Great Escape! Gators Improbably Survive LSU, 82-80

photo credit + Florida Gators UAA X

As the clock whittled down to the final seconds Tuesday night at the O-Dome, LSU ran a little give-and-go between 6-6 Jordan Wright and 7-footer Will Baker. Wright to Baker, who drew the attention of Riley Kugel and Walter Clayton Jr. Baker to Wright, who found himself unguarded in the lane, just a step or so outside the block/charge semicircle because Alex Condon took two steps toward LSU’s long range bomber Tyrell Ward all alone on the left wing.

Perhaps Wright was startled that he was so wide open or maybe he panicked, thinking he didn’t have enough time to take a step forward for a layup or a dunk. Instead, with two seconds remaining in regulation he tossed up a floater that grazed the rim. There was still time to try to tip it back up but by then Florida defenders convened and somehow the ball wound up in Condon’s hands as time expired.

Disbelief among the LSU players and bench. Incredulous joy on the part of the Gators who somehow had pulled off a great escape, 82-80, victory.

“He had enough time for an easy layup and he missed” is how Tyrese Samuel described Wright’s moment of indecision. Probably any other night, Wright jams it home to send the game into overtime. But not this one.

Missed buzzer beater jumpers are part of the nightly college basketball landscape, but taking a floater in the lane when there’s more than enough time for a surefire layup or a dunk?

That’s a new one, even for a team that has routinely turned almost certain blowout wins into the kind of affairs that bring about heart failure, apoplexy or whatever else leaves fans clutching their chests. This was a 20-point lead the Gators squandered, not the record this season, mind you – the Gators blew a 21-point lead the day they beat Georgia in overtime back in January – but a grim reminder that a team that can look Final Four capable can, in the same game, look like it took its basketball lessons by email and the email inexplicably wound up in the spam filter.

“Obviously really pleased with the outcome,” Todd Golden said. “Not pleased with the recurring theme of some of our second halves lately, but it’s just not as simple as ‘Hey, you know, we got to do some things better.’ In the big picture, you know, we’ve been playing really good ball, won six out of the last seven in one of if not the best leagues in America, and we’re building these double-digit leads against really good teams.” 

Back on Saturday, the Gators led Auburn by 29 but they finished with a 16-point win. The Gators have held and blown big leads against Kentucky, Mississippi State, Wake Forest and Texas A&M, four teams that figure to play in the NCAA Tournament in March. So, yes, the Gators are building big leads against rather good teams but they need to finish the job. They seem to lack the will to remove the 9-inch stiletto from their bag and repeatedly stab the life out of opponents ready to take that last gasp.

Florida led LSU 60-40 with 15:31 left in the game on a 3-pointer by Clayton. At the under-16 media time out, LSU coach Matt McMahon changed the dynamics of his zone defense. The change in tactics made penetration by Florida’s guards more difficult, but there were still open shots to be made.

The problem was the Gators missed them. The Gators launched 11 threes in the second half, nine of them SCUDs. LSU, meanwhile, began to heat up after McMahon altered his defense. The Tigers mounted their comeback from the 3-point line – 6-9 in the second half – put themselves in position to leave the O-Dome with a miracle comeback win when Ward’s high-arching 3-pointer from just left of the top of the key tied the score at 78-78 with 1:33 left.

Ward gave the Tigers a shot at the lead on the ensuing possession when he came up with a steal but he missed a contested layup that Alex Condon rebounded for UF. Down at the other end, Samuel was fouled trying to stick back a Riley Kugel miss but only one of his two free throws found the mark.

Looking to take the lead with a score at its end of the court, LSU’s Jalen Cook tried to break down Zyon Pullin on the left wing, but Pullin’s quick hands flicked the ball away. Diving on the floor to recover possession, Pullin raised up enough to pass the ball forward to Samuel who sprinted ahead of the pack. Two dribbles later, Samuel gave it up to Clayton barreling down the right side for a layup and an 81-78 lead with 20.9 seconds to go.

