The Florida Gators basketball team made a complete turnaround in style of play on Saturday. After defeating Auburn in a 114-95 shootout on Tuesday, the Gators had to hold on to come away with a 57-52 win at Mississippi State.
The game was centered around sound defense and not-so-impressive offense from both teams. Florida finally found some momentum in the second half of the game, to take a twelve-point lead, but Mississippi State came storming back to tie the game at 52 with 2:24 remaining. The Gators answered with a clutch offensive rebound and layup by Kevarrius Hayes to go ahead and strong defense to finish the game.
“We’ve been able to find different ways to win different games, and it’s been different guys night in and night out and today’s just another example,” said Mike White. “You’re coming off a game that was an absolute track meet, and today was a game in which it was equally as intense. Two teams played just as hard as the track meet the other day at Auburn, but the flow was just so much different.”
It was the first game since John Egbunu went down with a torn ACL, so Florida’s defense was in question. Led by Hayes, the defense showed maturity in filling the hole left by the biggest defensive presence on the team.
While the Bulldogs finished with a 36-22 advantage in points in the paint, the Gators took better control inside in the second half of the game. Florida held Mississippi State to 36 percent (22-for-61) from the field and just nine percent (2-for-23) from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs came into the game third in the SEC in three-point field goal percentage.
The Gators outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-38. While Devin Robinson did not score a single point on the night, he joined Hayes to lead the team with 10 boards in the game. Hayes was just one point shy of a double-double, as he had nine points. His biggest contribution came with four blocks in the second half, including one in the final minute to keep Mississippi State from tying the game.
“Defensively, for us to dig deep for all 40, to defend the three like we needed to, to steal this one,” White said. “Kevarrius Hayes really stepped up for John. I thought from the tip we got over the injuries. It’s been an emotional week for all of us, but we played with some maturity today defensively.”
Just two players had double-digits for Florida. Chris Chiozza had 14 on a 6-for-8 performance that included 2-for-3 from long-range. KeVaughn Allen came up big in the early going to keep the Gators in the game early while they were off to an extremely slow start. He finished with 11 points.
Kasey Hill became the 52nd member of Florida’s 1,000-point club, as he posted the exact number he needed, with nine points in the game.
While the Gators weren’t great offensively, they came up with just enough to win, which is what they have seemingly been doing a majority of the season. Florida just finds a way to win games, good or bad.
The Gators have now won eight consecutive games, which is their longest streak of the 2016-17 season. The streak will become a little harder to keep going this week, as Florida faces rematches against its two top competitors for the top spot in the SEC. South Carolina will come to town first, before the Gators head to Kentucky for the weekend game.
If the Gators can find a way to win both games in the coming week after all of the recent adversity they have faced, then the remainder of the season should be something special to watch.