Wednesday’s game went off without a hitch for the Florida Gators as they were able to lead for the entirety of the game against the Saint Francis Red Flash and win without any drama with a final score of 102-61. The Saint Francis program is in a bit of a difficult spot with the administration announcing a move to division-3, something that greatly affected their ability to recruit in their last year of D-1. Entering Wednesday’s game the Red Flash were 362nd in the country according to KenPom so you could have always expected this game was going to be a bit of a blowout, but it was up to the Gators to take care of business without letting anything slide and they were able to do that. With the win, they now improve to 7-4 and will prepare for another buy game opponent in Colgate.
In playing a matchup like this it was apparent that Florida could win on brute strength alone, but given how the team has struggled to find offensive rhythm so far it was important to them that they could use this opportunity as a chance to work on some deficiencies and they were able to do that, finishing the game shooting 62% from the field and 37% from the three-point line, something that the team will hope starts the turnaround from what has been a crooked shooting start to the season. They did have 15 turnovers, and while several did come at the end of the game when it was well into garbage time–there were some of the same issues that the Gators have had against much better opponents as players showed poor timing or angles when making certain passes.
Leading the way in scoring was Xaivian Lee who is starting to string together some strong offensive performances, and what made his 18 points even more impressive was the fact that he shot an extremely efficient 7-9 from the field including 2-4 from three–meaning he made all 5 of his shots from two point range. In this performance he was able to take some steps forward in a couple of areas he has struggled with so far in finishing at the basket and hitting threes off the catch, and Florida hopes the opportunities to get these looks in a game like Wednesday’s will be a confidence builder.
Boogie Fland was also able to have a solid 11 point, 4 assist performance while being dominant on the defensive end as he continues to build confidence.
Perhaps the most notable element of this game was the play of the bench as Todd Golden was able to really empty it out and let everyone get minutes. Urban Klavzar, who is one of the bench pieces in the regular rotation, was playing with all kinds of swagger offensively on his way to 11 points that included some nifty ball handling moves, some patented swished threes, and even a two-handed dunk, something that no one could have expected from the guard listed quite generously at 6’1”.
Of the young players vying for a more regular spot in the rotation, it was Isaiah Brown who had the best showing. In 15 minutes he had 9 points and he was able to showcase a number of his skills as a driver, shooter, and even as a cutter where he was able to catch a lob from the baseline. Going just 1-4 from three he would have hoped to hit just one more of those attempts, as he is checking a lot of boxes for what Florida needs on the wing right now.
In terms of really seldom used players, Olivier Rioux was able to get on the floor after the Rowdy Reptiles chanted his name from about the 6 minute mark, and he had the crowd roaring after throwing down a dunk–the kind of play that everyone in attendance was waiting for.
Alex Kovatchev also got into the game and hit a pure trail three, a shot that he was so confident in he started backpedalling the moment it left his hands, something that isn’t so easy to do for a player that spent much of the game on the bench.
Victor Micic also got in on the fun hitting his only three-point attempt, rounding out what was a lot of production from the end of the bench.
When playing one of the lowest ranked teams in college basketball there aren’t a ton of takeaways, but Florida was happy to open up a huge scoring margin that allowed them to get their bench in the game and build some confidence. They’ll have a slightly more challenging test on Sunday when they take on Colgate, the best of their remaining non-conference opponents.