Gators had their opportunities but fall to Virginia, 73-70

The Gators can’t say Todd Golden didn’t warn them Friday night prior to their matchup with Virginia in Charlotte.

“One of the things we talked about before the game, we thought we had a really good game plan, but there was going to be a point where they punched us in the mouth … what was our response going to be?” Golden said after Florida dropped a 73-70 decision to the Cavaliers.

The Gators did indeed have a good game plan and it showed the first few minutes of the game when Florida’s size allowed the Gators to score 18 of their first 20 points in the paint. The Cavaliers had no early answers for 7-1 Micah Handlogten or 6-10 Tyreese Samuel but when Golden began subbing to give his starters some rest, Virginia had a response. Florida led 14-7 at that point but Virginia scored the next 11 points. While Florida delivered body blows to get the lead, Virginia punched back with one jab after another. Nothing that would stagger the Gators, but the kind that shifted the momentum.

“I thought we did a great job to start,” Golden said. “We were ready to play. Our starters did a really good job early. Obviously, we made some substitutions and it went the other way quick. I felt like we didn’t gather ourselves very well after that.”

Emboldened by its dominance with the subs in the game, the Cavaliers got even more physical when the starters returned. They took away the inside game and tightened up on the perimeter, forcing the Gators to take some ill-advised shots. Although the Gators kept the game fairly even in the final eight minutes of the first half, it was like playing chase. Even though the Gators could pull even or take a slight lead, it seemed that Virginia had seized control and had the momentum. Florida turned the ball over eight times in the first half and each one seemed to be a momentum killer. It helped that Will Richard heated up to knock down three 3-pointers in the final 6:01 but Florida just couldn’t hit shots with any consistency.

Virginia stretched its lead to five, 37-32, with 54 seconds left in the half, and took a 39-35 lead into the locker at the intermission. Four points seemed like a lot more.

“I didn’t think we responded well enough until after the half and allowed them to get a little comfortable and little physical with us,” Golden said. “I thought it was a physical game, a really physical game.”

If you break basketball down into five-minute segments, you typically discover that the three most important are the final five of the first half, the first five of the second half and the last five of the game. If you had to grade the Gators on those three segments, they would get either a D- or an F+.

Virginia outscored the Gators 10-8 in the final five of the first half even though there were adequate chances for UF to pull even or take the lead. In the first five minutes of the second half, Virginia outscored the Gators 11-6 to stretch their lead to nine points (50-41), a lead that eventually increased to 11. It was 54-43 with 13:27 to go in the game when the Gators began punching back effectively.

Down by 11, the Gators went on a 12-0 tear that got its start with a 3-ball by Walter Clayton with 12:38 to go. A dunk by Riley Kugel, a 3-pointer by Richard and a driving layup by Kugel with 8:19 left brought the Gators back within a single point at 54-53.

Handlogten put UF ahead for the first time since the 3:19 mark of the first half with a stickback, Richard gave the Gators their last lead at 7:39 for a 57-55 lead. Went on a 7-0 spurt for a 62-57 lead that Florida trimmed to three on a Handlogten stickback with 5:19 to go.

Then came those final five minutes in which the Gators missed opportunities to take control of the game. Three critical fouls, three turnovers and 5-8 the foul line doomed the Gators. Florida tied the game three different times and had a chance to knot it up at 71 with 51 seconds to go but Clayton made only 1-2 from the line. Clayton followed that up with a bad pass with 12 seconds to go when the Gators had a chance to win the game.

The Gators had one more chance to either tie or win it but Clayton lost the ball with two seconds to go. Virginia hit a meaningless free throw with 0.07 left for the final margin.

This was a game Florida probably wins a few weeks from now when the Gators develop more on court chemistry through experience, but on this night, a loss can be traced back to the first half when Virginia punched back and the Gators took way too long to answer.

Golden knows the Gators missed chances to get a win, but at least he had that 12-0 rally to hang onto as a positive takeaway.

“We went down 11 and that was another moment – ‘What are we going to be made of?’ – and we came back with a 12-0 run to take the lead,” Golden said. “So that was something we were proud about as well. Super disappointed that we lost, but I’m confident in this team and really excited for the rest of our season.”

Stuffing the stat line: Handlogten had his first Florida double-double with 14 points on 7-10 shooting, 14 rebounds (8 offensive), two assists, one steal and two blocked shots … Richard, who had only three points in Florida season-opener, led the Gators with 16 points including 4-7 from the 3-point line … Kugel had 14 points, four rebounds, one assist and one steal, while Clayton had 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and a blocked shot … Samuel had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds to go with three assists, a steal and a blocked shot.

The Gators shot 40 percent for the game (26-65) and just 28 percent (7-28) from the 3-point line ... The Gators were 11-15 from the foul line and they turned the ball over 16 times … Virginia outscored the Gators off the bench 26-4.