South Carolina was able to keep the game close for the first twenty minutes but in the second half Florida completely took over, winning the final half 51-34 to come away with a huge 88-67 win. Florida’s lineup saw a number of lineup changes with Alijah Martin and most notably Micah Handlogten returning while Alex Condon and Sam Alexis were out, but despite the new rotation the Gators looked like a cohesive unit that didn’t have any issues with the lowly Gamecocks that remain winless in the SEC. With the win, Florida improves to 22-3 on the season and 9-3 in the SEC remaining in the mix for a regular season championship.
Using His Chance
With Alijah Martin out the last few games Denzel Aberdeen saw his role drastically increase and even with Martin’s return Saturday head coach Todd Golden chose to keep Aberdeen in the starting lineup. Taking full advantage of his opportunity, Aberdeen had a career night with 22 points on 8-12 shooting to lead the Gators and earn him a career high in points. Aberdeen’s number one tool was the three-point shot as he was a deadly 5-7 from deep, and it looks like he has found his favorite spot on the floor. A number of his threes came from the left corner which has been one of his top spots this season and shooting pure from that spot once again establishes it as his hot zone. It’s likely that Golden will want to get Martin back in the starting lineup eventually though Aberdeen is going to make it extremely hard if he keeps up this level of play. Of course, even if he comes off the bench he’ll have a big impact with the second unit–especially if he shoots the three like this.
Welcome Back
After being out since March 17th of last season Micah Handlogten made his much awaited return to the Gators much to the thrill of the O’Dome faithful who loudly cheered for the center as he checked into the game. You could see the joy in his eyes as he entered the game and there was no time getting him back involved as he played a big role. If you had any question about if Handlogten was ready to be incorporated that was answered with 20 minutes on the floor, a high number for a season debut and one that shows Florida’s training staff has no concerns about his health and safety. While Handlogten did a lot of what he did last year as a lanky center crashing the glass, he most notably looked a lot more comfortable passing the ball than he did last year as a sophomore. All the time watching from the bench seemingly allowed him to see the offense in a new light and he was able to make some more advanced passes than we saw a year ago, finishing with an astonishing 5 assists from the center position. This was a career high in assists for Handlogten who only peaked at 3 assists a year ago and 4 while he was with Marshall, and this is an element of his game Florida’s staff will be very happy to see.
Three-Point Barrage
Entering Saturday’s game Florida was 139th in the country in three-point percentage but they’ll get a bump in that category after a huge 14-28 mark, one of the best shooting nights of the season. As previously mentioned Aberdeen went 5-7 to lead the way but the Gators really spread around the shooting with 3-6 from Thomas Haugh, 2-6 from Walter Clayton, 3-5 from Alijah Martin, and 1-2 from Urban Klavzar to get marksmanship from up and down the roster. Florida is a team that wants to dominate the glass and have an interior presence so when they shoot like this you can see why they can win in blowout fashion.
Final Thoughts
South Carolina gave the Gators a lot of issues in their first meeting of the season but you wouldn’t have known it with how Florida controlled Saturday’s game. The Gators have to be extremely encouraged by the play of Denzel Aberdeen, as well as the health of Handlogten who looks to have no issues after playing 20 minutes–much more than you’d expect for a player in his first game in 10 months. While there was a lot to like, perhaps the most positive takeaway is the amount of joy the Gators played with. Florida played loose, moving the ball unselfishly and getting fired up at their teammates’ success, with players often smiling and turning to the bench to celebrate after a bucket. With their upcoming game against an Oklahoma team that’s lost 5 of their last 6, Florida will have a great chance at getting another big win.