Gators Wake Up in the Second Half to Blow Out Merrimack

For the final 15 minutes Tuesday night at the O-Dome, Todd Golden got a much better glimpse of the team he hopes the Florida Gators will become in the future. The first 25? For the most part, rather forgetful.

After an unimpressive first half in which Florida (5-3) trailed Merrimack 31-30 and an opening five minutes of the second half that looked like more of the same, the Gators awakened from their slumber. Tied at 37-37 with 15 minutes to go, the Gators doubled up Merrimack the rest of the way for a 77-57 win before an announced crowd of 6,813 fans who spent a good portion of the game wondering if they were watching the same team that went toe-to-toe with national powers Virginia and Baylor in recent weeks.

In those final 15 minutes, the Gators made shots, moved the basketball, dominated the backboards and played tough, in-your-face defense. Instead of what appeared to be a half-hearted effort for 25 minutes, the Gators looked every bit like a team capable of winning a lot of games.

“We did a better job taking care of the ball, imposing our will on them and just kind of reminding our team that hey, we have the capacity to be good, but we ain't there yet,” Golden said postgame. “We got a lot of growth to do. The last 15 minutes of the game is more a representation of what I want our team to be obviously as opposed to the first 25 minutes."

With 9:18 left in the first half, the Gators found themselves trailing the Warriors by 10, 21-11. It wasn’t until 56 seconds remained in the half that the Gators took their first lead at 30-29 on a pair of free throws by freshman Alex Condon, whose 9-point, 4-rebound effort allowed UF to keep it close.

Five minutes into the second half, the Gators were playing at that same lethargic style that got them into trouble in the first 20 minutes, but things changed after the under-16 media timeout, particularly on the defensive end. It’s not that Merrimack was playing at a high offensive level. The Warriors shot only 37 percent from the field in the first half and were only 2-9 to start the second, but the intensity obviously picked up, particularly on the perimeter.

Merrimack hit 3-24 from the 3-point line, 3-12 in the first half and 0-12 in the second. Merrimack’s Devon Savage hit a 3-ball with 12:41 left in the first half. The Warriors missed their next 18 3-point attempts.

With the defense getting after it, Florida’s offense kicked in a different gear. Starting with a 3-pointer by Walter Clayton Jr. with 14:57 to go in the game that gave the Gators the lead for good at 40-37 the Gators overpowered the Warriors at both ends of the floor. Clayton scored only five points in the first half, but the junior transfer from Iona scored 21 second half points, hitting 8-11 from the field overall and 3-4 from the 3-point line.

Once Clayton heated up, the game picked up for everyone else. Zyon Pullin scored all 10 of his points in the second half. Tyrese Samuel, held to four in the first half, finished with 11 and Condon added three points and 12 rebounds in the second half to finish with his first career double-double, 12 points and 16 rebounds.

"I thought we just dictated the tempo of the game a little better,” Golden said. “In the first half, they were controlling it. It was a little slow-paced, back and forth. They were able to run good stuff against us in the halfcourt because they were really organized, but once we started to get stops it allowed us to get out and transition get some easier baskets.

“Once we started to build a little bit of a lead I thought that made them tighten up a little bit and then they missed a couple shots and we got however many stops in a row that allowed us to get that thing over 10. Once that happened, I thought we kind of settled in and played pretty well from that point forward."

Merrimack was an undersized team without a single scholarship player who could dent the Florida roster, but the Warriors gave the Gators all they could handle for more than half the game. After the first media time out of the second half, Florida was clearly dominant in every phase.

It was a very animated Golden during that time out. Obviously, it got the attention of his team.

“We try to be super, super consistent with our effort and our intent regardless of our opponent,” Golden said. “I didn't think we were good enough that way for the first 25 minutes of the game or whatever it was. So we talked about that and making sure of that regardless of the opponent. I think Merrimack's a pretty good team, in terms of what they do and they have an identity, they're well coached, they have a plan and we obviously didn't execute very well at all in the first half and they outplayed us. I thought second half rolled around I thought we did a better job playing with more emotion, playing with more effort, getting on the glass, controlling what we could control.”

Next up for the Gators is a matchup with Richmond (5-3) of the Atlantic 10 Conference in the annual Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise.

Game notes: Condon (12 points, 16 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 block) and fellow freshman Thomas Hauck (7 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal) were outstanding, particularly on the backboards, where the Gators had a commanding 57-33 margin. Led by Condon with nine, the Gators hauled in an impressive 24 offensive rebounds … The Gators scored 18 points off Merrimack turnovers, outscored the Warriors 25-8 on second chance points and 23-6 off the bench.

SEC basketball

Tuesday’s scores: FLORIDA (5-3) 77, Merrimack (4-6) 57; No. 17 Tennessee (5-3) 87, George Mason (7-2) 66; Georgia (6-3) 76, Georgia Tech (4-3) 62; Ole Miss (8-0) 77, Mount St. Mary’s (2-6) 68

Wednesday’s games: South Carolina (7-0) at No. 24 Clemson (7-0); San Francisco (5-3) at Vanderbilt (4-4); DePaul (1-6) at No. 21 Texas A&M (6-2)