On Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa, facing the nation’s best offense, the Florida basketball team nearly upset the standings in the Southeastern Conference battle.
Rather, despite a heroic effort over 45 minutes of play, the Gators were unable to hold on against the league-leading Alabama Crimson Tide and lost 98-93 in overtime.
In the SEC, Florida falls to 18-8 and 8-5. The key play in overtime with seven seconds remaining was an Aaron Estrada putback, but a victory would have been enormous for the Gators.
Even though the game was entertaining, the result was unsatisfactory. These are the game’s five main lessons to be learned.I am aware that Florida has a strong overtime record and that the game went into overtime. However, nothing we have seen this season has been like this game.
In the game, 165 shots were taken by the two teams altogether. That is absurd.
The fact that Florida was outnumbered by ten was even more absurd. This team hasn’t played like that often.The Gators won’t be harmed by Florida’s road loss at the SEC leader. And everybody who was watching had to admit that this is a team that deserves it.
But again, it might have been a tremendous win in a game you dominated for the most part. In the end, Sam Walters’ wide-open three-pointers in the second half damaged the Gators due to Florida’s defense.
And with 22 points, 6-foot-11-inch forward Grant Nelson destroyed Florida. While Mark Sears was 5-for-15, he did make some huge shots. Florida did a good job of stopping him.Even if his name isn’t the first on the scouting report, he goes above and beyond. He scored 20 points, pulled down 8 rebounds, and disheveled 8 assists on Wednesday night.
He also contributed to Alabama’s victory in the battle of the boards.
Walter Clayton Jr. did score 27 points for Florida, but he need 24 shots to do so.Despite the fact that they were outrebounded by eight, which is not typical of this squad. Many wide rebounds resulted from Alabama’s 2-of-18 three-point shooting performance.
With 16 made baskets and 13 assists, Florida had the best first-half statistics.
Neither in the second half was offense an issue. But it was by no means an exceptional defense.With just over eight minutes remaining, Florida was really up by ten points, and they had two final-minute opportunities to tie the game.
However, the way it looked was awful, and even though Alabama also squandered a late-game opportunity, it seemed like Florida had a chance to steal it.
Rather, the Gators suffered through their first poor overtime of the year. At the end, they still had a shot, but Clayton Jr.’s turnover cost them.On Saturday, February 24, the Gators will play their homecoming game at the O’Connell Center against the Vanderbilt Commodores. The SEC Network will carry the game, with kickoff scheduled at 1 p.m. ET.
