Confident Gators move to 8-4 with 90-60 blowout win over Colgate

Rueben Chinyelu (9) powers up after a rebound (Photo by Chris Spears)

Twelve seconds into Florida’s Sunday afternoon matchup with Colgate at the O-Dome, Alex Condon had a show and tell moment. After setting a pick for Boogie Fland, Condon drifted right at the top of the key where he got a return pass. He was wide open, plenty of time to load up a 3-pointer. Colgate’s Andrew Alekseyenko made a token effort to get a hand in Condon’s face.

Basically, Colgate was conceding the three to Condon and why not? Coming into the game the 6-11 junior was just 2-20 shooting the 3-ball. Condon buried the shot. Fluke? Well, with 6:40 remaining, Condon hit a second 3-pointer. He was 2-3 for the game, part of a 16-point, 10-rebound, 5-assist and 2-block day as the 23^rd-ranked Gators improved to 8-4 with a 90-60 win over the Raiders (6-6).

That Condon not only didn’t hesitate to launch threes but knocked them down is a rather good sign that this Florida basketball team is coming together at the right time. The Gators have only one more non-conference game – Dartmouth on December 29 – before they begin the 18-game SEC gauntlet on the road at Missouri January 3. It has been a journey just to get to this point with an 8-4 record. Rather than load up on pansies and home games, Todd Golden and the Gators embarked on one of the nation’s toughest schedules. Only 16 points separates Florida from a 12-0 record.

All four losses are away from the friendly confines of the O-Dome and they include a 6-point loss to No. 1 Arizona in the season opener in Las Vegas; a 1-point loss to No. 3 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium; and a 4-point loss to No. 5 UConn at Madison Square Garden. The fourth loss to a very good TCU team was by four in San Diego.

These were four very winnable games but adjusting to a new backcourt, turnovers and rotten shooting turned wins into gut-wrenching losses. A season ago, Florida’s calling card was making the big play to pull out a white knuckles win. In the four losses so far, the Gators have shown the capability of going toe-to-toe with the best teams in the country but they’ve come up short at crunch time. Despite the losses, it is obvious that the Gators are a team that will have to be reckoned with, particularly when the conference schedule begins.

Tommy Haugh believes the adversity the Gators have dealt with is good preparation for what is ahead.

“I think we're a lot more mature and we're tested,” Haugh said after scoring 17 against Colgate, his 11^thgame in double figures. “We went into Madison Square Garden played UConn; we went into Duke and almost beat them there. So, we'll go through those games and see how we do. We're gonna get over that hump in SEC play. I’m confident in this team and it was great for us to go do that and get through those challenges.”

Haugh made a seamless move from a backup post on last year’s NCAA championship team to a hybrid wing/post capable of playing four positions. He is Florida’s most consistent player at both ends of the court. UConn coach Dan Hurley went so far as to call Haugh “a first team All-American” and “a lottery pick.”  

Haugh is a plug and play guy who adjusts to whatever role is needed every single game. Condon, Rueben Chinyelu and Micah Handlogten give the Gators what most experts believe as good a three-man rotation of bigs as there is in the country. Against Colgate, Chinyelu had 16 points, 12 rebounds and a steal. Handlogten came off the bench to deliver five points, eight rebounds and three blocked shots.

It is no surprise how well Florida’s big guys play. The struggles have been in transitioning from a national championship backcourt (Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin) that now plies its trade in the NBA to newbies Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland, who seem to have gotten beyond the early struggles that had so much to do with the losses to Arizona, TCU, Duke and UConn. Turnover and shooting issues have given way to more consistent play at both ends of the court as they have adjusted to new teammates, a new offense and new defensive responsibilities.

