Gators could have packed it in around the 6-minute mark, but they kept on coming. And it paid off. This team is a different animal, it seems. A holiday present!
What a quote here from Jones: Florida's three perimeter starters — Appleby, Jones and Brandon McKissic — combined to make just six of their 25 shots and only three of 11 from deep. "Doesn't matter. It's the other end that matters to us," Jones said. "We don't need to make a bunch of shots to determine outcomes. We just need defense and staying together. That's all."
Well I'm pissed. Got off of a 36 hour shift and fell asleep during halftime. Hope to watch the 2nd half on replay. As I mentioned in the first half, such a different team this year. Was a joy to watch the defense. The defense on and off the ball is light years different than last year. Unselfish team play. Not gonna go overboard with the comparison but while there have been some great gator teams since the 04s, I haven't seen such a stark contrast to teams from one year to the next since 03 to 04.
Something that has not been mentioned, that I have seen, was Duruji's defense on Liddell's last shot? Affected the shot without fouling. Liddell tried to lean into him to draw the foul but somehow Duruji avoided the contact.
In fairness Rafferty gave us a lot of props thru the game. I thought he was terrific as usual. My favorite of all of them.
I missed the best part of this game...OSU fans leaving after a devastating loss. Their team was made up of warriors....fans not so much. Gosh, I feel bad writing this on Thanksgiving.
I always think people think commentators are biased because we tend to listen more to the opposing team getting praise. I thought Rafftery gushed over us plenty both Monday and last night.
Seems like commentators play to the fans of the team that is ahead and/or surging. It's just built in. Especially near the end. I've rewatched the end a few times. It's as good an ending as you'll see in a Gators game. So happy for these guys. So glad to not see us fade at end of games as in recent years. So many games are won by yanking it away from the other team at crucial times.
