Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Florida Mounts 21-Point Deficit to Begin SEC Play, Beat Alabama 104-98 in 2OT
A tale of two halves (and another half of a half - you do the math), sums up the beginning of SEC play for Florida Gators men's basketball.
Florida (9-4, 1-0 SEC) mounted a major comeback to pull off their first victory over the new decade, a 104-98 home win over Alabama (7-6, 0-1 SEC) in double-overtime.
The issues that have limited Florida throughout the beginning of the 2019-20 season were evident in the first half. AT one point, Florida trailed Alabama by 21 points before half-time adjustments could be made. The team entered the locker room down 46-32, shooting just 16.7% from beyond the arc (1-6) compared to the Crimson Tide's 50% on 14 attempts.
Guard Noah Locke started off hot, knocking down three two-point shots and thee-of-five free throws, but no one else was able to step up offensively for Florida to keep up with Alabama's heat coming from downtown.
But the second half was a different story.
Florida was able to slow Alabama's roll in the second half, as the Crimson Tide's three-point percentage dropped to 28.6% on another 14 attempts. Meanwhile, the Gators finally found some flow offensively, as Locke posted another eight points paired with fellow guard Andrew Nembhard's 10 points in the final five minutes of the half.
And at that point, we had a tie ball game - 83-83. Florida entered overtime with momentum, coming off of a steal from Locke that he turned into a game-tying contested lay-in.
Despite struggles in the paint throughout the course of the game, freshman wing Scottie Lewis came alive in spurts to help Florida throughout both overtime periods. Much to the previous point, Lewis missed a contested two-pointer but utilized his eye-popping effort and drive to snatch the offensive rebound. When Lewis put the ball up once more, it fell through the net.
Big-man Kerry Blackshear Jr. nailed a shot as time expired in the first overtime period, but it was determined that he let the ball out just late and the game went on to double-free basketball. He dealt with foul trouble early in the second half, but rotated in and out through the end of regulation and over-time and stayed clean. His 24 points and 16 rebounds were critical to keep the Gators fighting.
Blackshear hit a second-chance layup off of a shot from Locke to begin double-overtime, and the Gators saw Alabama clinch a tie twice before finally putting the game away with six consecutive free throws in the final 42 seconds of play.
In the end, five Gators scored in the double digits, behind a career-high 25 points on 42.1% shooting for Nembhard. Blackshear, Lewis, and Keyontae Johnson finished with double-doubles.
The Gators finished shooting 43.4%, hitting 34.8% of their 23 three-point attempts. The improvement on offense from start to finish was drastic.
At halftime, this game felt like it was over. Alabama's three-point dominance seemed like too much for Mike White's struggling offense to keep up with. But second half adjustments to slow Alabama down from beyond the arc and to move the offense through the guards led to a surprising comeback victory in Florida's first bit of SEC action.
