It wasn’t the prettiest game you’ll ever going to see with all kinds of fouls and missed shots coloring the stat sheet but it was one that saw the Florida Gators command and clear lead early and steadily build it throughout the second as they beat the Miami Hurricanes 82-68 on a neutral floor in Jacksonville. Both teams had slow starts as at this point of the season it appears each team’s defense is ahead of their offense, but as the Gators continued to frustrate the Hurricane offense they started to put some points up themselves and Miami simply couldn’t keep up. For a Florida team that wants to play an uptempo, free-flowing style this game was far from their picture of ideal, but they’ll be happy to get a solid win in a game that was dragged into the mud. With the win, the Gators improve to 3-1 on the season.
Bullies Up Front
As is the case in most games Florida had a clear depth and size advantage in the frontcourt and they used it to bully Miami on the interior with both post ups that finished in layups or on the offensive glass. Leading the way in this category was Alex Condon who had 19 points and 7 rebounds, with Rueben Chinyelu just behind at 16 points and 12 rebounds. Condon was able to use his speed in transition to establish position early to the point where when he caught the ball it was a simple pivot and lay-in, while Chinyelu used his huge frame to brute force his way to the front of the rim and finish with a hook shot. The one negative part of these two’s performance was that both fouled out after picking up some silly fouls they regretted, but luckily their play put the Gators so far in the lead that it didn’t matter. It wasn’t the best game for Florida’s backcourt with Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee finishing with a combined 13 points and 6 assists, so it really was the frontcourt that did the heavy lifting in this win.
Spark Plug
It might have been a slow night for Fland and Lee, but picking up the slack was Slovenian point guard Urban Klavzar who had his best game of the early season finishing with 15 points and 2 assists. Most notably was the fact that he went 4-7 from the three-point line which felt like water in the desert for a Florida team that has struggled greatly from the three-point line (which was somewhat the case again tonight–Florida was 9-29 as a team, with Fland and Lee combining to go 0-10). Like most of his teammates Klavzar had struggled to shoot the ball to start the season but with his long track record of proven shooting in Europe you knew that eventually the shots would start falling and seeing the ball effortlessly leave his fingertips and find nothing but net against Miami was a sight for sore eyes. His 2 assists might not jump off the page, but both were absolute beauties of set ups for teammates as he also showcased his vision.
Lockdown D
A few Gators had solid offensive performances but really this win was all about Florida’s work on the defensive end. Miami was held to 34% shooting from the field with 10 total turnovers, and it never felt like they were comfortable on the offensive end particularly when the game slowed down. A solid defensive team who can create turnovers the Hurricanes got a lot of their offense in transition after steals or long rebounds, but when it got to be a halfcourt game the Gators did a good job of keeping everything front and finishing possessions with great contests at the rim or on jump shooters and it resulted in their best defensive performance of the year. Head coach Jai Lucas prides himself on defense and built a roster of largely defense-first players, so this wasn’t a high-powered offense by any means–but the Gators saw who was in front of them and handled them properly. Malik Reneau, a former Florida commit who is clearly Miami’s best offensive player, did finish with 22 points but he did it on 8-23 shooting with 3 turnovers and those are all numbers that Florida should be extremely happy with.
Final Thoughts
So far this season it looks like the Gators won’t be the high-powered offense that they were last season, but their defense could still cause their opponents huge issues with their length all around the court. You have to think at some point Florida’s threes will start falling at a much higher rate, but for the time being they have proved they can win games with their defense and rebounding and that will have to be the positive message they take from the win over Miami. The Gators will reset completely for a very unique matchup–a game with Merrimack, a team that plays essentially 100% of their possessions in a 2-3 zone.