh each rejecting one.
When Chinyelu and Condon picked up two quick fouls in the first half, Haugh and Handlogten stepped things up. Haugh, whose two threes early in the first half led to the Gators breaking away and putting some distance in the rearview, scored eight of his 17 points which included consecutive threes in the first 20 minutes. Handlogten came off the bench to be Florida’s wall at the rim. In his 20 minutes on the floor he impacted winning without scoring. Handlogten finished with two points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and two steals.
Golden gushed over Handlogten’s performance.
“He’s been such a luxury to have back and just shows how much of a winning player someone can be without scoring a lot,” Golden said. “He only had two points tonight but he was +16 (points) in 19 minutes. I thought he was maybe not the only one but one of the differences on the glass.”
From Williams’ perspective Florida’s bigs create the perfect storm because the Gators have outstanding shooters, big guys who get the ball back for second chance opportunities and the size to alter shots.
“I think they play with great physicality,” Williams said. “Like all teams, regardless of your defensive principles, it’s probably predicated on not allowing it to get into the paint and to try to defend without fouling.
“I think at the rim they may be the best I have seen and I have been doing this a long time, but I’ve been doing it awhile. They are perfect. I haven’t been to Florida’s practice since Coach (Billy) Donovan was here but every shot at the rim their thumbs were behind their ears. Even though many of those guys can block shots, their verticality is perfect.”
When the Gators get it going at both ends of the floor, they might be the most difficult team to play in the entire country. They can win basketball games in so many ways and what should be so frightening to opposing coaches is depth that allows Golden to sub in and out without fear of a dropoff.
There is a lot of basketball still to be played and so much can happen in both positive and negative ways but this is a Florida team that could very well win it all. For all the talk about Auburn, which clinched the SEC regular season title Saturday, the Gators went to their place and completely dominated them. That wasn’t a fluke. A fluke is what happened at Georgia.
If Florida can maintain its focus and play with purpose and the kind of intensity we saw against Texas A&M, they are everybody’s nightmare matchup the rest of the way.
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