With a 76-54 win over Mercer on Sunday night, the Florida Gators basketball finished the first weekend of the season with a 2-0 record. After having a nice second half against FGCU on Friday night, Florida played in opposite fashion with a more notable first half against Mercer.
The Gators closed out the first half with an 18-2 run. It started with a pair of Justin Leon free-throws and was then led by a three-pointer from Devin Robinson. Kevarrius Hayes, who had five blocks last game, followed it with a block on the other end to set up a fast-break layup from KeVaughn Allen. Canyon Barry contributed to the run with another three and Florida continued to pour on a few more scores from there to end the half.
Much of Florida’s success can be attributed to a nice night of rebounding. A total of 20 offensive rebounds led to 24 second chance points for the Gators, and 16 of those points came in the first half.
“I tip my hat to our guys,” said Mike White. “The last 15 minutes of the first half, we were on it defensively. We were really good. If we’re gonna be a really good team, which we have the potential to be a good team, you’ve gotta do that for 40 minutes.”
Playing solid the entire 40 minutes was not something the Gators were able to do. After dominating the first half, Florida’s defense slacked off and allowed Mercer to find a rhythm for the first time in the game. The Bears had just 14 points in the first 20 minutes and finished with 40 points in the second half.
While there were some struggles in the second half, several Gators had a strong night against the Bears. Leon was the player of the game with a career-high 17 points, including 3-of-5 from three-point range, and five rebounds. He scored 16 against Texas A&M last season. Following the game, he claimed he did not even realize he had set a new career-high. That is what White wants from all of his players.
“You want all your guys thinking that, staying in the moment, moving onto the next play, doing your job, letting it come to you, and then after the game go over and look and the stat sheet and have no idea how many they scored,” said White. “You want everyone on your team with that mentality.”
Allen was just behind Leon with 13 points and had a career-high five assists on the night. While he had a much better night after scoring just six points against FGCU on Friday, he still has not played up to his potential this season. His shot from practice has not transferred over to the games yet this season, but White believes it is only a matter of time before it comes. “Every time KeVaughn shoots it, I think it’s going in,” he said. “It might be a fault of mine, but I want him to be really aggressive. Even though he’s just starting his sophomore year, I’ve seen him in practices and games score a lot of points… He’s shooting it better this year than he was a year ago.”
White was very impressed with his team in a night that several players got the opportunity to play in the game. There was no pouting coming from the bench, instead there were teammates cheering for the players who were on the court. “You could hear our bench a bunch,” White said. “I’m not sure if you all noticed it, but in a gym that was a little bit abnormally quiet, I thought that even on a night when four or five guys that played significant minutes didn’t play their best, you could hear our guys chirping at each other and rooting each other on.”
It wasn’t about individual stats, it was about the overall good of the team and some guys getting much needed experience. Every single player who made it on the court scored at least one point. Gorjak Gak, Keith Stone, and Eric Hester all scored for the very first time of their careers in the game.
Selflessness is something this Florida team worked hard on this offseason and it looks like the team is headed in the right direction. Another major improvement the Gators have made so far this season is free-throws. The worst free-throw shooting team in the SEC last season is looking like one of the best to start this season. With an 80% free-throw percentage against Mercer, Florida scored 24-of-76 points off of free-throws.
There is plenty of good to take away from Florida’s opening weekend. A perfect start against two very good mid-major programs at a neutral site is not a bad way to get the season underway. The Gators will look to find some balance this week before heading to Lakeland, Fla. To take on St. Bonaventure on Thursday.