Despite slow start, Florida Gators atop SEC standings

Maybe Florida’s now an SEC contender — no, the front-runner — because of the dressing room.

A week ago, it was guard Boogie Fland’s new haircut that transcended every account of the Gators steamrolling fellow Southeastern Conference force Tennessee. The dreads left, the shots fell, the Gators were banging again after two months of close-but-no-cigar games against some of the country’s best.

Then came an opportunity for confirmation. Teams don’t suddenly transform with such frequency, even less when the outset features facts like you’re 351st of 364 Division I teams in three-point shooting. No. 10 Vanderbilt (16-2, 3-2 SEC), a metric darling (see: top 10 in both KenPom and Torvik) and a legitimate SEC threat (see: toppling foes like then-No. 13 Alabama), would be a suitable litmus test for Florida’s sudden surge.

So a 98-94 win might say something about the No. 19 Gators (13-5, 4-1), who, even after their early season woes, still sit atop the SEC. And the road victory, naturally, came with a fashion faux pas, as Florida forgot three jerseys and had two starters in the typical guard numbers of 33 and 99.

“This is a huge win for our program,” coach Todd Golden said after the win. “We showed a lot of grit and toughness today. … Credit to Reuben Chinyelu in the second half, and Xaivian Lee late in the game, stepping up, doing what you need guys to do to win a game like this, hitting big shots that aren’t necessarily drawn up.

“I would like [Lee] to wear 99 the rest of the year.”

In a jersey seven sizes too large, his 20 points were at the center of Florida’s third win over a top-25 team in the last two weeks, and its most well-rounded showing. There was a time not long ago when it was a regular suggestion from hecklers that he should return to his past home, Princeton. With Fland’s new ‘do, X (the guard) deleted X (the social media platform), as fans even began to suggest he should cut his hair in pursuit of a similar statistical jump.

Instead, he sank a step-back three to give Florida a 95-94 lead it would never lose, wavy locks flowing while airborne. Guard Urban Klavzar only scored three on Saturday, but he scored double digits in each of Florida’s previous three wins. Forwards Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon, who added 18 and 16, have paced the Gators in scoring multiple times. Fland did it with his 23-point burst last week. And center Chinyelu, who joined Lee with 20, has rapidly evolved into a legitimate All-SEC candidate.

More than Lee, Chinyelu’s ascension is why Florida can now reasonably aspire to achieve everything it set out in pursuit of this fall. “It calms us down, and it slows the game down,” Golden said of forcing the ball through Chinyelu, who scored 16 in the second half against Vandy.

In one of the afternoon’s most pressing moments, the career 58.6% free-throw shooter knocked down four consecutive free throws during a seven-point swing early in the second half. Even with his efforts, though, Florida still only scored four more points than the Commodores in the paint (40 to 36), despite ranking in the top three in the country in rebounding.

That forced Florida to find offense in other places. Remember that 351st-ranked 27.9% three-point rate? Florida hit nine on 37.5% to upset the Commodores. When Florida shoots above 30% this season, it’s 7-0 and hasn’t played a game closer than 12 points. For example, the Gators hit 9 of 28 against the University of Miami Hurricanes in an 82-68 victory on Nov. 16. The Canes are 15-3 entering Tuesday’s game against FSU.

“No one was getting stops for either team, but I was proud of how we kept composed in that atmosphere,” Lee said after the victory in Nashville. “It’s nice to win one of those after losing them earlier in the season.”