Home again, Gators take down Saint Francis in a 102-61 romp

Micah Handlogten finishes with a dunk (UAA Photo)

The Gators (7-4) won a nothing to prove game at the O-Dome Wednesday night. Beating Saint Francis was almost a given, the final margin 102-61 irrelevant. Had Todd Golden played his starters more – none of them played more than 25 minutes – it would have been dial-a-score. To the announced crowd of 9,023 and perhaps the starters watching the last minutes from the bench the most exciting moment came with 42 seconds left when Olivier Rioux took a bounce pass from CJ Ingram and dunked while barely leaving his feet becoming the tallest (he’s 7-9) player to ever make a basket in college basketball history.

That the Gators were going to win this game was about the closest thing you’ll ever get to a mortal lock. Still it was good to be back home for the first time in nearly a month and after slogging their way through a brutal schedule, the Gators needed a punching bag to take out their frustrations. Saint Francis complied and the Gators did their part by making 58.1 percent of their shots and 37 percent from the 3-point line. Defensively, they held the Red Flash to 39.7 percent overall and 3-16 (18.8 percent) from the 3-point line.

“Obviously a game that we expected to win coming into it and a big part of the message to the guys was taking advantage of the opportunity to compete, back in our home gym,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “We haven’t been here for a while and just make sure that we take advantage of the opportunity. I thought we did that. We didn’t play great, but systematically pretty well. I thought we defended pretty well, held them under 40 percent from the field. Only gave up three makes behind the line. Kept them off the foul line. Rebounded well, plus-24 there. Had some late turnovers that were more a function of just kind of some goofy lineups that probably aren’t used to playing a whole lot together. But I thought overall our ball handling was pretty good, so we’ll take it, and you know big picture-wise, didn’t have to play anyone more than 25 minutes. We should be able to get refreshed and recalibrated going into this Colgate game on Sunday.”

Of the more significant developments was the continued revival of Xaivian Lee’s shooting touch. For the third straight game he led the Gators in scoring (18 points) and he did it shooting a very efficient 7-9 from the field that included 2-4 from the 3-point line. This was a very nice follow up to the George Washington game in which he scored 24 and hit 4-8 from the 3-point line.

Lee turned in a solid floor game and once again showed his continuing improvement on the defensive end.

“My whole life I’ve kind of been like an offensive player,” Lee said. “I wouldn’t call myself a defensive liability, but that’s probably what I was in comparison to my offensive talent. A couple weeks back we played Duke and I was thinking, ‘I’m the most confident defender I’ve ever been in my entire life right now,’ so there’s a positive in that. I just try to dig in, prove that I can play both sides of the ball when my shot’s not falling. I’ve got to control what I can, so I’ve been trying to guard a little better.”

Golden was impressed with Lee’s game at both ends of the floor.

“Yeah, he’s defended hard for us all year,” Golden said. “He’s done a really good job taking away shooters. He’s quick, does a good job recovering and getting through screens and he’s been mentally tough enough to do it so far. So, I’ve been really pleased with him on that end. And obviously the offense is coming around. He had another really efficient game tonight.”

Lee continued to excel with his floor game. He maneuvers easily through traffic, rarely turns the ball over and finds open shooters.

“He’s just got a really good handle,” Golden said. “He’s got that really innate ability to change speed, change directions quickly and he’s confident and comfortable in tight spaces. He’s just a really talented offensive player.”

In addition to Lee, five other Gators reached double figures. Alex Condon had 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and three blocked shots. Rueben Chinyelu scored 12 to go with 11 rebounds, the seventh time this season he’s had double figures in rebounding. Boogie Fland (4 assists) and Urban Klavzar each scored 11 while Micah Handlogten scored 10 (8 rebounds).

Condon played well. He blocked shots and rebounded on the defensive end, started the fast break on several occasions and didn’t force anything at the offensive end of the floor. Saint Francis tried to load up the defense in the paint, almost daring the Gators to make outside shots, so for much of the game, Condon was a facilitator.

“When teams are guarding us like this, he’s got to be an assist guy,” Golden said. “He hasn’t tried to go score through a double team and make it more complicated. Some nights when they do that, he’s going to be the assist guy in our offense. He did it again tonight. He did a really good job being efficient, picking his spots.”

Klavzar, Handlogten and sophomore Isaiah Brown (matched a career high with 9 points) were part of a 42-point night from the bench. Brown seems to be taking over as the eighth man in the rotation but Golden is still tinkering with his bench to find the right combinations.

“Honestly, it’s going to sound really simple, but when those guys come in the game, we just want the score to go the right way,” Golden said. “I don’t necessarily care if they’re scoring. The non-negotiables are defending, rebounding and taking care of the ball, but we don’t need a guy to come in and be like a spark plug offensively. We need those guys to come in and make sure that the level doesn’t drop.”

Next up for the Gators is Colgate at 12 noon Sunday.

SEC BASKETBALL

No. 13 Vanderbilt (11-0) 77, Memphis (4-6) 70, OT: The difference in this game was the foul line where Vandy converted 31 of 40 attempts compared to a 20-26 night for Memphis. Leading scorer Duke Miles had 22 points on a poor shooting night from the field (5-16 overall, 0-5 from three) but he hit 12-13 from the foul line to go with four rebounds, five assists, six steals and a blocked shot.

No. 16 Alabama (8-3) 104, South Florida (6-5) 93: Labaron Philon Jr. had 29 points and seven assists while Aden Holloway scored 24 off the bench as Alabama won a shootout with South Florida.

Ole Miss (7-4) 80, Alabama A&M (6-5) 66: Malik Dia led Ole Miss with 27 points despite going 6-13 from the foul line. Dia went 3-5 from the 3-point line and pulled down seven rebounds.

Thursday

Western Carolina (4-6) at No. 25. Georgia (9-1)

Friday

Southeastern Louisiana (4-7) at LSU (9-1)

Saturday

No. 8 Houston (10-1) vs. No. 14 Arkansas (9-2) in Newark

No. 21 Auburn (8-3) vs. No. 6 Purdue (10-1) in Indianapolis

No. 22 St. John’s (7-3) vs. Kentucky (7-4) in Atlanta

Memphis (4-6) at Mississippi State (6-5)

Sunday

Colgate (6-5) at No. 23 Florida (7-4)

No. 13 Vanderbilt (11-0) at Wake Forest (9-3)

Kennesaw State (8-3) vs. No. 16 Alabama (8-3) in Huntsville

Gardner-Webb (1-12) at No. 20 Tennessee (8-3)

Ole Miss (7-4) at North Carolina State (8-4)

East Texas A&M (6-5) at Texas A&M (8-3)