“I thought Tyrese was going to take it, but he dishes to Walt, and made a really tough contested layup that could have been an and-1, probably, and just a winning play down the stretch by a winning player,” Golden described the play.

From outstanding defense to a defensive breakdown, the Gators gave up an all-but uncontested layup to Wright with 10.9 seconds to go, cutting the margin to 81-80. On the inbounds play, the Tigers fouled Condon and the freshman managed only the first of two, setting up the floater that wasn’t.

For 25 minutes in this one, the Gators played like a team that will pillage and plunder whoever stands in their way. In the final 5:29 of the first half, starting with a 3-pointer by Will Richard that gave the Gators a 33-26 lead, Florida erupted for an 18-8 run to close out the half. A monster windmill dunk by Clayton and a two-handed stuff by Kugel energized the crowd that nearly blew the roof off the O-Dome when Pullin nailed a 3-ball with a little more than two seconds left for a 48-34 lead at the intermission.

The talk in the locker was about a fast start offensively to keep the pressure on the Tigers and running LSU off the 3-point line at the defensive end. The 12-6 start out of the gate that gave the Gators a 60-40 lead accomplished the fast start Golden was looking for but defending the 3-point line was problematic.

“I thought we did a really good job probably from like the 12-minute mark in the first half to the end of the first half to really guard them and score, built that 14-point lead,” Golden said. “And then again, second half. I think they made five threes in the first half, five of 12, and I said I don’t want any more threes in the second half, we can’t give them any more threes.

“Well, they got six, and it almost cost us the ballgame, so, I just think we were a little fatigued down the stretch. We got away from ourselves a little bit but found a way.”

The Gators are now 17-7 overall, 7-4 in Southeastern Conference play. With seven games remaining in the regular season, the bare minimum for the Gators to get into the NCAA Tournament is three wins. That would put Florida at the 20-win threshold in the regular season and 10 in SEC play. Both Joe Lunardi of ESPN and Jerry Palm of CBS Sports project the Gators as a No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Next up: The Gators travel to Athens Saturday to face former UF coach Mike White and Georgia (14-10, 4-6 SEC) in a 1 p.m. encounter (SEC Network).

Game notes: Clayton led the Gators with 21 points on 9-15 shooting but only 1-6 on threes. Samuel finished with 15 points, seven rebounds three assists, a steal and a blocked shot, while Pullin had 14 points, four rebounds three assists and two steals. Condon had nine points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots … The Gators were 33-68 shooting from the floor but only 4-17 from the 3-point line. From the foul line, the Gators were 12-20 … Florida outrebounded LSU 43-29 including 19 offensive rebounds … The Gators finished with nine blocked shots and six steals … UF limited turnovers to eight while forcing 10 LSU miscues … The Gators had a 46-28 advantage scoring in the paint and a 20-12 margin on second chance points … LSU shot 28-55 overall, 11-21 from the 3-point line and just 13-21 from the foul line … Wright and Baker led LSU in scoring, each with 16 while Ward and Cook each scored 12.

SEC BASKETBALL

Tuesday’s scores: FLORIDA (17-7, 7-4 SEC) 82, LSU (14-10, 4-7 SEC) 80; No. 22 Kentucky (17-7, 7-4 SEC) 75, Ole Miss (18-6, 5-6 SEC) 63; Vanderbilt (7-17, 2-9 SEC) 74, Texas A&M (15-9, 6-5 SEC) 73

Today’s games: No. 11 South Carolina (21-3, 9-2 SEC) at No. 13 Auburn (19-5, 8-3 SEC); No. 8 Tennessee (17-6, 8-3 SEC) at Arkansas (12-11, 3-7 SEC)

SEC in KenPom analytics: 5. Auburn; 6. Alabama; 7. Tennessee; 26. Kentucky; 29. FLORIDA; 32. Mississippi State; 42. Texas A&M; 44. South Carolina; 62. Ole Miss; 83. LSU; 84. Georgia; 119. Arkansas; 144. Missouri; 198. Vanderbilt