MBB OGT: #2 FLORIDA 79 at LSU 65-- February 22, 2025 -- 6 PM [SECN]

I want to see us put together two great halves in one game. We could possibly be unbeatable, and we’ll need games like that come tourney time.

 

But what team wouldn't? You can say that about every single team if they didn't put two great halves together. When it mattered @ #1 Auburn, did they not put two great halves together? You aren't going to play 100% every single half. He mentioned the UConn team that won every game by double digits in the NCAAT. So? I don't care if we win every one by 1 point. Sign me up for the title. Both are legit.

 

Like we did at Auburn?

 

Yup. An elite/championship level team doesn't just have a good bit of talent, but is willing to do whatever it takes to leverage that talent in anyway possible. Tonight it was just using our depth advantage over LSU like waves on the shore. Just keep coming over and over and over and over and over until they snap and wither away even though they were on fire early.

Its the reason this team isnt just a top 25 team with sweet 16 dreams. The difference between that and what we have is the willingness to find whatever way presents itself whereas a team just solely relying on dominating an opponent might have withered themselves.

 

Who?

 

Will Richards had 0 points today, hope he bounces back next game. We will need his shot come tourney time.

 

I will just comment about the remaining schedule and tourneys...

 

He did manage a few key steals to be fair. The rise of Haugh puts us in the realm of the elite but, I agree, we need Richard to score come tournament time.

 

Chinyelu was tough from the free throw line…that’s sure good to see.

 

Richard made up his lack of points in other ways; he was the team's leader in assists today:
0 pts, 5A/1 TO, 1 Stl.

I thought Richard made some key plays in Florida's rally in the 2nd half and got other teammates going like Elijah Martin during some fast break opportunities.

 

To add to my point above, Florida's point guard Clayton had 0 assists as well as Aberdeen (0 assists).

The struggle at point guard to get other teammates invovlved may have been the reason UF went on a scoring drought in the 1st half when LSU went on that 22-0 run to take the halftime lead, 31-36.

That's something to keep an eye out.
Florida needs that leadership element to rally the troups when things are not going well.

 

Richard and Martin both looked sluggish until they came alive in the last 5 minutes as we pulled away

 

Perhaps it is just the grind of the long SEC season and playing on the road was the reason for some sluggish play.

 

He impacted the game by having two critical steals though.

 

The intermittent point guard struggles are my main concern come tournament time. Sometimes we get into a habit of standing and shooting jumpers which can be an issue when they’re not going in. Can Clayton be a pure playmaker when we need it? I hope so…we will find out soon enough.

 

There was a few things to say about this team but in the end....we still blew that team out. Go Gators! U have nothing else to say.

 

Plus 5 assists and very active defense. He was also playing out of position plenty in the first half. We have scorers all over the floor. That's not an issue. As long as he is active defensively and in transition, he can contribute.

 

Sure, but everyone has them. We had plenty of them during our two tourney runs. Auburn definitely has them. They barely stayed ahead of UGA at home today--a team we dominated on our floor. Same thing happened to them at home against South Carolina and Tennessee (teams we also blew out at home).

The key is that you can weather those struggles and still dominate, especially on the road and especially missing guys. We had some of the funkiest lineups we've ever played under Golden in there tonight. Handlogten and 4 guards? Aberdeen at the 4? I doubt we see some of those again this season. That led to lots of missed rotations on shooters and help in the paint, guys shooting quick when we didn't have rebounders in position, and in inability to effectively run some of our horns DHOs and zoom actions. Just strange lineups that we mostly stayed away from in the second half.

I mean, take away that goofy 22-2 run over that last 7 minutes of the first half, and we outscored them 77-43 on their home court without Condon or Alexis. We were + 15 in boards, + 20 in the paint, only committed 5 turnovers all game. We missed a ton of close twos in the first half, but Haugh and Chinyelu finished them after the break (as did Clayton). This is the kind of game we lost at Vandy last year. Instead, we pulled away impressively. Great team with a solid effort under less than ideal circumstances. Sooner Condon gets back, the better!

 

Yeah, and I don't fault him for that. But we won't come out flat in the NCAAT.

He also had 5 assists and played great defense.