Gators Get Right in Rout of Longhorns

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – A lively, invigorated home crowd got reacquainted with its beloved team Saturday. 
 
The flat and flattened Florida Gators of Tuesday reverted back to the effort and energy version at the expense of the Texas Longhorns. Fifth-ranked UF started slow again, but the wheel-spinning was momentary. Once the Gators got in gear they led most of the game, had to fend off a couple challenges by a talented offensive team, but in the end finished by flexing on both ends of the floor and running away to an 84-60 victory in front of sold-out madhouse at Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center.
 
UF fifth-year guard Alijah Martin scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished four assists. He did his damage inside and out, converting a trio of 3-pointers, but also attacking the basket for two old-time 3-point plays. His stat line paired nicely with backcourt mate Walter Clayton Jr.’s 19 points, as well as a double-double of 11 points and 12 rebounds from sophomore forward Alex Condon. 
 
The Gators (16-2, 3-2) shot 49 percent for the game – with 44 points in the paint – and locked up a UT squad with a firing line of score-first weapons by holding the Longhorns to just 36 percent for the game and just four 3-pointers on 16 attempts. 
 
It was exactly the response Florida coach Todd Golden was looking for after falling behind by 19 in the first half and losing 84-83 at home against Missouri four nights earlier.
 
“We talked a lot about it after the game the other day. I didn’t think our mentality was where it needed to be against a really good Missouri team that came in here and took advantage of it,” Golden said. “We just could not allow [another] team to come in here and play harder than us.”
 
Martin co-signed. 
 
“We didn’t want to let Gator Nation down again,” he said. 
 
And they didn’t. 
 
UF may have started 1-for-10 from the floor to trail by six through the first seven minutes, as UT was hitting five consecutive field goals. The Longhorns led 18-13 at the second media timeout when the Gators came out of the break and got two free throws by Martin. At the Texas end, 6-foot-9 forward Ze’Rik Onyema went up for what had the look of a nasty dunk, posterizing dunk until Condon put his hand – and himself – in harm’s way and cleanly blocked the shot. The play turned into a transition opportunity, with Martin finishing at the other end to close within a point. 
 
After another stop, Clayton drove the paint for a floater for the lead and the sixth point of what became a 15-0 blitz that put the Gators in front, 28-18, for good, as things turned out. 
 
The positive Florida feels were back. 

“Sometimes you got to be reminded where you come from,” said Martin, who along with his teammates staged a couple physical practices – at the direction of their head coach – in the wake of the Mizzou mishap heading into this one. “We came out and we showed that dog inside.”
 
The Longhorns, with three different perimeter players who have scored at least 29 points in a game this season, weren’t going away so easily. They hung around to keep the UF lead at seven, 37-30, at the break, with freshman guard and Southeastern Conference scoring leader Tre Johnson tallying 11 points. 
 
It was a six-point game seconds into the second half when Will Richard (9 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals) had a baseline dunk off a feed from Clayton, followed by a 3-pointer by Martin to open an 11-point lead. The margin floated around double digits for the next 10 minutes until the Longhorns three times made it a seven-point game, the last at 61-54, with eight minutes remaining. 
 
That’s where Clayton dropped a timely 3-pointer to kick in what turned out to be a 23-6 home-team run to end the game and give the Gators their second conference victory by at least 24 points.

UF out-rebounded UT 41-33, including 13-8 on the offensive end, and outscored the Longhorns 44-20 in the paint. Johnson finished with a game-high 16 points (almost three below his average) on six of 15 shooting and just one of five from the arc. Forward Arthur Kaluma, who poured in 34 in a loss at Auburn two weeks ago, finished with 10 points (four below his average) and 10 rebounds, while guard Jordan Pope, who scored 42 points in a game last month, had just two (11 below his average). 
 
Texas came in averaging 81.6 points, shooting 49.7 from the floor and 38.8 from distance. Those numbers were 60, 36.4 and 25.0, respectively, for this game. 
 
“We knew coming in that Florida was going to be a physical team, one of the more physical teams we’d play all year,” UT coach Rodney Terry said. 
 
The Gators lived up to their billing mere days after – at least momentarily – losing sight of all the intangible things that had made them one of the best teams in the country to the mid-point of the season. They earned that rep through physicality, yes, but also passion. They lost it, if only (and hopefully) for one game. 

Consider it found.

 

“We’ve got this group of guys that worked to get here,” Condon said. “You can’t get to this point and then stop having that mentality.”

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu