Gators point guard Tyree Appleby has a flare for the dramatic.
A couple of weeks ago, his long three-point shot at the buzzer beat Ohio State.
On Sunday in Brooklyn against Maryland, he scored all 15 of his points in the second half, with all of them coming on three-pointers. He knocked down back-to-back shots in a span of eight seconds to cut the Terrapins’ lead to one with just under six minutes to go.
With 1:14 remaining, he buried a contested three from the right wing that gave the Gators the lead.
However, with six seconds left, the No. 20 Gators were once again trailing, 70-68. UF coach Mike White decided to feed the hot hand one final time and go for the win. This time, though, Appleby couldn’t produce magic. His three-ball caromed off of the rim, and Maryland hung on to hand Florida their third loss in their last four games.
While Appleby missed the shot that would’ve won the game, nobody in Gator Nation can blame him for this defeat. Without his bombardment of three-pointers in the second half, the Gators (7-3) probably wouldn’t have even been in a position to steal a win in the final minutes.
“Tyree facing adversity there in the first half and even early second half, and he was electric down the stretch,” White said. “He gave us a chance, and he made some huge individual plays and played with a lot of heart defensively, as he always does.”
The Gators lost this one down the stretch because they gave up baskets on each of Maryland’s final two possessions. The first one was a three-point play by Fatts Russell that fouled out UF center Colin Castleton and gave the Terrapins (6-4, 0-1 Big Ten) a two-point lead.
On Florida’s next possession, forward Anthony Duruji faked a three and drove down the lane for a tying layup. Maryland forward Donta Scott made a tough shot in traffic with 16 seconds left to set up the dramatic final possession.
“Stops down the stretch, that was the difference in this one and a couple of victories that we’ve had against high-level opponents,” White said. “We just couldn’t get stops down the stretch.”
Foul trouble was a huge issue for Castleton and Duruji throughout the game. Duruji picked up his second foul with 10:50 remaining in the first half. Castleton followed with his second foul 50 seconds later. Neither of them played for the remainder of the half.
Castleton played just 26 minutes, while Duruji was limited to 16 minutes. If the Gators had gotten just a couple of more minutes out of them, they might’ve won this game, especially if they had Castleton’s defensive presence on those final two possessions.
The Gators finally broke out of their three-game-long cold streak from beyond the arc. They shot 40.7 percent from deep (11-for-27), which was their third-best performance of the season.
Unfortunately for them, Maryland also snapped out of its shooting woes by connecting on eight of 13 three-pointers (61.5 percent).
“Our coaches did a great job of telling us we’ve got to make these guys bounce despite their percentages and despite individual players,” UF guard Phlandrous Fleming said. “These guys are really good, and we didn’t do a good job in making them bounce. We gave them open looks, and these guys were really good in making them. It wasn’t that we were surprised; we knew coming in because they harped on it in our scouting reports.
“From the tip, we weren’t totally locked in. I think we played really hard, but we just weren’t totally locked in on the scout. We didn’t do what we were supposed to do.”
The Gators also shot under 50 percent on layups and dunks (8-for-17), which made them way too reliant on threes and free throws. UF shot just 37.9 percent as a team, compared to 49 percent for Maryland.
Individually, the Gators had a very difficult time containing the Terrapins’ backcourt of Eric Ayala and Russell. Russell scored 19 points, made all three of his shots from deep and grabbed three rebounds in a game-high-tying 37 minutes. Ayala also scored 19 points, and he pulled down five rebounds in 37 minutes as well.
“We weren’t sharp enough defensively to guard at a high-level a backcourt like that,” White said. “They were incredibly efficient, 19 apiece, on a low number of shots. Our pressure, overall, did a good job on those guys collectively, but I thought those guards handled it.”
Fleming matched Appleby with 15 points to lead the Gators, and he also captured 11 rebounds, blocked two shots and came away with a steal. It was his first double-double as a Gator and the 24th of his career.
Not to be overlooked are the quality minutes that Florida received from reserve center Jason Jitoboh and reserve forward CJ Felder when Castleton and Duruji were on the bench for the final 10 minutes of the first half. Felder buried a season-best three three-pointers in the opening half, while Jitoboh scored a career-high six points and played solid defense. Without them, this game could’ve gotten away from the Gators quickly.
Between Jitoboh, Felder, Fleming and Appleby, the Gators received some outstanding individual efforts against Maryland. Ultimately, though, they didn’t do enough as a team to win the game.
“I thought we were a little bit starstruck in the beginning,” White said. “You can usually tell by a team’s decibel level – how often and how loud they’re talking to one another – [and] I thought we got a little disjointed at times with guys coaching each other.
“A little bit different than the other night in our last outing on Wednesday [against North Florida], but that’s easier said than done when you have a sizeable lead on an inferior opponent as opposed to a very talented Big Ten team that’s countering every blow you throw.”
I didn’t understand why Felder did not play in the second half. He played really well in the first half. Or did I just miss him.