At this point of the season, every Gator basketball win is beautiful
- Franz Beard
- Feb 18
- 7 min read
When he grades the film of 12th-ranked Florida’s 78-66 win over South Carolina, Todd Golden will have no problem whatsoever filling up a legal pad with items that must be corrected. Pretty, it wasn’t but grind it out wins count just the same as the aesthetically pleasing wins that send the fan base into frothing at the mouth frenzies.
The outcome was never in doubt Tuesday night. Almost from the opening tip, the only question was would the Gators cover the 23.5-point spread. They didn’t but the final margin was irrelevant. This is that point of the season when you take a win any way you can get it, especially those that help maintain first place in the Southeastern Conference.
“Hell yes, man, that’s how I feel,” Golden said after the Gators improved to 20-6 overall, 11-2 in SEC play. “Every win’s a great win. It’s the SEC. No nights off and every time we’re playing a team after the new year that is any worse than, like, the 75th, 80th-best team in America. So, anytime you’re going to win, or you can win, that’s a huge step in the right direction. And I tell these guys all the time, like, when we’re preparing for games, I don’t care if it’s Alabama. I don’t care if it’s Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina … like, we’re treating that game like the national championship. We want to win regardless of who our opponent is. And these guys allow us to push them that way, and it’s why we’ve been successful the way we have.”
There were segments of this game in which the Gators looked the part of a team capable of a deep run at tournament time in March. In the first 4-1/2 minutes, the Gators torched South Carolina for a 10-3 start, so basically it was all over then. South Carolina never recovered from that opening strafing. Isaiah Brown came off the bench to score five in a row over 33 seconds that made it 18-10. Rueben Chinyelu had his 16th double-double of the season by halftime (11 points, 13 rebounds). From 39-29, the Gators expanded the lead to 17 (58-41) on a three by Tommy Haugh with 11:42 to go. There was a 10-2 surge over a 2-1/2 minute stretch that belonged to Haugh (3-pointer, assist Alex Condon), Condon (layup and free throw, fast break dunk on an Xaivier Lee pass) and a mini-hook by Chinyelu (another Lee assist). That made it a 22-point game (73-51).
When the Gators got it going like that, South Carolina was helpless to stop them. But there were also surges by the Gamecocks that weren’t so much defensive lapses by the Gators as much as it seemed boredom set in. The Gators got sloppy with the ball, turning it over 14 times altogether, nine in the second half. They missed 10 layups and bunnies. If not for Haugh nailing 3-5 from the 3-point line, Florida would have shot 2-14.
Amid all that inconsistency, the defense showed up, turning this into another day at the office at that end of the floor. The Gators were intimidating the way they closed out on shooters. South Carolina managed only 62 points on 37.9 percent shooting overall (22-58) and 21.1 percent (4-19) from the 3-point line. The Gators outrebounded the Gamecocks 47-30 and held them to two fast break points. The Gamecocks ran a deliberately slow-paced offense. About the only thing that succeeded in doing was to keep the game from going at the breakneck pace Florida prefers. It certainly didn’t result in easy shots in the paint or open looks from the 3-point line.
As has been the case throughout Florida’s relentless march to first place in the SEC, the defense had a smothering effect that has become the team’s calling card. In 13 SEC games, the Gators have held opponents to 97-312 (31 percent) from the 3-point line and just 71.76 points per game. The Gators have outrebounded 13 SEC opponents by 160, an average of 12.3 rebounds per game.
“I think our guys have done a really good job of understanding that we have incredible defensive talent, physicality, and when we pour into that, it makes the rest of the game easier, and I thought we did really good job of that tonight,” Golden said. “We held them under 40 (percent) from the field, 21 (percent) from three. Fouled a little bit late in the second half that we’ll live with that the way the game was going, and we’ve turned ourselves into a pretty good defensive team, and we got to continue that if we want to reach the goals that we’re striving for.”
Even on a night when the Gators should have won by a much larger margin, it was still a 14-point win. Nine of Florida’s 11 SEC wins have been by 14 or more points. So even though this wasn’t a peak performance, the Gators were easily the dominant team.
Maybe it wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it was a very good win that created more separation from the pack that’s chasing the Gators for the SEC regular season title.
“I feel like there’s an expectation right now with our program that if we’re not up by 15 at halftime, if we don’t win by 25, that something isn’t going right, but we’re in the best league in America,” Golden said. “I still feel like being up 10 at halftime, up 22 with three minutes to go, we played pretty dang well. We didn’t play our best, but even when we’re not at our best, I think we’re really good.”
Game notes: Condon (20 points, 10 rebounds) reached 1,000 points for his Florida career … Chinyelu (15 points, 17 rebounds in just 24 minutes) earned his 16th-double-double of the season, which leads the SEC and ranks top five nationally … Haugh (10 points) has hit a three in 21 consecutive games … Micah Handlogten (5 points, 9 rebounds) was within one of being Florida’s third player with 10 or more rebounds.
ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC
Georgia (18-8, 6-7 SEC) 86, Kentucky (17-9, 8-5 SEC) 78: Georgia never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 12 before beating Kentucky at Rupp for just the fifth time in school history. Blue Cain with 20 and Jeremiah Wilkinson with 19 led Georgia, which made 14 threes. Otega Oweh scored 28 to lead Kentucky.
Texas (17-9, 8-5 SEC) 88, LSU (14-12, 2-11 SEC) 85: Texas blew most of a 17-point lead before squeaking by LSU. Dailyn Swain had 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead Texas, which got another double-double from Matas Voiketaitis, who finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Texas has now won five straight games. Max Mackinnon came off the bench to lead LSU with 27 points, 21 of which came in the second half. LSU has lost seven of its last eight games.
Wednesday’s games
No. 19 Vanderbilt (21-4, 8-4 SEC) at Missouri (17-8, 7-5 SEC)
No. 21 Arkansas (19-6, 9-3 SEC) at Alabama (18-7, 8-4 SEC)
Oklahoma (13-12, 3-9 SEC) at Tennessee (18-7, 8-4 SEC)
Ole Miss (11-14, 3-9 SEC) at Texas A&M (17-8, 7-5 SEC)
Auburn (14-11, 5-7 SEC) at Mississippi State (12-13, 4-8 SEC)
WORST TO FIRST IN THE SEC
16. South Carolina (11-15, 2-11 SEC): Lamont Paris is such a nice guy. Unfortunately, he may not be gainfully employed after another three or so weeks.
15. Ole Miss (11-14, 3-9 SEC): This shapes up to be a bad week for the Rebels who are at A&M tonight and home Saturday against Florida. Chris Beard is on the verge of his first losing season as a head coach.
14. LSU (14-12, 2-10 SEC): The Tigers have lost seven of their last eight and the natives are growing increasingly restless. If they can find a way to win two of their last five they will be assured of a non-losing season. That is at least something for Matt McMahon to hang his hat on.
13. Mississippi State (12-13, 4-8 SEC): The Bulldogs can salvage a non-losing season if they can find a way to win four of the last six, starting tonight with Auburn at The Hump.
12. Oklahoma (13-12, 3-9 SEC): The Sooners, who have won their last two, might salvage Porter Moser’s job if they can somehow cobble four wins together. It’s highly unlikely but not impossible.
11. Missouri (17-8, 7-5 SEC): The Tigers are 3-4 in Quad 1 games. They need three or four more to get off the NCAA bubble.
10. Auburn (14-11, 5-7 SEC): Keyshawn Hall has served his time in Steven Pearl’s jailhouse. He returns tonight at Mississippi State and needs a big game to get back in the graces of the coach and teammates.
9. Georgia (18-8, 6-7 SEC): Did the win over Kentucky right the Georgia ship? Having lost five of their previous six games, the Bulldogs desperately needed that win and need to follow it up Saturday by taking down Texas in Athens.
8. Texas A&M (17-8, 8-4 SEC): The Aggies have been trending toward the NCAA bubble. Three wins in the last six would keep them somewhere in the 8-10 range for NCAA Tournament purposes. They should get a win tonight at home against Ole Miss.
7. Kentucky (17-9, 8-5 SEC): It’s time to face up to the fact that Kentucky is just not that good. Sure, injuries have played a part, but UK spent $22 million to build a roster and for that much cash outlay they should be able to win in spite of.
6. Texas (17-9, 8-5 SEC): The Longhorns have won five in a row to move off the bubble, but they can’t afford letdowns starting Saturday in Athens.
5. Tennessee (18-7, 8-4 SEC): The Vols have won six of the last seven. They can play their way into a second or third seed at the SEC Tournament which would also give them a shot at a No. 4 or No. 5 NCAA seed.
4. Alabama (18-7, 8-4 SEC): It’s still the same old same old for Bama. When they’re making shots they can play with the best. When they aren’t, they’re capable of going down in flames to even an average team.
3. Vanderbilt (21-4, 8-4 SEC): Vandy is so much better with a healthy Duke Miles. It would be a big boost to the Commodores hopes to get the SEC Tournament double-bye if he were to return tonight at Mizzou.
2. Arkansas (19-6, 9-3 SEC): The Razorbacks have to beat Alabama tonight to stay within a game of Florida.
1. FLORIDA (20-6, 11-2 SEC): The Gators are closing in on their first SEC championship since 2014 and are on everybody’s No. 3 line in NCAA bracketology.
keep the intensity going on the court
At this stage of the season every win is double "how sweet it is!"