Florida Gators basketball defeats West Virginia

Emotions ran high from the start as the Florida Gators basketball team defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers 88-71 on Saturday afternoon in Gainesville.

Before the game even tipped off, competition was starting at midcourt when some pushing and shoving between the two teams led into the National Anthem.

Emotions stayed high as center John Egbunu won the tip off and Dorian Finney-Smith hit a 3 just 11 seconds into the game. It gave Florida a lead that they wouldn’t give up.

The Mountaineers were able to follow quickly with a layup to make it a one-point game—the closest they would get—but two shots from downtown by freshman guard KeVaughn Allen made it 11-2 and the Stephen C. O’Connell Center found a decibel that it would maintain for much of the day, thanks in part to two dunks from Egbunu before the under-12 timeout.

For a 1:07 stretch of time, it was all about Dorian Finney-Smith, as he hit a corner 3 at 10:07 and then took over like the senior leader he is at 9:06. After working down deep in the shot clock with a game of keep away, Doe finally took a pass from Chiozza and flew in for the emphatic dunk to make it 29-15. He led all scorers with 24 points and joined the Gators 1,000 point club.

As the clock wound down on the first half, Florida found it’s unicorn for the day as Brandone Francis-Ramirez hit the sweet spot to nail a shot from beyond the arc that he’d been searching for for months. He was 5-40 coming into today. He just needed that one to open up though and he ended the day 3-3 from deep for 9 points total. Four more free throws and a layup by Hill sent the Gators to the locker room with a 45-30 lead.

WVU came out re-energized to start the second half and that meant drawing fouls left and right. At the under-12 timeout, Florida had 10 fouls compared to WVU’s four, including one on KeVaughn Allen that took a review to determine and was still heavily contested by those in attendance. As the half wore on though, Florida found it’s way back the line, where they flourished, somewhat uncommonly to finished 24-31 (71%). From 3:52 in the first half to 0:45 left in the second half, the Gators did not miss a free throw.

With 3:09 to go KeVaughn Allen seemed to put an exclamation point on the day with a 3 that made it 81-67. He ended the day with 19 total to continue his stretch of double-digit games.

Chris Chiozza wasn’t to be outdone though as he followed with his own long ball from the top of the key—he finished with 10 points and six assist—and the Gators headed to the under-4 timeout with a 84-67 lead and only 2:23 left to finish off the No. 9 Mountaineers.

Dorian Finney-Smith had one last point to make to those that called the Gators underdogs in the game, and with just over a minute left he sunk a long 3 from press row as the shot clock buzzer sounded to make it 87-67.

From there the Florida fans started shaking the keys and WVU got the message. The Gators ended with a resounding 88-71 win over West Virginia in the SEC vs. Big 12 Challenge.

The Florida Gators basketball team will stay at home and face Arkansas on February 3. The game tips at 7pm on SEC Network and as always, follow along with GatorCountry.com for full updates and coverage.

Kassidy Hill
Born into a large family of sports fanatics and wordsmiths alike, sports journalism came natural to Kassidy. It’s more than a passion; it’s simply a part of who she is. Hailing from Alabama in the midst of typical Iron Bowl family, she learned very quickly just how deep ties in the SEC could run. She came to Gainesville after college to pursue a degree as television sports reporter but quickly realized she missed writing. She’s excited to now marry the two aspects for Gator fans. She loves Jesus, her daddy and football; wants to be Billy Donovan’s best friend and firmly believes that offensive lineman are the best people on earth. Follow her on Twitter @KassidyGHill