Gators Men’s Basketball Splits at Rady Children’s Invitational, Eyes Duke
Florida men’s basketball stares down a contest at No. 4 Duke in the SEC/ACC Challenge after splitting its games at the Rady Children’s Invitational over the Thanksgiving holiday in San Diego.
The No. 10 Gators (5-2) dropped their first game of the tournament to Texas Christian University, 84-80, last Thursday. Florida struggled with ball control, committing 19 turnovers. While they won the rebound battle, the Gators struggled making shots, especially from beyond the arc late in the game.
Their defense faltered late also, blowing a 10-point lead with 10 minutes to go. Florida continues to find itself in foul trouble, committing 26 fouls.
In the 90-78 win in the third-place game against Providence on Friday, the Gators seemed to find their stride despite being without Alex Condon, who sat out for precautionary reasons after taking a blow to the head in the TCU loss. UF did a better job taking care of the ball, logging only eight turnovers.
Guard Xaivian Lee also shot himself out of his scoring struggles, recording a season-high 20 points, including nailing four 3-pointers. This will be a significant piece of Florida getting its backcourt to match its national championship caliber frontcourt. The Gators also improved slightly defensively with 21 fouls on the game. This is still one of Florida’s largest weak spots as it heads into the rest of its season.
In Duke (8-0), the Gators face a team that was nearly their National Championship Game matchup last season. Despite losing Cooper Flagg, their key player, the Blue Devils are still a dominant force.
The Gators will be Duke’s second-ranked matchup of the season after defeating No. 22 Arkansas last Thursday. Duke is led by freshman forward Cameron Boozer, who is one of the premier players in college basketball. He leads the team nearly across the board, averaging 22.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.8 steals a game.
Center Patrick Ngongba II and guard Isaiah Evans follow Boozer. Ngongba leads the team with 1.1 blocks a game and averages 12.8 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists a game. Evans averages 12.5 points per game. Another key piece of Duke’s backcourt is Caleb Foster, who averages 9.3 points per game and is shooting 48% from 3-point range.
Duke has found success despite its youth. The Blue Devils are a threat defensively, ranking third in the nation in scoring defense and first in field goal percentage defense. They allow an average of only 58.8 points per game and hold their opponents to 34.016% from the field.
Florida shows an edge against the Blue Devils in rebounding. However, Duke’s defense poses a concern to the Gators who have been struggling to take care of the ball.
Florida takes on the Blue Devils at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN, 103.7-FM) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Category: College Basketball, Gator Sports, Gators Men's Basketball
