Florida added a resume boosting win on Saturday in Gainesville as they laid a beatdown on the #21 ranked Tennessee Volunteers winning 91-67. It was a slow start as both teams were feeling each other out from the tip, as this was a battle between two teams with a somewhat similar playstyle ready to see who would have the edge. In the final minutes of the first half Boogie Fland caught fire which opened up a double digit lead for the Gators, and the offensively challenged Volunteers simply didn’t have enough firepower to stay in the game. Tennessee has been one of the top defensive teams in the country this season though you wouldn’t know it with how the Gators were able to get loose, and the 91 points was the most the Volunteers have allowed all season. This is the type of performance that can make a team come alive, and the Gators will hope they can carry this momentum on with a winning streak.
Breakout Game
Boogie Fland has taken a lot of criticism this year for his inability to make a jump shot, but he was feeling the frustration more than just about any fan could and he took that frustration out on Tennessee for what very well could have been the best game of his career. Finishing just shy of his career high in points with 23, he also added 5 assists, 3 rebounds, and 4 steals, and he played a massive role in giving the Gators their first big lead that they simply had to coast with the rest of the game. Notably, Fland went 3-6 from three and looked confident taking them, and also showed a lot of touch in the midrange where he hit pull-up after pull-up every time he broke down a defender and got to the inside. Fans and media, in their intense criticism of Fland due to his offensive struggles, have often lost how he has been tremendous defensively and that was also on display as he locked down Tennessee star Ja’Kobie Gillespie. Gillespie was able to finish with 12 points, but they largely came on broken plays or when the game was all but decided, but in the first half he couldn’t get anything going as Fland had him locked down. This performance has to feel like a one tonne weight off of Fland’s back and he’ll hope to carry it through the rest of SEC play.
Strength On Strength
Entering Saturday’s game one of the major storylines was how this was the battle of #1 versus #2 in offensive rebounding, which is also indicative of the strength of both teams being their interior size and strength. In this battle of two teams with similar toughness and physicality, it was the Gators who were able to win handily. Florida finished with 12 offensive rebounds which is far from their season high, but impressively they were able to hold Tennessee to just 6. Winning the battle on the boards so decisively would have likely won the game for the Gators even without the scoring breakout of a few of the players, and that’s what has established the team as one with such a high floor. Not only winning the rebounding battle inside, the Gators also were +8 in points in the paint, a number that doesn’t even seem close to how much it seemed like Florida was able to score at will while also providing a ton of resistance on the other end.
Depth Scoring
All season long the Gators have been looking for some consistency up and down the lineup offensively and they had arguably their most well-rounded performance of the season against Tennessee with six players finishing in double figures. First, it was Fland’s huge run that kicked off the offense, then it was Urban Klavzar coming off the bench to drill threes and provide a spark. Xaivian Lee, Alex Condon, and Thomas Haugh started to steadily drip in points during the start of the second half, and then when the game was all but decided, Rueben Chinyelu decided to leave no doubt and start dominating in the final ten minutes ensuring that there would be no Tennessee comeback. Chinyelu finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds with his work coming in the trenches, with Condon finishing with 11 and 7, Haugh finishing with 13 and 3, Lee finishing with 10 points, and Klavzar shooting it well for 15 points. If the Gators can get this kind of depth scoring with one of their guards really stepping up like Fland did, their offense could turn around quickly, and the fact that they were able to do this against a quality defense will also do wonders for their metrics.
Final Thoughts
Sometimes a win is a win, and other times a win is accomplished with style points and it can be the type of game that fuels a run. Often when the Gators had won games up until this point it didn’t necessarily seem like they played that well on their way to a W, and some of the problems seemed to come out when they’d later play a quality opponent and lose. Well, the Gators just played a solid team in Tennessee and played their best basketball of the season, playing well on both sides of the court and getting production from all around the lineup. Florida has to be thrilled with how they played, and will be as confident as they have been all season as they now look towards Oklahoma.
Flames erupt from the backboard during the first half as the Florida Gators mens basketball team hosts the University of Kentucky Wildcats at Exactech Arena in Gainesville, Florida. February 22nd, 2023. Gator Country Photo by David Bowie.