The SEC Tournament semifinal game between the Florida Gators and Alabama Crimson Tide was competitive for twenty minutes but when both teams came out in the second half it was all Florida as the Gators ran away with it and ultimately won by a score of 104-82. At the break it was 47-45 for the Gators and it looked like it was anybody’s game, but with forward Grant Nelson going out for the Tide and a tired looking group remaining the Gators smelled blood in the water, winning the second frame 57-37 putting an exclamation point on the game and their bid for a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The 104 points scored by the Gators was a season high, capped off with a driving layup by walk-on Bennett Andersen that had the bench and Florida fans in a frenzy. The Gators now move on to play Tennessee in the SEC Tournament championship game.
Bombs Away
Oftentimes when it comes to a tournament on a neutral site there are concerns regarding the ability to make shots given the huge venues and unfamiliar sightlines. Well, that wasn’t the case on Friday and it wasn’t the case for the Gators on Saturday either as they went ballistic from deep shooting 12-27 from three (44%). What made the number even more impressive is that seven different Gators were able to hit from three illustrated just how many shooters the Gators have and how they’re able to stretch out a defense. Against Missouri the Gators shot 38% from deep so clearing they are feeling themselves from deep and that will be fantastic for their confidence on Sunday as well as into the NCAA Tournament.
Defensive Adjustments
Florida was able to come away with the win against Alabama in the regular season but their defense wasn’t particularly good and they wanted to make some changes with how they guarded, particularly when it came to protecting the downhill drive. In the regular season meeting the Gators were willing to give up drives if it meant taking away shooters, but they made an adjustment in this one to be much more concerned with protecting the paint which had tremendous results. Alabama was held to 42% shooting, and perhaps what showed Florida’s excellent defense even more was their 8 steals. Many of these steals resulted from the Gators being perfectly in the gap or passing lane during the drive with an Alabama player throwing the ball right to them–a mark of an excellent defense.
Under The Radar
With Walter Clayton scoring fancy isolation buckets, Will Richard lighting it up from the outside, and Alex Condon facing up and driving the ball it was easy to miss the performance of one of Florida’s glue guys–Rueben Chinyelu who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The rebounds you won’t be surprised by, but what was excellent to see was the points he scored on the inside. At the start of the season Chinyelu struggled to put the ball in the hoop, and even when he had wide open layups oftentimes the ball would come off his hand far too hard and explode off the backboard. Steadily he has made improvements and that was shown on Saturday with a number of gentle hook shots he made around the rim that showed tremendous touch. This will hopefully be the exact performance he needs to keep up his confidence on the inside.
Final Thoughts
Alabama has proven themselves to be a tremendous club and the Gators went in and completely dominated them, particularly in the final twenty minutes where it didn’t even look like these two teams belonged on the same floor. It looks like the Gators are playing their best basketball at the perfect time, and we’ll find out if that’s true tomorrow when they take on Tennessee.