Blowout! Seminoles can't handle Florida's intensity, 89-68

UF Forward #4 Tyrese Samuel (photo Chris Spears)

For a half Friday night at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, the Florida State Seminoles were like a doublewide in the crosshairs of an F5 tornado. The Seminoles thought they had a pretty good game plan for the Florida Gators but by the intermission, they were picking up the pieces and in need of a FEMA grant.

The Gators led 52-22 and it could have been much, much worse, except they turned the ball over 11 times, missed too many free throws (10-17) and played the first 20 minutes with Todd Golden forced to shuffle his lineup on an almost minute-by-minute basis to compensate for three of his four bigs in foul trouble.

“I don’t know if I ever remember being down 30 points at halftime,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “I can’t remember.”

When he looks at that first half tape, Hamilton is going to wish he couldn’t remember the 20 minutes leading up to the intermission. Even with 7-1 Micah Handlogten and 6-11 Alex Condon playing limited minutes because of three fouls each, and Tyreese Samuel forced to play with extreme caution because he picked up two, the Seminoles couldn’t take advantage because the Gators were way too intense at both ends of the floor. Offensively, the Gators shot 64.4 percent (18-28) from the field and 50 percent (6-12) from the 3-point line. At the other end, Florida swarmed the perimeter and protected the rim, holding FSU to 25.8 percent (8-31) overall and 11.1 percent (1-9) from the 3-point line.

“I just thought we played at an insanely high level and that’s what we had kind of seen from our group at preseason, and just really proud of our effort,” Todd Golden said, calling Florida’s 89-68 flattening of the Seminoles a “statement game.”

The final score was a rather definitive statement, but Golden took it a bit further in his post game remarks. Because Florida lost last Friday night to Virginia and all but sleepwalked its way past Florida A&M Tuesday night, the Gators needed to come out laser focused, frothing at the mouth and ready to play against the Seminoles who have now dropped the last four against the Gators in this very intense once-a-year rivalry.

“Rivalry game, you get them coming into your own gym, you have a chance to make a statement,” Golden said. “What are you going to be about? Are you going to take care of your home court or, you know, are you going to allow another outcome to happen. I thought that from the jump that people understood that this game was really important to us.”

The first clue that the Seminoles were in deepest and darkest came with 15:46 left in the first half when Walter Clayton Jr. nailed a 3-pointer to give the Gators an 11-4 lead. Over the next two minutes, Riley Kugel knocked down back-to-back 3-points for a 12-point lead (17-5) that was just beginning to expand.

The Gators scored another 10 before Florida State could score again. Trailing 27-5, the Seminoles looked dazed and confused for a reason. Florida couldn’t miss and the UF defense kept pushing the Seminoles further out of their comfort zone. Twelve-foot shots became 15-footers, 22-foot 3-point shots became 25-footers that clanged off the rim.

Florida’s entire defensive strategy centered around containing FSU from the 3-point line.

“Obviously, we guarded the heck out of the 3-point line,” Golden said. “In the first half they were 1-9, didn’t give up too many good looks. To only give up two made threes in a game is really good. That’s been an area percentage-wise that’s hurt us this year. We’ve given up, I think, 38-39 percent from three during the three games [previously]. Just 2-13 tonight obviously drives that number down a little bit. You think of how can a team like that come in and beat you? If they hit 10 threes, that’s one way to do it. So, giving two was huge and really important tonight.”

Offensively, Florida pushed the tempo and the Seminoles struggled to keep up. On the other end of the floor, their offense couldn’t handle Florida’s intensity. With Handlogten and Condon riding the pine with three fouls each, freshman Thomas Haugh picked up the slack with eight of his career-high 10 rebounds in the first 20 minutes. Samuel managed to finesse his way to 11 first half minutes good for eight points, three rebounds and two assists.

“Obviously, as you guys know, I'm not going to sit guys with two [fouls] in the first half, and we ended up with two guys with three,” Golden said. “I didn't feel like, especially in the second half, we could never really get ahead of that. We just kept, you know ‘we're in foul trouble, foul trouble, foul trouble.’ We’re trying to play Tyrese through four, Micah through four. It definitely hurt us in the second half. It made us less aggressive. I think it was the reason why we got beat up on the boards like we did. But again, speaks to what Thomas [Haugh] was able to do to stay out there as long as he did. You know, we survived it. That's the best way I can say how.”

Maybe the best way to describe this is a first half blowout, and second half in survival mode. Florida State outscored the Gators 46-37 in the second half while holding UF to 1-6 shooting from the 3-point line. The Seminoles outrebounded UF 24-19 in the second half.

Not every game will see as many quick whistles on what seemed like a lot of first half touch fouls. In the second half, the game got more physical and at times, rather chippy. At one point, FSU narrowed the Florida margin to 19 but that’s as close as it got. At no point was the game ever in doubt for the Gators.

While the second half was a grind, the first half is probably more indicative of Florida’s ceiling. With Cal-Riverside transfer Zyon Pullin added to the mix on the perimeter, the Gators played with a 4-man rotation. Pullin and Clayton give the Gators two exceptional ballhandlers and passers who both can shoot. Clayton finished with a game-high 19 which included 3-8 from the 3-point line, five assists and two steals. Pullin, making his Florida debut after sitting the first three games due to an NCAA suspension, had 15 points, five rebounds and four assists. Riley Kugel finished with 10 points, five rebounds and two assists and Will Richard had nine points, three rebounds and two assists.

Up front, Samuel was the only Gator to reach double figures with 15. He had seven rebounds and two assists. Condon contributed nine points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. Handlogten had eight points and seven rebounds while Haugh had five points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Clayton on beating Florida State: “I have a big hatred for Florida State, just to be honest with you all. I have too many people in my family that are Florida State fans and I gotta hear their mouth. They’re going to be real quiet tonight but they’re going to be very quiet tonight. Everybody’s getting phone calls. Facetime. I want them to see my face when I let them know how the game went.”

Pullin on the first half Gators: “That was pretty good! I thought that was a pretty good first half, but just keep finding ways to keep getting better.”

Next up for the Gators: The Gators will be in Brooklyn for the NIT Tipoff Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday they will face Pittsburgh (4-0) of the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Thursday game will be against either Baylor (4-0) or Oregon State (3-0).

SEC basketball

Friday’s games: FLORIDA (3-1) 89, Florida State (2-1) 68; No. 12 Miami (4-0) 79, Georgia (2-2) 67; No. 13 Texas A&M (4-0) 74, Oral Roberts (1-3) 66; UNC-Greensboro (2-1) 78, No 14 Arkansas (3-1) 72; No. 17 Kentucky (3-1) 101, Stonehill (1-4) 67; No. 22 Alabama (4-0) 98, Mercer (1-3) 67; LSU (2-2) 66, North Texas 2-2); Auburn (3-1) 77, St. Bonaventure (2-2) 60; Vanderbilt (3-1) 75, Central Arkansas (1-3) 71; Ole Miss (4-0) 70, Sam Houston (1-3) 67; South Carolina (4-0) 73, DePaul (1-3) 68

Saturday’s game: Mississippi State (3-0) vs. Washington State (2-0) in Uncasville, CT