No. 10 Florida silenced rival Miami 82-68 in the Jacksonville Hoops Showdown Sunday night.
The rims at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena looked a little wider for the Gators (3-1), who had a season-high in 3-pointers (9) and 3-point percentage (29%). Florida has still not shot more than 30% from distance this season.
Miami (3-1) entered the contest ranked 2nd nationally in 2-point FG% (66.4%). Florida’s height and physicality down low was on full display, holding the Hurricanes to 24 of 71 from the field (34%).
After a rough outing against Florida State, Alex Condon took control of the offense. When Condon was in the post, he showed a physicality that had not been seen this season, gaining inside position on Miami forward Malik Reanu with ease. The Australian junior shot with confidence inside and out finishing with a team-high 19 points and seven rebounds, shooting 8 of 12 from the field before fouling out with five minutes to go.
Urban Klavzar played his best game of the season with a season-high 15 points, nailing four 3s. A welcome sight as the starting backcourt of Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee did not hit a single shot (0 of 10 combined) from distance. Klavzar responded well to being double teamed off the pick and roll, assisting Rueben Chinyelu three times in the two-man game. Chinyelu finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with six minutes left in the contest. That’s back-to-back double doubles for the Nigerian center.
Florida, which swept Florida State and Miami for the first time in two decades, did an excellent job on Reanu, who is the Hurricanes’ leading scorer averaging 21.3 points per game. Despite scoring a game-high 22 points, Reanu was inefficient by shooting 8-for-23 (34.8%) from the field. In his first three games, Reanu hit 63.9% of his shots.
Micah Handlogten suffered a shot to the head attempting to block a Reanu dunk late in the first half and did not return. This caused Florida to go small in the second half, especially with Chinyelu and Condon fouling out so early. With a depleted frontcourt, Miami tried to make things interesting, cutting an 18-point lead to 13 before a Klavzar’s dagger 3 with two minutes to go.
Condon and Haugh split the frontcourt for the first 10 minutes of the second half before Condon earned his fourth foul. The duo played a great high-low game, where Condon drew double teams to setup wide-open 3s for Haugh. The Malone watchlist member finished with 17 points and 8 rebounds, taking over the end of the game at the five.
Miami had fierce ball pressure in its man-to-man defense, causing uncharacteristic Florida turnovers. The Gators finished with a season-high 10 turnovers by the end of the first half. The Hurricanes started the second half with a 7-0 run after trailing 39-29 at the end of the first 20 minutes, then it was all Florida. The reigning national champions stuck to its roots, winning the rebound battle 47-41 and leading in second-chance points.
Lee’s Continued Struggles
Despite Florida shooting its best game from distance, Lee was unable to shake his slump. Lee looked timid on both sides of the court, turning the ball over. His 3-point shot hasn’t fallen in four games, now at 6-for-35 (17%) from beyond the arc.
Klavzar stepped up for Florida, but it’s not going to be able to survive against No. 3 UConn and No. 4 Duke with Lee not playing to his capabilities.
Up Next
Florida returns home to the O’Connell Center against Merrimack (2-2) at 7 p.m. Friday.
