Florida took a positive step forward towards their NCAA Tournament dreams on Saturday, taking care of business on the road in Athens and beating the Georgia Bulldogs by a score of 84-72. Athens native Phlandrous Fleming, energized by playing in front of friends and family, played one of the best games of his career finishing with 27 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists, powering the Gators to a win they desperately needed. With the win the Gators are back to .500 in the SEC at 8-8, staying in the mix for a finish in the top third of the SEC standings. Entering Saturday’s game with Bulldogs were 211th in the NCAA’s NET rankings meaning this isn’t exactly a resume boosting win for the Gators, but it is certainly a land mine they avoided as if they would have lost their at-large hopes would have been completely dashed. Florida will now prepare for the Vanderbilt Commodores on Tuesday who started the day one spot behind the Gators in the SEC standings.
Career Night
Phlandrous Fleming was on fire from opening tip to the final buzzer, pouring in 27 points that seemed to be sprinkled evenly throughout the game. He hit pull up jumpers, driving layups, and powerful transition dunks on his way to huge statistical production on efficient 11-18 shooting. The exclamation point was Florida’s final possession of the game where he isolated at the top of the key, stepping back into a deep three-pointer that got nothing but net. Florida has missed a go-to perimeter scorer this season and if they can get more production like this out of Fleming their ceiling becomes much higher. Fleming’s career high in points is 35 which he got last year with Charleston Southern playing in an overtime game against Presbyterian in the Big South tournament, but you can take your pick as to what was a more impressive game for him.
Hot Shooting
While it was Phlandrous Fleming who led the way in scoring he wasn’t the only Gator to have a productive offensive game as the Gators finished 14-31 from three, or 45%. That marks one of their best shooting games of the season, something that will hopefully give them confidence moving forward after struggling from behind the arc for much of the season. Tyree Appleby had 21 points on 5-9 shooting from three while Myreon Jones also was solid at 3-8 for 13 points. One of the reasons the Gators were able to get so many open threes was the play of Colin Castleton who was attracting double teams every time he got the ball in the post which he willingly passed out of to open shooters. His 5 assists were a career high and his unselfishness helped make everything flow for Florida’s offense.
Taking Care
Turnovers have been a huge issue for the Gators recently but you wouldn’t know it with how they played against Georgia as they were dispossessed only 6 times. Georgia was looking for turnovers with traps and double teams but the Gators navigated them well all game long, and even played in transition more than normal without making too many mistakes. This was another encouraging element of the game for Florida who is doing their best to peak at the right time–just before the NCAA Tournament where they can save their season with a couple of big wins.
Final Thoughts
Florida was expected to beat Georgia, a lowly team at the bottom of the SEC, but they did it in convincing fashion that should be encouraging. This isn’t a win that’s going to drastically change their NCAA Tournament outlook but the fact they won by more than they were expected to while playing efficiently offensively should help their NET ranking (which will be updated early Sunday morning) and hopefully position themselves slightly better going into the final weeks of the season. Florida should also be ecstatic about the play of Phlandrous Fleming, and if he can keep some of that scoring mojo going they will look much better on the offensive end–the side of the floor that has been their biggest issue so far this season. The Gators now will prepare for Vanderbilt in another game that could sink their NCAA Tournament hopes if they were to lose.