Gators take down Mizzou, 95-81, advance to SEC semifinals

Alijah Martin slams home an alley-oop dunk (UAA Photo)

Friday night in Nashville, the Florida Gators had one of their least memorable games in the last month. The Gators turned the ball over 16 times which Missouri converted into 22 points. Usually one of the best rebounding teams in the country, the Gators gave up 18 offensive rebounds which Missouri converted into 20 second chance points.

And despite these rather critical deficiencies, the 4th-ranked Gators (28-4) walked away with a 95-81 win over Missouri (22-11) in the quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.

The Gators will play No. 6 Alabama (25-7) in the semifinal round today at 3:30 p.m. (ESPN). In the first semifinal game, No. 1 Auburn (28-4) will face 8th-ranked Tennessee (26-6) at 1 p.m. (ESPN).

“I think an area where we did a poor job was being organized after made baskets,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “We had a couple different guys taking outlets. We weren't getting our spacing right, getting set. We had some careless and uncharacteristic turnovers. We stepped out-of-bounds twice in the corner. Back foot, one-handed passes. Things we generally do a really good job of we just didn't do a good enough job of tonight.”

The Gators rank among the top teams in the country in rebounding, but for the first 30 minutes, Missouri held the upper hand. It wasn’t until the final 10 minutes when Tommy Haugh and Alex Condon literally took over the paint that the Gators turned what seemed surefire white knuckles into a frenzy of body blows and counter punches that left Missouri in a battered heap.

“We weren’t at our best on the glass today,” Golden said, an understatement if ever there was one. “We were not at our best taking care of the basketball, but we did a lot of great things as well.”

Great teams find ways to compensate when they encounter issues in vital areas. The turnovers and rebounding problems would have done the Gators in if they hadn’t countered by shooting 61.8 percent overall from the field and outscoring Missouri 27-12 from the 3-point line. Missouri, which relies heavily on 3-point shooting, was 4-16.

When Missouri beat the Gators 83-82 at the O-Dome back on January 14, the Tigers went 11-29 from the 3-point line with Caleb Grill hitting 6-10 as part of a 22-point night. Stopping Grill and knockdown shooter Jacob Crews were priority items on Florida’s plan to win.

“Tonight we obviously made a clear emphasis to try to limit their 3-point shooting, specifically 31, Grill, 35, Crews,” Golden said. “We thought if we limited their attempts that we'd be in really good shape or give ourselves the best chance to win.

“We did do that. We held them – I think they were 0-4 combined in the first half. Grill got going in the second half with a couple of big shots. We fouled him on one 3-point attempt. We wanted them to try to beat us inside the 3-point line. A part that did not help us that way was our inability to get rebounds defensively tonight … Limiting their three-point shots definitely gave us the best chance to win tonight, and our guys did a great job of taking that away from them.

Although the Gators didn’t dominate Missouri on the backboards the way they did the previous three opponents (Florida had 140 rebounds in wins over Texas A&M, Alabama and Ole Miss), Tommy Haugh and Alex Condon owned the paint and the backboards in the final 10 minutes.  

It was those last 10 minutes when the Gators simply overwhelmed Missouri. Up until that point, Missouri had all the momentum and the Gators seemed way out of sorts at both ends of the court. With 10:17 to go the Gators hit rock bottom. It began with a shot clock violation, then 15 seconds later the issue was compounded when Rueben Chinyelu committed his fourth foul to put the Tigers in the one-and-one. The Gators were struggling and Mizzou had a clearcut advantage both offensively and defensively.

Oddly enough, the game turned on a missed free throw. With a chance to whittle Florida’s 70-64 lead down to four, Mizzou’s Peyton Marshall missed the front end of that one-and-one, Condon rebounded and shook off whatever was affecting them.

Just like that, the Gators found their mojo.

It began with an Alijah Martin layup on a pass from Condon. Thirty seconds later Martin rattled the rim with a dunk off an alley-oop pass from Will Richard to put the Gators back in front by 10, 74-64. Missouri called time out to regroup with 9:02 remaining but their confidence was clearly shaken. Although they got back within five at the 7:02 mark, the Gators were just catching fire.

Missouri was running on fumes and had no answers when Condon and Haugh began slicing and dicing up the Tigers on both ends of the floor. Until that point, Missouri had managed to hold its own although undersized. When Condon and Haugh elevated their games, the Tigers didn’t have the size nor the talent to slow down the Gators, who outscored Missouri 20-6 the rest of the way.

