Gators ratchet up the intensity level to blow out South Carolina

Micah Handlogten dunks on South Carolina (UAA Photo)

There was newfound intensity at practice Monday and again on Tuesday. Perhaps embarrassed by their performance against Auburn last Saturday, the Florida Gators went at it both days like a team with something to prove.

“We practiced really hard on Monday, which we usually don’t do,” Florida coach Todd Golden said Wednesday night after the 19^th-ranked Gators spent two hours making a hell fire and brimstone statement to the rest of the Southeastern Conference. “That’s usually a really light day for us, but none of us were satisfied with how we played and we wanted to get back out there and compete and practiced hard again yesterday.

“We spent a lot of time talking about making sure we were mentally and physically ready to compete tonight and understand that it’s going to be a really tough challenge.  Our guys were clearly ready to play.”

Yes, they were, and in their wake, was carnage. Finally, after 20 games of inconsistency in which something was always missing on the court, Florida (15-6, 6-2 SEC) put a complete game together.

The final score – Florida 95, South Carolina 48 – didn’t do justice to Florida’s beast mode effort that left the Colonial Life Arena crowd of 12,686 wondering what the Gamecocks did to deserve such punishment. For the first time all season we saw what happens when an angry Florida team shows up intent on pillaging and plundering an opponent.

At both ends of the court, the Gators played like the team that was expected when the season began back in November. For the 20 games prior to Wednesday night in Columbia, the Gators played like a team incapable of matching the expectations of a reigning national champion. Wednesday night, they showed that they are capable of meeting and even exceeding the expectations.

Offensively, the Gators were in rare form, which had plenty to do with the way the basketball moved. The ball moved unselfishly and with purpose, open shots given up for someone with something easier. Florida’s 28 assists were the most in an SEC game in 30 years and second only to the 29 the Gators had against North Carolina Central back in 2007. South Carolina defenders couldn’t keep pace with the swift ball movement that led to the Gators shooting 62.3 percent from the field (38-61) overall and 42.3 percent from the 3-point line (9-21).

It was quite the contrast to the effort against Auburn, viewed by Tommy Haugh as a bump in the road and a valuable learning experience.

“It was a speed bump, but every speed bump in the SEC is about learning,” Haugh said. “We lost to Georgia last year and learned from that one and won a national championship. We’re going to keep learning from that Auburn game and keep pushing forward.”

Midway through the first half, this one still had the feel of a close game. Of the Gamecocks’ 11 wins, 10 have come at Colonial Life Arena so when Mike Sharavjamts hit a pair of free throws with 9:50 left to cut Florida’s margin to 18-10, the feeling in the building was the Gamecocks were still in it.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. It was as if a switch was flipped because the Gators outscored South Carolina 30-10 the rest of the half including a 5-minute, 15-0 run that left the Gamecocks gasping for breath.

This was a feeding frenzy. Defensively, four blocked shots were converted into dunks and layups. Offensively, the Gators put the ball in the basket on seven of the eight shots they took. There was an assist on five of the seven makes.

By the time the first half came to a merciful end, the Gators held a 48-20 lead. Matters only got worse in the second half when the Gators came out of the locker with the same relentless effort at both ends of the court. The lead ballooned to 37 (68-31) after a pair of Micah Handlogten dunks.

Everything the Gators did turned out right. Everything the Gamecocks tried to do failed. Defensively, the Gators added a serious degree of difficulty to every shot South Carolina took. The Gators dominated the rebounding – final margin 45-24 – and that led to 32 fast break points. By contrast, South Carolina scored only three on the break.

Florida’s size advantage made for a 54-20 scoring margin in the paint and a 13-0 margin on second chance points.

Tommy Haugh scored 15 of his game-high 18 in the first half. He finished the game with three rebounds, one assist, one block and one steal. Rueben Chinyelu hit all seven of his shots, finishing the night with 14 points, 10 rebounds, one assist and two blocked shots. Alex Condon put the Auburn game behind him, flirting with a triple-double – 10 points, nine rebounds and eight assists to go with a couple of blocked shots. Handlogten had eight points, five rebounds, one assist and two blocked shots.

The backcourt duo of Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee, who struggled against Auburn, played exceptionally well on both ends. Fland had 10 points, four rebounds, six assists and a steal while Lee had six points, four rebounds, nine assists and two steals. Coming off the bench Urban Klavzar hit 3-6 from the 3-point line as he finished the night with 11 points, one rebound, two assists and a blocked shot. Isaiah Brown contributed seven off the bench with one rebound and a steal.

“One of our best defensive and rebounding efforts combined all year,” Golden said. “We just did a really good job valuing the basketball and finding our teammates – 28 assists, 11 turnovers is obviously really good, but really, really proud of our performance. This is a really tough place to play. They played Georgia great in here, played some other really good teams tough in here, and so for us to get this type of victory, it says a lot.”

