The Florida Gator men’s basketball team put an end to its three game skid on Tuesday night defeating the Alabama Crimson Tide by a final score of 52-50.
Florida improved its record to 22-5 under head coach Billy Donovan against Alabama and 7-3 in Tuscaloosa. Alabama head man and former UF assistant Anthony Grant is now 0-9 against Donovan in his career and this may have been the closest game to date.
The Gators (11-9, 4-3) showcased a familiar script in which Florida fans should probably be used too, seeing a team play so well in the first half followed by a wealth of struggles after the team returns from the locker room. The Gators got out to yet another hot start Tuesday night shooting lights out in the first half. Florida shot a very impressive 50 percent from the field and 44 percent from beyond the arc giving the team a healthy 13 point lead going into the half.
The second half, like many other games this season would be a completely different story as Florida shot an abysmal 35 percent from the field and an even worse 14 percent from beyond the arc.
Alabama (13-7, 3-4) struggled mightily in the first half shooting just 36 percent from the field and 37 percent from beyond the arc but they would catch fire just when they needed to most. Despite shooting just 41 percent in the second half, players like junior Ricky Tarrant who scored 12 of his 13 points in the second half. With just under eight minutes remaining the Tide would finally tie things up at 41 apiece and it seemed as though the momentum had swung completely to one side. Both teams would then trade 5-0 runs and with under two minutes left, the game sat at 50 points apiece.
It was at this point that redshirt junior Dorian Finney-Smith would finally make an impact. The former Hokie drove the lane with under 30 seconds left in the game and threw down a monstrous one-handed slam to give the Gators a two point lead. However Doe-Doe would seal the game on the other end, stuffing Alabama leading scorer Levi Randolph who went up for a game-tying basket with just 10 seconds to go and time would run out.
Finney-Smith finished with just those two points, but when you add in five rebounds and three blocks, he found ways to help the team win. And guard Michael Frazier II struggled in this game after scoring 27 points last time out against Ole Miss. He suffered a hip injury in practice and scored just five points on Tuesday.
So other players had to step up in this game and they did, as guard Eli Carter scores 13 points and forward Chris Walker matches his career high with 12 points. Gator coach Billy Donovan said winning a game like this provides hope for his team.
“We still found a way to win and hopefully this is building some connectivity and teamwork inside of us when two of our better guys didn’t have their better games,” he said.
Carter was 4-of-10 from the field and 3-of-6 from beyond the arc but battled and fought through injury to put up his first double digit scoring output since the team’s last win against Auburn back on January 15th. Walker put forth an even more impressive performance , going an impressive 6-of-8 from the field. Walker also finished with four rebounds and two blocks and Donovan spoke very highly of his big man afterwards.
“He did a really good job, our guys found him, he ran, and he did a good job with pick and roll coverage. He gave us really good bounce around the basket, he did a good job post defense wise, in pick and roll coverage and it was good to see him make a positive step moving forward.”
Despite giving up 14 and 13 to Rodney Cooper and Tarrant, the Gators did a good job holding Levi Randolph to just nine points on 4-of-11 shooting from the field. The Gators held Alabama to their second lowest scoring output of the season and held yet another opponent under 60 points.
With this win the Gators get back over the hump in the SEC and swing at least a small amount of momentum their way as they head back to Gainesville to meet the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday. Donovan’s club currently sits in one of its toughest stretches of the season and Carter knows the team must stay focused and keep grinding as this season is a long ways from being over.
“This is just one step. We just got to get back to practice, continue to work, continue to stay together and continue to try and become great.”
Billy Donovan talks about the final stretch
Billy Donovan talks about the second half struggles
Billy Donovan says this win means a lot
Billy Donovan talks about Chris Walker
Billy Donovan talks about the tough test ahead
Eli Carter talks about the win and what the team must do moving forward