This was a good win for the Gators, but every win at the SEC Tournament is a good win, even those that you don’t execute at the highest levels. Three days from now no one will remember the shooting percentages, the rebounding totals or the number of turnovers. Not many will remember the final score, but all wins look like blowouts when it comes to the won-lost records.

Game notes: All-American Walter Clayton Jr. led the Gators with 18 points. He also had three rebounds, six assists, blocked shot and two steals … Will Richard had 17 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal while Alijah Martin had 17 points, two rebounds and three assists ... Haugh had 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a steal … Condon had nine points, eight rebounds, two assists and three blocked shots.

SEC Basketball

Friday quarterfinals

No. 3 Auburn (28-4) 62, Ole Miss (22-11) 57

No. 8 Tennessee (26-6) 83, Texas (19-15) 72

No. 4 FLORIDA (28-4) 95, No. 22 Missouri (22-11) 81

No. 6 Alabama (25-7) 99, No. 15 Kentucky (22-11) 70

Saturday semifinals

No. 8 Tennessee (26-6) vs. No. 3 Auburn (28-4), 1 p.m., ESPN

No. 6 Alabama (25-7) vs. No. 4 FLORIDA (28-4), 3:30 p.m., ESPN

SEC Bracket Busting

No. 6 Alabama (25-7): Alabama made a case that it should be a No. 1 with a blowout win over Kentucky Friday night. Now the Crimson Tide has to face Florida, which has beaten them three straight times dating back to last season. Currently, Joe Lunardi of ESPN has the Crimson Tide as No. 2 in the Midwest, playing the first game in Lexington. Jerry Palm of CBS is sending them to Lexington as well, only as No. 2 in the East.

Arkansas (20-13): Both Lunardi and Jerry Palm have Arkansas in the East. Jerry Palm has them No. 10 playing in Lexington, which should send numerous Kentucky fans to the ER complaining of apoplexy. Lunardi has Arkansas a No. 10 in Cleveland.

No. 3 Auburn (28-4): Both Lunardi and Jerry Palm have Auburn as No. 1 in the South, starting NCAA play in Lexington.

No. 4 FLORIDA (28-4): Lunardi and Jerry Palm have the Gators No. 1 in the West, starting NCAA Tournament play in Raleigh.

Georgia (20-12): Lunardi has Georgia going to Wichita as a No. 9 while Jerry Palm has them going to Milwaukee as a No. 10.

No. 15 Kentucky (22-11): Prior to getting blown out by Alabama in the SEC quarterfinals, Lunardi had Kentucky as No. 4 in the South, first game in Denver. Palm placed the Wildcats No. 4 in the Midwest, first game in Providence.

Mississippi State (22-12): Jerry Palm has the Bulldogs No. 9 in the East in Milwaukee. Lunardi has them No. 9 in the East opening in Raleigh.

No. 22 Missouri (22-11): Jerry Palm has the Tigers No. 6 in the South, their first game in Providence. Lunardi has them No. 7 in the South playing in Providence.

Oklahoma (20-13): The Sooners’ first NCAA game will be in Raleigh as a No. 9 seed per Jerry Palm. Lunardi has them a No. 10 in the West, first game in Cleveland.

Ole Miss (22-11): Two wins in Nashville elevated Ole Miss to No. 6 in the Midwest for Lunardi, opening in Milwaukee. Jerry Palm has the Rebels on his No. 5 in the West starting in Denver.

No. 8 Tennessee (26-6): The Vols are on the No. 2 line for both Lunardi and Jerry Palm. Lunardi has them in the East opening in Cleveland. Jerry Palm has them No. 2 in the Midwest, first game also in Cleveland.

Texas (19-15): The Longhorns are squarely on the bubble after losing to Tennessee in the SEC quarterfinals. Lunardi has them the first team out and Jerry Palm has them No. 4 in his first four out.

No. 14 Texas A&M (22-10): Lunardi dropped the Aggies down to No. 4 in the Midwest, first game in Denver. Jerry Palm has them in Denver, but as a No. 3.

Vanderbilt (20-12): The Commodores are in danger of getting bumped if there are some upsets today and tomorrow. Currently Jerry Palm has the Commodores No. 10 in the West, first game in Wichita while Lunardi has dropped them down to No. 11 in the East, first game in Providence.