Gators come through in the clutch to take 90-84 win over Carolina

Denzell Aberdeen scores two of his nine first half points against UNC (UAA Photo)

The final 2:29 of 7th-ranked Florida’s 90-84 win over North Carolina in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte made a statement why the Gators just might have everything it takes to make a very deep run when the madness begins in March.

Trailing the Tar Heels, 82-79, the Gators (11-0) had one of their famous spurts, this one a bit different than the ones that have allowed them to blow out their previous 10 opponents. For one thing, the Gators were trailing, and second, it was a close game.

Starting with a 3-pointer by Alijah Martin that tied the score at 82-82, the Gators went on an 11-2 run to close out the Tar Heels, who had worn the Gators out with their quickness while roaring back from a 17-point deficit. In the final 2:29 the Gators grabbed every single rebound (six of them) and made all six of their free throws to rain on the Carolina parade.

Officially, this was a neutral site game at the Spectrum Center, but let’s be real here. This was a Carolina home game and the Carolina comeback from a 44-27 hole was energized and egged on by the pro-Tar Heel crowd.

Yet, when the game was on the line, it was the Florida Gators who sucked all the air out of the building and they did it by playing great when it mattered most. How many teams could go on the road and see their two top scorers hit a combined 9-32 from the field (Walter Clayton Jr. 4-15; Martin 5-17) and 3-19 from the 3-point line (Clatyon 1-7; Martin 2-12), yet still walk away with a win?

The Gators did that Tuesday night. Road wins are hard to come by, even harder when the opponent is one of college basketball’s blueblood programs and you aren’t playing your best for the full 40 minutes. The Gators played like a Final Four team for the first 17 minutes of the first half, then went into a coma that allowed North Carolina to stage a comeback that would have been billed as a Florida collapse if the Gators hadn’t regained their mojo to pull the game out.

The Gators had every chance to mail it in once the Tar Heels took the lead at the 7:51 mark, their first since scoring the game’s initial basket. Once the Tar Heels took the lead (69-68), they kept making shots and the Gators struggled to match shot-for-shot. What kept the Gators in the game was yeoman work on the backboards for  stickbacks to stay even. The Gators outrebounded the Tar Heels 46-36, with 16 of the offensive variety that led to a 23-14 advantage in second chance points.

Still, there was reason for concern at the media time out with 4:02 to go. The Tar Heels had just taken an 81-77 lead on an alley oop finish to a fast break Jalen Washington that had the pro-Carolina crowd sensing the upset was about to happen.

In the huddle, however, Florida coach Todd Golden saw no panic in the eyes of his team.  

“The thing I’m most proud of our group, four minutes to go in the game, down four in our huddle, I saw no disappointment,” Golden said. “I saw nobody pointing fingers. I saw guys that were poised and ready to attack the last four minutes – just defend, rebound and take care of the ball.

“I think we held them scoreless the last two minutes. I think we outrebounded them 8-1 down the stretch. Big-time offensive rebounds that allowed us to get an and-1 and then get two free throws to ice it down the stretch.

Once Martin hit his 3-pointer, the Tar Heels regained the lead on a layup by Elliott Cadeau, but that was the last time UNC put points on the board. The Gators tied the game at 84-84 when Martin made a couple of free throws after coming up with an offensive rebound with 1:48 left in the game.

The Gators took the lead for good with 54 seconds to go when Will Richard snaked in among the trees to stick back a miss by Martin. When All-American RJ Davis clanged a 3-pointer off the rim with 44 seconds left, the Gators killed some clock, forced up a 3-ball with 12 seconds left and Tommy Haugh hustled to grab the rebound for UF. Fouled immediately, Haugh sunk both of his free throws for an 88-84 Florida lead.

Although there were only seven seconds left in the game, the Gators made it interesting when Denzell Aberdeen fouled Cadeau with six seconds left, but the Tar Heel guard missed his free throw. Richard grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made the free throws for the final margin.

It was Aberdeen who came through in the first half. Clayton couldn’t get shots to go, so the backup point guard came through with nine of his 12 points to pick up the slack. Richard had the hot hand in the first half, hitting three 3-pointers en route to 13 very productive points.

This had the makings of an epic blowout win when Aberdeen drove to the rack and scored to make it 44-27 with 2:21 left in the half. From that point, the Gators starting fizzling and the Heels heated up behind Davis and Cadeau to trim the margin to 46-34 at the half. With the momentum changed, the Tar Heels came out sizzling to start the second half, scoring first 11 points in the first 2:25 of the final 20.

“I think we were up 17 and playing really great basketball, and obviously you play a team like Carolina you know they’re not going away easy,” Golden said. “They cut it to 12 at halftime. I was not pleased with the way we performed coming out of halftime.

“That’s really the first time all year where we’ve allowed a team to dictate the terms of the game. Credit to them, though, I thought they were really a lot more aggressive defensively and then trying to get downhill driving the ball in the second half. To their credit, they made it a great game.”

Although displeased with their play for much of the second half, Golden had to love the way the Gators finished. Merely good baasketball teams find a way to lose a game like that. Potentially great teams keep finding ways to win even when their leading scorer (Clayton) can't find the ocean from the end of the pier and even when an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers lead to 17 UNC points.

Teams that have the possibility to go deep into March when tournament play heats up played composed basketball and make their free throws when games are on the line. Although the Gators have been rampaging through the schedule, it was only a matter of time before there was a white knuckler that made them sweat. Sweat they did. Lose they didn't.

"We know the rest of the season isn’t going to be easy, but it’s definitely preparing us for conference and the rest of the games we’ve got coming up," Richard said. "Definitely good to face a little adversity.”

The Gators will return home for a noon Saturday matchup with North Florida (7-5), which dropped a 91-85 decision to UNC-Asheville Tuesday night.

Game notes: Will Richard scored 22 points, grabbed six rebounds, handed out an assist and had two steals. Martin scored 19 to go with five rebounds, four assists and a steal. Aberdeen had 12 points, one rebound and two assists, while Clayton finished with 12 points, six rebounds and two assists ... Alex Condon, who surprised the Tar Heels by going 2-3 from the 3-point line, had nine points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots. Rueben Chinyelu only scored four points, but he grabbed nine rebounds and had a couple of steals. Haugh finished with nine points, six rebounds and a steal ... The Gators were 30-65 overall from the field, 10-32 from the 3-point line after hitting 7-17 in the first half.

SEC Basketball

Tuesday’s scores

No. 7 FLORIDA (11-0) 90, North Carolina (6-5) 84

No. 1 Tennessee (11-0) 84, Western Carolina (3-7) 36

No. 2 Auburn (10-1) 100, Georgia State (4-7) 59

No. 17 Ole Miss (10-1) 74, Southern 61

South Carolina (8-3) 91, No. 25 Clemson (9-3) 88

Mississippi State (10-1) 83, Central Michigan 59

Missouri (10-1) 83, Jacksonville State (6-5) 72

LSU (9-2) 99, Stetson (1-10) 53

Today’s games

No. 6 Alabama (8-2) at North Dakota (4-8)

No. 14 Oklahoma (10-0) at No. 24 Michigan (8-2)

The Citadel (5-5) at Vanderbilt (9-1)