On a night to honor Florida’s seniors the Gators were able to send them off with a convincing win, taking down the lowly LSU Tigers by a score of 79-67. With LSU sitting at last in the SEC there wasn’t a lot for them to play for at this point and the Gators, trying to climb a couple spots in the standings, were able to draw on the energy of the crowd and outperform the Tigers. As has been the case for multiple weeks now, Riley Kugel was outstanding once again and led the Gators with 21 points and 3 rebounds, dominating any defender that was trying to keep their feet in front of him on the perimeter. The Gators will now await the outcome of a few more games in the league to figure out what seed they will have entering the SEC Tournament.
Slowly Gaining Momentum
Offense has been a major issue for the Gators all season long but they have shown small steps in improving on that end in recent weeks, culminating with a solid performance against LSU scoring 79 points. Yes, LSU is not a juggernaut on the defensive end, but the Gators were still able to look crisper than normal with their sets and decisions once they gained an advantage and they finished the game with 1.16 points per possession, a number that you wish they could have hit in many more games this season. This was helped by a 40% clip from three, something the Gators haven’t had in a long time and something that will be encouraging for them moving into conference play. Riley Kugel is providing an offensive spark as a perimeter player that can get into the paint seemingly at will, and Will Richard has provided steady shooting and the occasional explosive burst finishing with 18 points and 6 rebounds.
Steady On D
After spending much of the SEC season playing excellent defense things started to fall apart for the Gators who had a stretch of poor defensive games in recent weeks. That wasn’t the case on Saturday as the Gators played stout defense, not allowing the Tigers to get any momentum and keeping star center KJ Williams in check. He did finish with 19 points, but he did it on manageable 6-13 shooting and the Gators didn’t let him create wide open looks for teammates and they kept him from shooting the pick and pop threes he is elite at with him only taking two and missing both. The only area of defense where they struggled mightily was on the defensive glass where the Gators gave up 17 offensive rebounds, something that easily could have allowed the Tigers to score a load more points.
Looking Healthier
Since coming back from a concussion, Alex Fudge hasn’t looked like himself. This was a really disappointing injury for him as he was playing great ball before suffering the injury and since then he has struggled to defend anywhere close to the level he was at before while also not providing the explosive athletic bursts he was known for. He did look considerably better on Saturday playing 19 minutes (his most since the middle of January) and finishing with 6 points and 6 rebounds. Right now the Gators are desperate for someone who can compete on the glass and he did his best on Saturday, showing he was willing to take contact which was something he wasn’t able to do immediately after returning from the head injury. If he’s healthy and able to play at close to full, he’ll get a lot of minutes and a considerable role for the Gators in however many games they have left.
Final Thoughts
Playing against the bottom team in the SEC the Gators were able to take care of business which is about all you can ask for given the circumstances. It was encouraging to see them play well defensively as if there is any chance they’re going to go on a bit of a run in the SEC Tournament they’ll need to play solid defensive basketball. This win was big for the Gators in that it improved them to 16-15 on the year, giving them a great shot at finishing the season at least .500–and while it’s fairly arbitrary, not having a losing season is pretty big in the eyes of a young team.