The Florida Gators improved to 13-6 (3-3 SEC) after defeating Mississippi State (13-6, 2-4 SEC) 79-70 inside the Stephen O’Connell Center on Wednesday night. While Todd Golden’s squad is still searching for that signature quad one win, they added a critical quad two win to their resume following their victory over the Bulldogs.
Prior to this matchup, Mississippi State ranked 36th in KenPom while the Gators ranked 41st. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had the Bulldogs slotted as a nine seed in the NCAA Tournament and had the Gators as ‘next four out’. Although there’s plenty of basketball left, there’s a chance these two teams will be fighting for a postseason bid come end of season, making Florida’s victory over Mississippi State that much sweeter.
Will Richard’s dominant first half
Junior guard Will Richard was my player of the game, recording a team high 23 points on 8-15 from the floor and 4-7 from three-point range. 18 of Richard’s 23 points came in the first half, where the Georgia native helped Florida jump out to a nine-point lead at halftime.
Richard finished one point shy of his career high (24) while adding nine rebounds (four offensive), two blocks, and two steals.
“I think he had his best game as a Gator tonight,” Golden said on Richard’s performance. “He created some second chance opportunities for us early in the game that led to some points and got us going a little bit.”
“He gave us a really great game tonight. He’s continuing to get more comfortable getting into SEC play. He’s been playing pretty well; I expect him to continue to do that.”
Richard posted a plus-minus of nine, the second highest in the game for the Gators (Riley Kugel, 10).
“[I was] just taking what the defense gave me,” Richard said postgame. “Not trying to force anything, I was just trying to find myself in the right spots. I know [Zyon Pullin] found me a lot of shots, I was just trying to get open and find shots to get in a rhythm.”
Limiting Tolu Smith
A major talking point heading into this SEC matchup was the star power of Mississippi State’s forward Tolu Smith. Not only was he averaging 24 points throughout his career against Florida, but he had been torching opposing teams since returning from injury this season, recording 15+ points in each of his last four SEC games, including 23 against No.5 Tennesse, 26 against No.8 Kentucky, and 25 against Vanderbilt.
Florida held Tolu Smith to 10 points on 5-12 shooting while limiting the 6’11, 245 pound forward to just two free throw attempts (0-2), which was perhaps the biggest surprise as Smith ranked No.1 in the SEC in free throw rate in 2023, according to KenPom. Smith also had four turnovers and five fouls in the contest.
“That’s about as well as anybody’s guarded him all year, you know, and he got us early a little bit, but we doubled him and made him see bodies every time he had catches and, you know, we felt like if we didn’t allow him to get as close to the rim as he wanted that it would run them off the line. He only shot two free throws,” Golden said on limiting Smith.
“The double bothered him,” Golden added. “Bother him, force some turnovers, it just made him not as aggressive on his catches going to the rim.”
While Smith did record a double-double in the contest, he felt like a non-factor outside of the first few minutes of game play.
Late push from the Bulldogs
The Gators led by 17 with 8:51 left to play before Mississippi State went on a 14-3 run, cutting Florida’s lead to just six points with 3:15 remaining. It seemed as if Florida had lost their aggressive play style while sitting on a comfortable lead on their home court.
“We got caught in an area where we want to break the press, we want to stay aggressive, but at the same time, you got a big lead, you don’t want to be too aggressive,” Golden said on the Bulldogs’ second half push.
“To their credit, they played with no fear of failure the final eight minutes of the game,” Golden added. “We tightened up a little bit. On me, I need to make sure my guys understand I want them to continue to be aggressive and attack.”
Due to the lack of aggression on offense, Florida connected on just one of their last ten shots and didn’t record a basket in the final four minutes of play. However, it was the Gators free throw shooting, which has been a problem at times this year, that kept Florida afloat in this one.
Florida connected 10 of their last 11 free throws including eight straight to close out the game.
“They were very critical,” Golden said on Florida’s late game free throws. “Condo makes his, like you guys said, eight to 10 free throws down the stretch to ice it, and never allowed them to get super, super tight in the final four minutes.”
Notables
- Florida committed a season-low seven turnovers, as Will Richard’s season-high 23 points paced the Gators and team-leading nine rebounds matched his most as a Gator.
- UF built a 17-point lead and staved off MSU’s rally, thanks in part to clutch free throw shooting. The Gators went 17-for-20 from the charity stripe in the game, including 13-for-14 in the second half.
- Walter Clayton and Zyon Pullin each chipped in 15 points, while Pullin committed zero turnovers in 35 minutes of action handling the ball.
- Tyrese Samuel added 12 points and eight boards to round out UF’s double-figure scorers.
UP NEXT
Florida will take on Georgia on Jan. 27th at 12:00 PM EST inside the Stephen O’Connell Center.
8 in a row 10-11
SECOND HALF 10-0 run