Gators Play to Key Strengths in Sweet 16 Win Over Maryland

Certain aspects of the Gators game helped seperate themselves in what started off as a tight bout with Maryland

The Gators game on the glass has made a difference maker in the tournament | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — The Florida Gators have been heralded as one of the best teams on the glass and one of the deepest teams in the country this season. And to no surprise, these two areas earned them a win in their Sweet 16 bout with Maryland Thursday night. 

Florida dominated the glass and it wasn’t close. They out-rebounded their opponents 42 to 20. 

More notably, they doubled the Terrapins on the offensive glass. Maryland only brought down seven offensive rebounds compared to Florida’s 15. This wasn’t unexpected, though. Or at least not to Florida center Rueben Chinyelu. 

“I would say we're just taking pride in what we have been doing all year,” Chinyelu said. “Just coming in and going in and cleaning the boards, and doing whatever it takes to get our teammates going…”

They were even able to do this without All-SEC big man Alex Condon for part game when he was sidelined with an injured ankle. 

But that’s where their depth came into play. 

“I think it changed it very well in the second half as we pushed the lead,” Florida’s Denzel Aberdeen said. “Their guys, like you said, got very tired. We used our depth to our advantage.”

Once Condon went down, Gators head coach Todd Golden still had Thomas Haugh and Micah Handlogten to put in the game. 

These two combined for 15 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a block. Haugh did most of the heavy lifting, ending with 13 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. 

However, it isn’t just the bigs where they have depth; Florida also has some guards they can bring off the bench. 

The Gators have both Aberdeen and Urban Klavzar, and it was the former who had a superb game off the bench against Maryland. Aberdeen logged 19 minutes in this contest and recorded 12 points, an assist and a rebound. 

And when you combine all of the bench's efforts and stack it up against Maryland, it becomes even better for one seed in the West region. Florida’s bench outscored their opponents 29-3 and out-rebounded them 14-1. 

“Yes, sir, it was very important,” Aberdeen answered being asked about how important it was for the bench to come in and produce. “Me, Tommy and the rest of the guys on the bench, we come in with great energy. That's what we try to do every game…We kind of used our depth to our advantage. And we pushed the pace on defense and got out in transition.”

They’ll need to keep this up when they take the court against Texas Tech in the Elite 8. The Red Raiders are a really good team and play with energy and effort for all 40 minutes. 

The contest between the Gators and Red Raiders will tip at 6:09 p.m. EDT on Saturday and will be televised on TBS and TruTV.