Florida basketball kept its season alive on Wednesday night with a 79-74 win over the Iona Gaels in the O’Connell Center, taking the victory in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. The game unfurled in a painfully familiar manner from the start, but fortunately, this one had a happier ending than many, resulting in a triumph for Al Pinkins in his interim coaching debut.
The similarities began from the start, as Florida fell behind from the get-go in front of a sparse crowd in the O’Dome. The Gators managed to tie the game at 32-32 with just under three minutes in the opening half, with the teams trading threes until Iona took control again to close the opening 20 minutes with a seven-point lead, 42-35.
The Gaels kept the pressure on coming out of the locker room but the Gators never faded, keeping things close enough for its patented late-game strike thanks to some lock-down defense. Florida managed to tie the game again with just under 10 minutes remaining and took its first lead at 9:21 on a pair of Tyree Appleby free throws.
The charity stripe, in fact, played a large part in this game as the Orange and Blue sunk 12 of 16 attempts while Iona went a paltry 10-for-18. Missed free throws plagued Pitino’s squad the entire evening.
The Gators made some space with a pair of Appleby threes and a score in the paint from Colin Castleton, pushing the lead to seven and giving the team some cushion. However, Iona stuck around and kept grinding, giving the Gators fits on inbounds plays with its full-court press and eventually tying things with just under three minutes.
However, an inbounds alley-oop play to Castleton on the offensive end of the court gave the Gators a lead they would not relinquish. Despite a barrage of offensive rebounds by Iona that came up short in the ensuing series, Florida fended off the flurry and held on for the five-point win.
Castleton led the Gators with yet another double-double, this time an 18-point, 13-rebound effort, while Phlandrous Fleming Jr. also dropped 18 points of his own. Two other Florida players also scored in double digits. Iona had four with double figures in the scoring column led by Nelly Joseph’s 18 points and 12 rebounds. Seems like 18 was the magic number on Wednesday night.
The last meeting between the two schools on the parquet came in 1985 which saw the Gators fall, 71-70, in Las Vegas. It may have taken 37 years but Florida finally got its revenge and will live to play another game, which comes on Saturday against No. 2 Xavier in Madison Square Garden, New York City, at a time still to be determined.
[mm-video type=video id=01fy2maxxejtdhy84b8m playlist_id=01eqbz250mdknqvm5z player_id=01eqbvp13nn1gy6hd4 image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fy2maxxejtdhy84b8m/01fy2maxxejtdhy84b8m-ced41a36da61f99e8d57e8619e926e7f.jpg]
Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.
Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.