Florida falls 65-62 to Utah State In Orange Bowl Classic

Point guard Andrew Nembhard drove to the left of the basket with a little over five minutes to go in the first half. He ran all the way under the hoop to the right side and hit Keyontae Johnson with a bounce pass all the way out to the three-point line. Johnson without hesitation swung it to an open Noah Locke at the top of the key who immediately shot it.

Count it.

With that bucket, it became 23-22 in favor of the Gators. It was Florida's first lead against Utah State in the Orange Bowl Classic.

That three was a rare basket by someone not named Kerry Blackshear Jr. in the first half. With less than eight minutes to play in the first half, Blackshear had nine of UF's 12 points. As the first half concluded, it became slightly more balanced as Locke, guards Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis as well as Nembhard all hit shots towards the end of the half No. 1

By the time the buzzer sounded for halftime, it was all knotted up at 27-27. It was honestly unbelievably impressive that UF had the game tied by halftime in a game where it started 0-14 from the floor.

And in the second half, Florida got right to business. The Gators shot out to an early 36-30 advantage, highlighted by an assist from Blackshear to Lewis for an easy bucket and then an offensive rebound by Blackshear which he then got fouled trying to put back up.

This was the theme of the game for the most part: Florida controlling the pace via Blackshear.

They could speed it up and get everyone else involved when the outside shots were falling. But when it wasn't? They could feed it to him down low and have him get a double-double and shoot 10-10 from the free throw line.

It seemed that Florida was beginning to handle the contest. Blackshear was dominating inside, forward Omar Payne began to get involved as well and the guards were hitting shots.

In step Brock Miller and Sam Merrill.

The sophomore guard for Utah State was letting three-pointers fly from wherever he pleased, and he was sinking them from wherever he pleased. He was 50 percent from beyond the arc with less than ten minutes to play in the second half and he was launching it from multiple feet behind the three-point line.

Merrill led the charge for the Aggies, however. His 18 points and nine rebounds brought Utah State the lead once more with just over two minutes to play at 58-55.

And Utah State kept the pressure on to eventually topple Florida. Blackshear's eventual 15-17 at the free throw line and 22 points was not enough to overcome the Aggies. When the final buzzer sounded, it was 65-62 in favor of Utah State.

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