The Colgate game was indicative of how both Lee and Fland grow confidently. Both played at a very high level. Lee, who transferred in from Princeton, led the Gators with 19 points, the fifth time in the last six games that he’s been the team’s leading scorer. He also had two rebounds, three assists and two steals while playing turnover-free. Fland had seven points, two rebounds, three assists and two steals. As a defender, Fland totally disrupted Colgate’s offense, especially the Raiders’ leading scorer Jalen Cox. Cox was held to 10 points, a full six below his average.

Golden, who has waited patiently for Lee and Fland to take their games to a higher level, never lacked confidence that they would come around.

“It’s just a function of reps and a function of getting through our schedule a little bit and just competing,” Golden said. “We knew it was gonna take a little time. We had that group last year together – well Walt and Will for a couple of years, and you know, these guys are new coming into our program. Boog’s young – only 19 – and Zay Lee is coming in from the Ivy League. Obviously, this is the new level. We knew it was going to take some time for these guys to get super, super comfortable, but they’ve been much better over the last couple of weeks.”

Against Colgate, the Gators dominated the rebounding (49-22) which was to be expected. The Gators turned 20 offensive rebounds into 22 points and held a 48-16 advantage in the paint. About the only place the Raiders had success was the 3-point line where they hit 11-17 shots.

The Raiders aren’t the level of competition the Gators will face in the SEC, but they are a good team that will challenge for the Patriot League championship and could easily make the NCAA Tournament. Still, this was a good final game before the Christmas break and a good game to evaluate the progress of the team since the season opener back in early November.

Asked how he views the Gators’ development from the season opener until the win over Colgate, Golden responded, “I think, you know, multiple guys are getting more comfortable. The  obvious one for me is obviously Zay [Xaivian] Lee’s playing really well and started shooting the ball well, started scoring it for us. You know, this is another game where he's had multiple assists, zero turnovers, and so that's giving us a big lift. Our guards, I think, are playing better and more comfortably, and I thought Micah [Handlogten] gave us really good minutes today. I just think we're getting more comfortable. This is the best way I can answer that question. Looking forward to coming back playing Dartmouth and then getting an SEC play and see how we look against some better competition.”

GAME NOTES: Although the Gators had nine turnovers, they only committed four in the first 36 minutes of the game. Backups committed five turnovers in the final four minutes … There was another Olivier Rioux sighting. Rioux got in the last minute or so of the game, grabbed a rebound and was charged with a foul … The Gators hit 32-62 of their shots overall (51.6 percent) and 33 percent (8-24) from the 3-point line … Urban Klavzar came off the bench to score eight points including six on a pair of 3-pointers … Florida has won 18 straight non-conference games at home … Colgate managed only 12-38 on 2-point shots.

SEC BASKETBALL

Sunday’s games

No. 13 Vanderbilt (12-0) 98, Wake Forest (9-4) 67: Tyler Nickell hit 8-10 of his 3-pointers and Vandy was 16-32 on threes. With 26 points, Nickell was one of five Vandy players in double figures.

No. 16 Alabama (9-3) 92, Kennesaw State (8-4) 81: Aiden Sherrell led Alabama with 21 points, while Labaron Philon Jr. and Aden Holloway scored 17 each.

No. 20 Tennessee (9-3) 94, Gardner-Webb (2-13) 52: An easy win for Tennessee, which was led by Ja’Kobi Gillespie with 15 points, three rebounds and nine assists.

Texas A&M (9-3) 118, East Texas A&M (6-6) 77: The 118 points were the third highest scoring total in Aggie history. Thirteen Aggies scored led by Rashaun Agee who had 21 to go with eight rebounds.

North Carolina State (9-4) 76, Ole Miss (7-5) 62: The Rebels hit only 8-30 from the 3-point line and were outrebounded by North Carolina State. Malik Dia had 20 points and 11 rebounds for Ole Miss.

Monday’s games

West Georgia at No. 25 Georgia (10-1)

South Carolina State (1-12) at South Carolina (7-4)

Prairie View A&M at LSU (10-1)

Missouri (10-2) at No. 18 Illinois (8-3)

Maryland (4-12) at Texas (8-4)