3 takeaways as Florida beats Mississippi State with Colin Castleton out

The Gators entered Wednesday night’s game against Mississippi State in desperate need of a win to avoid a 1-4 start to SEC play. They had to take on the Bulldogs’ shorthanded, though, as starting center Colin Castleton was out after suffering a shoulder injury during pregame warmups.

Castleton’s absence was noticeable in the first half, and MSU stretched an early 10-point lead. But Florida cut that to six at the break, and a dominant second half in which it outscored the Bulldogs by 14 got it the all-important win in front of the O’Connell Center crowd in an 80-72 affair.

Both the Gators (11-6, 2-3 SEC) and the Bulldogs (12-5, 3-2 SEC) came into this matchup on the bubble, but after picking up a Quadrant 2 win, UF continues to overcome its first 0-3 start in conference play since 1981-82. Here are the takeaways from Wednesday night’s win.

Duruji steps up in Castleton's absence

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Castleton was a preseason First Team All-SEC selection, and he’s been a big part of this team’s success this season. He’s averaging double-figure points, and his 7-foot frame makes him a difficult player to match up against for even the game’s best big men.

The Gators will hope they can get him back sooner rather than later, but after the game, coach Mike White called the injury “significant,” per On3’s Zach Abolverdi. Florida needs him back on the court as soon as possible, but it could be without him for some time. In the first few minutes against MSU, UF clearly struggled a bit as it figured out how to adjust early on.

Both Jason Jitoboh (making his first career start) and C.J. Felder saw a boost in minutes in this one, and while they were each productive with Jitoboh scoring eight points while Felder scored five, they also got into foul trouble. They had four fouls and three fouls, respectively, and that placed a lot of responsibility at the feet of fifth-year player Anthony Duruji.

The forward stepped up big time. Duruji led the team with 22 points in this one (18 of which came in the second half), hitting six of his eight shots from the field. He made contributions under the basket, from the mid-range and even from downtown, where he hit two of his three shots. Duruji managed to draw a lot of fouls, and eight of his points came at the line where he had nine total attempts.

He’s having a very strong season, and he took up Castleton’s inside scoring mantle in this one. Still, things weren’t all great under the basket. The Bulldogs scored 34 points in the paint compared to UF’s 20, and it out-rebounded the Gators 31-23 (including an 11-6 mark on offensive rebounds). Luckily for Florida, Mississippi State’s 11 second-chance opportunities only resulted in 13 points. Still, scoring inside wasn’t a great option in this game, and the three-ball proved to be a much more fruitful avenue.

Good things happen when the long shots fall

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

As previously mentioned, buckets didn’t come nearly as easy inside without Castleton in the game, as a result, Florida had to do the only other thing it seems this offense knows how to do: shoot the three-ball. That has had middling results in recent games but on Wednesday night, the shots simply fell for Florida.

The main culprit was Tyree Appleby, who had one of his best offensive games of the entire season. He finished second on the team behind Duruji in scoring with 17 points, but the entirety of his production came from behind the arc. He took nine shots against the Bulldogs, and all three came from three-point land. He made four of those shots as he was lights out from distance.

But he wasn’t alone. Freshman guard Kowacie Reeves made his third consecutive start in this one, and that’s a change that’s likely to stick. He’s been a big difference-maker for the Gators over this recent stretch of games, and he finished with 14 points on Wednesday night on 4 of 7 shooting (including 3 of 6 from three).

As a whole, Florida shot 51.1% from the game and a decent 41.7% from three on 24 shots. It scored 80 points for the first time in SEC play, and it did it without the most reliable offensive player on the team. The Gators sealed the win by drilling seven of their final nine shots from the field. Talk about a confidence-building performance.

Florida held Bulldogs' star Molinar in check

Syndication: Gainesville Sun

There were several reasons to be concerned about Florida’s defense heading into this game, but the major one was point guard Iverson Molinar. One of the top backcourt players in the SEC and the league’s third-leading scorer with an average of 17.9 points per game, it looked like a bad matchup for a Gators team that has struggled to contain talented scoring guards.

Well, Florida more or less held its own defensively in this game. The Bulldogs certainly had success, especially in the first half, where they shot 57.7%. They still hit shots at a 54% clip for the game, but Molinar had a relatively pedestrian outing by his standards.

He was held to 12 points and just two in the second half. He hit just six of his 11 shots for the game, and while he found success, he wasn’t a major factor in this one. His counterpart in the backcourt, guard Shakeel Moore, was better, leading the team with 18 points despite just a 5 of 12 shooting performance. Three of his makes were threes, but like Molinar, his second half was a lot less successful as he was held to just six points.

However, while Florida kept the Bulldogs’ backcourt duo from taking over the game in the second half, there were signs that a lengthy absence for Castleton could have some consequences defensively. Forward Tolu Smith finished second on the team in scoring with 17 points (all of which came in the second half), and he also had six rebounds in this one.

Still, this is a Bulldogs team that is hesitant to shoot threes, averaging just around 18 per game. It shot even fewer in this one (13) and it made just four of those. It’s not a surprise that they chose to attack inside, and Florida did a good job of keeping that interior attack in check while also keeping the outside shooters from heating up too much.

It was far from the defensive performance this team treated us to in the first few games of the season, but it was certainly enough to earn a key conference win with fate throwing the team for a loop shortly before tip-off.

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