ELSEWHERE IN THE SEC

Tennessee (14-6, 4-3 SEC) 86, Georgia (16-5, 4-4 SEC) 85, OT: Georgia sent the game into overtime on a Smurf Millender layup that tied the score at 74-74 with three seconds to go, but the Vols built a 5-point lead in overtime and held on for the win. Ja’Kobi Gillespie with 21 and Nate Ament with 19 led Tennessee. Kanon Catchings scored 22 to lead Georgia.

Auburn (14-7, 5-3 SEC) 88, Texas (12-9, 3-5 SEC) 82: Keyshawn Hall scored 25 of his 31 points in the second half as Auburn came back from a 14-point deficit in the first half to win its fifth straight SEC game. Kevin Overton hit 5-7 of his threes while scoring 25 for the Tigers. Dailyn Swain led Texas with 30 points.

Mississippi State (11-10, 3-5 SEC) 80, LSU (13-8, 1-7 SEC) 66: Mississippi State jumped out to a 30-10 lead in the first half and cruised past LSU. Josh Hubbard scored 15 points to lead Mississippi State, while Max Mackinnon had 15 for LSU.

Saturday’s games

Texas A&M (16-4, 6-1 SEC) at Georgia (16-4, 4-3 SEC)

Texas (12-8, 3-4 SEC) at Oklahoma (11-10, 1-7 SEC)

Mississippi State (10-10, 2-5 SEC) at Missouri (14-7, 4-4 SEC)

LSU (13-7, 1-6 SEC) at South Carolina (11-9, 2-5 SEC)

Kentucky (14-7, 5-3 SEC) at No. 15 Arkansas (16-5, 6-2 SEC)

No. 18 Vanderbilt (18-3, 5-3 SEC) at Ole Miss (11-9, 3-4 SEC)

Tennessee (13-6, 3-3 SEC) at Auburn (13-7, 4-3 SEC)

Sunday’s game

No. 23 Alabama (14-6, 4-3 SEC) at No. 19 FLORIDA (14-6, 5-2 SEC)

SEC in kenpom.com analytics rankings: 8. FLORIDA 15-6; 12. Vanderbilt 18-3; 17. Alabama 14-6; 20. Tennessee 14-6; 22. Arkansas 16-5; 26. Auburn 14-7; 32. Kentucky 14-7; 33. Texas A&M 16-4; 34. Georgia 16-5; 35. Texas 12-9; 51. LSU 13-8; 59. Missouri 14-7; 61. Oklahoma 11-10; 73. Ole Miss 11-9; 83. Mississippi State 11-10; 87. South Carolina 11-10

WORST TO FIRST IN THE SEC

16. Oklahoma (11-10, 1-7 SEC): Fans can be heard chanting “Fire Porter Moser!” The situation is grim.

15. South Carolina (11-10, 2-6 SEC): Buzzards are circling the athletic facilities. Lamont Paris is on life support.

14. LSU (13-8, 1-7 SEC): Dedan Thomas is back, but the Tigers aren’t playing any better.

13. Mississippi State (11-10, 3-5 SEC): Road kill away from The Hump and if Josh Hubbard isn’t making shots, the Bulldogs get lit up at home, too.

12. Ole Miss (11-9, 3-4 SEC): Too many holes in the Rebels’ roster but the main problem is a lack of size and inside scoring.

11. Missouri (14-7, 4-4 SEC): Tough at home, toast on the road.

10. Texas (12-9, 3-5 SEC): The Longhorns have plenty of firepower. They can’t play a lick of defense.

9. Kentucky (14-7, 5-3 SEC): Denzel Aberdeen is the only point guard and Jayden Quaintance’s bad knees may keep him out for awhile. Translation: Kentucky is in deepest and darkest.

8. Georgia (16-5, 4-4 SEC): The Bulldogs are tough to beat at Stegman, but they can get their doors blown off on the road.

7. Alabama (14-7, 5-3 SEC): The Charles Bediako saga will continue Sunday, but a new judge has been assigned to take over the case. If the NCAA wins this one in court will Bama have to forfeit any games Bediako has played?

6.  Tennessee (14-6, 4-3 SEC): To follow up their road win at Georgia, the Vols go to Auburn Saturday. They desperately need a win if they’re going to stay within shouting distance of the league leaders.  

5. Auburn (14-7, 5-3 SEC): The Tigers get Tennessee Saturday, which will be a rather good measuring stick for how far they’ve come. Keyshawn

4. Vanderbilt (18-3, 5-3 SEC): Duke Miles will miss significant time with a knee injury. Does Vandy have the players to compensate?

3. Texas A&M (16-4, 6-1 SEC): The Aggies are at Georgia Saturday and Alabama next Wednesday. The schedule is about to get considerably tougher. It’s sink or swim time for Bucky Ball.  

2. Arkansas (16-5, 6-2 SEC): John Calipari gets Kentucky in Fayette Nam Saturday. The place is going to be a zoo. Cal has the Razorbacks playing like a top four seed in the NCAA brackets.

1. FLORIDA (15-6, 6-2 SEC): If the Gators performance against South Carolina is an indicator of things to come, then the rest of the Southeastern Conference is in a heap of trouble. The Gators played like a team capable of winning championships. The trick will be to replicate the effort night after night in the final 10 SEC games before tournament time kicks in.