UConn made it physical but Gators responded and advance

Alijah Martin thunders home a second half dunk (Photo by Chris Spears)

RALEIGH, NC – For a little more than 34 minutes Sunday afternoon Dan Hurley’s strategy to frustrate the Florida Gators was working quite well. There wasn’t anything complicated about it. From the opening tap until Florida’s veteran backcourt took the game over, the game was played with a brass knuckles mentality.

“We dragged them into a game that was the only way to give ourselves a chance to win,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said.

It almost worked. It probably would have worked except for the experience and maturity of Walter Clayton Jr., Will Richard and Alijah Martin, who combined to score 20 of Florida’s final 25 points to lead the No. 1 seeded Gators (32-4) to a 77-75 win over the 8th-seeded Huskies in a West Regional game at the Lenovo Center.

“That’s the benefit of having three great senior leaders in the backcourt and some young, hungry frontcourt players that will give their all to compete on every single play,” Florida coach Todd Golden said after the Gators had punched their ticket to San Francisco for the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. Florida will play No. 4 seed Maryland Thursday night.

The win was exceptionally memorable for Golden, who in three years has revitalized the Florida basketball program, taking the Gators to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2017. But it was more than that. UConn came into the game winners of its last 13 NCAA Tournament games and the last two national championships. Derailing UConn’s quest for a third straight national title was just one more statement win in a season that is beginning to feel more and more like the Gators have a date with destiny in San Antonio in a couple of weeks.

For most of the game, the Gators struggled to deal with physicality. In a first half that ended in a 31-31 deadlock, the Gators turned the ball over nine times and gave up nine offensive rebounds. While at least five Florida shots defied gravity and wouldn’t go down, UConn hit two 3-pointers a tenth of a second ahead of the shot block.

This was a Murphy’s law first half for the Gators. Although the score was close throughout, the Gators couldn’t shake free of the Huskies. Some of it had to do with physical play and hedgeouts that kept Clayton and Richard from getting good looks at the basket and the Gators from getting the ball inside to the bigs. Martin, with 14 points, seemed to be the only Gators with answers.

No doubt the Gators left plenty of points on the floor with nine first half turnovers and UConn’s nine offensive rebounds, most of which came on long tapouts to the perimeter. Think of the turnovers and rebounds as the equal of 18 empty possessions.

Walter Clayton Jr. scores on a drive (Photo by Chris Spears)

“I thought we had some uncharacteristic errors in the first half and not just with ball handling and turnovers but with rebounding,” Golden said. “Offensive execution … we weren’t ourselves the way we needed to be in the first half.”

The Florida funk continued in the second half. UConn maintained a four to six point advantage until a fortuitous three by Richard with 6:45 that trimmed UConn’s lead to 55-54 and served as the beginning of a shift in momentum. From that point on, Richard, Clayton and Martin took the game into their own hands.

“We made winning play after winning play down the stretch in the last six minutes after about 34 minutes of it not looking like it was going to go our way,” Golden said.

With 4:03 left, a pair of UConn free throws gave the Huskies a 61-58 lead. Shaky for sure, but the Gators needed to string together scores on their end of the court, stops on the defensive end. It wasn’t until the 2:54 mark when Florida finally landed a combination of punches that saved the day.

It started with a highly contested 3-pointer on the right wing by Clayton that put Florida ahead 62-61. Then came the defensive play of the game. Florida showed press but the Huskies got the ball to Liam McNeely on the left side of the court. McNeely seemed to break the pressure, but Richard trailed his dribble, reached out and poked the ball away. The moment Richard saw Alex Condon was going to retrieve the ball, he streaked toward the Florida basket. Condon secured the ball and launched a high outlet that Richard caught like a wide receiver, then dunked for a 64-62 lead.

Will Richard sets up a jump shot (Photo by Chris Spears)

“I was just trying to make a play on the ball,” Richard said. “Condo did a great job of recognizing once he got the ball, then just getting the ball out so we got a finish.”

The Huskies would tie up the game on a Solo Ball 3-pointer, but the Gators started making plays. Condon made the first of a pair of free throws with 1:52 to go but Martin tipped the ball out to Clayton who was fouled. Two free throws later and the Gators were up 67-64.

A stop, a rebound by Richard and another 3-point bomb by Clayton made it 70-64 with 1:07 to go.

“Credit Clayton,” Hurley said. “He made some NBA-level threes off the dribble to beat us. It took that for someone in this tournament after winning obviously a bunch in a row here.”

There was still enough time on the clock for Hurley to try to turn this into a foul-a-thon. Condon was fouled on a rebound with 43.4 seconds left after the Gators got a stop. Both his free throws clanked off the rim, but on the second, Martin somehow snaked in for the rebound, went up and delivered a thunder dunk that made it 72-64 with 40 seconds left.

“I can’t remember exactly what happened but he [Martin] somehow caught it with nobody within 10 feet of him around the rim and he was able to dunk it,” Golden said.

And a good thing he did because UConn wouldn’t go down without a fight. It wouldn’t have been close if the Gators had knocked down free throws in the second half. Florida went 15-27, 10-17 in the final 10 minutes. Couple the misses with 12 turnovers and 14 offensive rebounds allowed, and we have a white knuckles finish that should have been a blowout win.

No matter how it finished, however, the Gators came away with a win that moves them along in the tournament. The three seniors had plenty to do with it. Clayton finished with 23 points, hitting 5-8 from the 3-point line and 6-7 from the foul line. Martin had 18 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Richard, who scored only two in the first half, had 15 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Although the bigs didn’t score much, they were big contributors on the defensive end and they did their part on the backboards in the second half. Haugh had seven points, seven rebounds and two assists. Condon had five points, seven rebounds and four assists. Chinyelu had six points and seven rebounds.

While the Huskies did a good job limiting Florida’s shot attempts from the 3-point line, the Gators hit 9-19. Florida held UConn to 8-29 from the 3-point line.

For a change, this wasn’t a Florida blowout, but it was the kind of game that proved once again the Gators adapt to whatever style the opponent wants to play. UConn wanted a rock fight and got it. The Gators would have preferred a fast up-and-down tempo, but on this day, they had to tough it out against a team determined to win nasty.

UConn gave the Gators its best shot. The Gators absorbed one body blow after another but once the Huskies had punched themselves out, the Gators responded with winning plays. It wasn’t pretty but it was a win and that is all that matters.

Two games down, four games to go for a national championship.

SEC Basketball

Sunday’s scores

West Regional

1 FLORIDA (32-4) 77, 8 UConn (24-11)

East Regional

2 Alabama (27-8) 80, 7 Saint Mary’s (29-6) 66

Midwest Regional

3 Kentucky (24-11) 84, 6 Illinois (22-13) 75

South Regional

6 Ole Miss (24-11) 91, 3 Iowa State (25-10) 78

Sweet 16 schedule

Thursday

West Regional (San Francisco)

4 Maryland (27-80 vs. 1 FLORIDA (32-4)

10 Arkansas (22-13) vs. 3 Texas Tech (27-8)

East Regional (Newark)

4 Arizona (24-12) vs. 1 Duke (33-3)

BYU (26-9) vs. 2 Alabama (27-8)

Friday

South Regional (Atlanta)

5 Michigan (27-9) vs. 1 Auburn (30-5)

6 Ole Miss (24-11) vs. 2 Michigan State (29-6)

Midwest Regional (Indianapolis)

4 Purdue (24-11) vs. 1 Houston (32-4)

3 Kentucky (24-11) vs. 2 Tennessee (29-7)