Florida Gators overcome sluggish start to beat USF in Orange Bowl Basketball Classic
The sequence started with a mistake, with Jamir Chaplin forcing a steal on a bad pass from Florida Gators guard Myreon Jones.
It continued with redemption, with Plandrous Fleming Jr. blocked Chaplin’s driving layup as the USF Bulls tried to make another last-ditch effort to get back into the game in the second half.
It ended with the momentum remaining in the Gators’ favor, with Colin Castleton corralling an offensive rebound on Jones’ miss and flushing the ball into the basket to give the Gators a double-digit lead with five minutes left, a lead they held onto in a 66-55 win over the Bulls on Saturday in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic at FLA Live Arena.
“A mistake turned into a hustle play turned into probably a four-point swing,” UF coach Mike White said.
Castleton scored 12 points and added 11 rebounds for his fifth double-double, Fleming chipped in 12 points of his own, and Anthony Duruji came one rebound shy of a double-double of his own with 11 points and nine rebounds.
Florida (8-3) won despite shooting just 39 percent of the field and turning the ball over 17 times in large part because it kept USF quiet from three-point range (2 for 11) and out-rebounded the Bulls 45-27, including 18-7 on the offensive glass which led to a 14-6 edge in second-chance points.
“It starts on the defensive end, which is our identity,” Duruji said. “It gives you a chance.”
After a sluggish first 14 minutes — a stretch that included 10 turnovers and a 25-percent shooting clip (5 for 20) — Florida (8-3) went on a 17-2 run to close first half and go up 30-18 at the break.
UF pushed its lead to as many as 16 points early in the second half before the Bulls rattled off an extended 19-6 run to cut the Gators’ lead to just three points with just under nine minutes left.
Myreon Jones got the lead back to six two possessions later after being on fouled on a driving layup and making the ensuing free throw. The Gators’ lead was back to double-digits with about five minutes left after Castleton made a pair of free throws, Tyree Appleby scored on a layup and Castleton’s dunk at the end of that two-possession sequence.
“It’s good just to be able to get up and down [the court],” Castleton said of the sequence. “That’s what we like doing. We like playing fast, trying to get in transition and doing stuff like that.”
As big as that late flurry was, UF’s production in the final six minutes of the first half gave the Gators their first momentum swing into afforded Florida the cushion to withstand USF’s run.
With UF trailing 16-13, Kowacie Reeves hit a game-tying three-pointer with 5:58 left in the first half. After that, UF got layups from Anthony Duruji and CJ Felder on back-to-back possessions, three points from Castleton on a dunk and a free throw, and a layup from Plandrous Fleming Jr.
Caleb Murphy led the Bulls (4-5) with 16 points. USF scored 16 of its points off Florida turnovers.
The originally scheduled second game of the Orange Bowl Classic, featuring the Florida State Seminoles and UCF Knights, was canceled due to COVID-19 protocols in the FSU program.
This story was originally published December 18, 2021 at 4:09 PM.
.JPG)