Although there was some doubt throughout the second half, the Florida Gators came away with an 11th-straight victory Tuesday night against the North Carolina Tar Heels, 90-84, at the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte.
The Gators led by as much as 17 in the first half, but a 10-0 run after the break made it a completely new ball game. In the end, a pair of clutch offensive rebounds proved to be the difference as Florida pulled ahead in the final minutes. Thomas Haugh and Will Richard both sunk a pair of free throws to turn a two-point lead into a six-point win.
Richard led Florida with 22 points on 8-of-10 shooting (3-of-5 from three), followed by a 19-point night from Alijah Martin and 12 from Walter Clayton Jr. North Carolina’s RJ Davis led all scorers with 29 points.
It’s the first close game for Florida through 11, and turnovers, three-point shooting and rebounds played a big role in the comeback for North Carolina. Still, a win’s a win. Let’s break down the most important moments from the victory.
Size matters
North Carolina is an undersized team, and it became apparent early that Florida could exert its will in the paint. Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon played with great energy in the opening minutes, setting the tone for the evening. Chinyelu grabbed three offensive boards and Condon finished the half with six overall.
The Gators actually lost the offensive rebound battle in the first half, 9-6, but some of those can be chalked up to the Tar Heels’ abysmal three-point percentage (13%). Overall Florida won the battle on the boards, 25-21, in the first half and 21-15 in the second. After the break, the big turnaround came on the offensive glass; Florida won that battle 10-4, including those timely rebounds in the final minutes.
Florida’s rotation of bigs won them this game, but it also might be the reason North Carolina came back. Chinyelu doesn’t have the stamina to play 25-plus minutes and Thomas Haugh ran into foul trouble early in the second half. Haugh had to play cautious after his fourth foul and that allowed the guards to attack him despite the mismatch.
Still, Florida doesn’t win this game without its bigs grabbing the rebounds they did.
Hot and cold
Three-point shooting has been a hot topic for this Gators team all year, and it played a role in this near-loss. Florida shot over 40% from three in the first half with big buckets from Condon and Will Richard (3 threes), but that number dropped to 26.7% in the second half thanks to a barrage of misses from Alijah Martin, who went 1-for-8 from deep after the break.
It’s not so much about who is and isn’t hitting the threes for Florida — although it’s really nice to see Richard finding his touch after struggling — but rather the streakiness in which those buckets come for the Gators. The timing of those misses made them all the more painful to watch, as North Carolina clawed its way to a four-point lead.
Good teams don’t compound bad defense with bad offense, and that’s still something Florida is working to stay away from.
Also, Sam Alexis should be banned from taking a three for the rest of the year. It’s not his game, and he refuses to accept that. Playing just six minutes tonight might get that message through, though.
Turnover monster rears its ugly head
Similar to the three-point issue, Florida has been up and down with turning the ball over this season. There have been good stretches and bad stretches, and tonight was the worst Florida has handled the ball since the Florida State game when it turned the ball over 19 times.
The figure tonight was 17, and about half of them were avoidable. North Carolina scored 24 of its 84 points off turnovers, and most of those buckets led to runs that ignited what was essentially a home crowd in Charlotte.
It’s hard to put the blame on any one player here. Florida simply played a sloppy game, especially in the middle 10 — final five minutes of the first half and first five of the second half. Both primary ball-handlers, Clayton and Martin, turned it over four times to a combined six assists, and Condon struggled a bit too with three turnovers.
The only Gator who finished the night without turning it over once was Haugh, who continues to be one of the best sixth men in the country.
After a five-game run where Florida turned the ball over just 38 times (7.6 per game), Florida has given it away 31 times over the last two. The competition level is certainly higher over the past week, but Florida can’t use that excuse come March. Something has to change.
BONUS: Still undefeated, can’t hate that
While there were certainly moments of dread in this win, coaches, players and fans can’t lose sight of it still being a win against a good North Carolina program. The Tarheels might not be ranked, but they’ve played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country this year.
Florida is still a top-10 team and just proved it can win big games without Clayton or Condon going off. Winning 11 in a row doesn’t happen by luck, and now the Gators are poised to enter conference play with a perfect record — assuming they get the job done against North Florida and Stetson.
Next up for Florida
The Gators return to the O’Connell Center on Saturday, Dec. 21 to host the North Florida Ospreys. Tipoff is slated for noon ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
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