With several upsets going on around the country on the opening night of college basketball, it looked like the Florida Gators might end up being another one added to the list after a rough start against FGCU on Friday night. The first 25 minutes of the game were a back and forth battle between the Gators and the Eagles, and FGCU looked like the more energized team.
This to be a slow starting team based on the early-goings from preseason and the first game of the season, but the final 15 minutes of the 80-59 win was all Florida. A few nice stops got the Gators into a rhythm and from that point their size and speed was too much for the Eagles. After going down 50-45 in the first four minutes of the second half, John Egbunu hit a baseline hook, followed by back-to-back scores from Canyon Barry to start a 15-0 run for the Gators.
“I think that our intensity level definitely picked up, you could see that,” said head coach Mike White. “I would hate to think that we weren’t playing as hard as we could for those first 25 minutes of the game. I think that it’s probably more of gaining some confidence after we got our first couple defensive stops and really just settled in.”
One player who helped get Florida’s defense going was sophomore Kevarrius Hayes. His career high five blocks led the Gators, as they finished with nine on the night. He also scored nine points and was two-for-two shooting and five-for-five from the foul line in his 14 minutes coming off the bench. Hayes struggled with free-throws last season, as much of the team did, so it was a good sign to see him have success there. His career game was no surprise to White, who has been sitting back waiting for Hayes’ moment to come.
“He was really good,” said White. “He’s honestly been like that every day this fall. He got stronger during the summer. He gained a bunch of muscle, worked really hard, and he’s one of these guys that when he walks in the gym you know he’s in the gym because of that infectious energy that he’s got. It’s every day. Him and Justin Leon are the two guys that just have crazy motors and you saw what it can do for Kevarrius Hayes tonight.”
Turnovers were another key to Florida’s success in the game. The Gators finished with a 19-7 edge in the turnover margin and turned those opportunities into 24 points. No Florida player had more than one turnover on the night. “Against a team that is as solid as they are defensively, against a team that pressures the ball with the amount of speed and quickness that they have, for us to have seven turnovers I thought was definitely a positive,” White said.
Florida was lucky to come away with a win at a neutral site against a very good program that was in the NCAA Tournament last season. A majority of the first part of Florida’s season is going to be the exact same way, so the Gators are going to have to find a way to stick it out without a home court until the end of December. “It was such a unique scheduling situation for us this year. Do you normally wanna open up with Florida Gulf Coast on a neutral floor? No. Very fortunate to beat such a good team away from the rowdies, but I think that they showed there for 23 minutes that a lot can happen in college basketball. There’s just so much parity. There’s so many good players.”