Florida survives comeback bid from Mississippi State, earns first Quad 1 win of season
Florida (4-3) climbed back above the .500 mark in SEC play with a 61-59 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday night.
At one point, Florida led by 16 points, but Mississippi State mounted a monster comeback with an extended run that tied things up with 12 minutes left to play. The Gators outlasted the Bulldogs in the end, but it wasn’t the clean win that it should have been.
Colin Castleton had a rough night. He led all scorers with 13 points but shot just 35.7% from the field and wasn’t as effective on the glass or on defense as he usually is. Kowacie Reeves stepped up in the second half, though, draining a pair of crucial three-pointers that shifted the momentum slightly back in favor of Florida.
Three-point shooting was a strong point for the Gators tonight. Will Richard, in particular, was on fire in the first half, and the team finished the night shooting above 40% from beyond the arc. Without that kind of success, Florida would have dropped this game, and they simply can’t afford that after losing to Texas A&M twice.
The victory puts Florida back in the driver’s seat as conference play continues, but it’s hard to be optimistic about the team’s chances in the coming weeks. The Gators have games against Alabama, Kentucky and Tennessee coming up, and a shaky win is hardly convincing enough to make them the betting favorites.
Still, it’s Florida’s first Quadrant 1 win of the season, and that will help come NCAA Tournament selection time. Even if Mississippi State ends up as a Quadrant 2 opponent at the end of the year, Florida lacks quality wins of any sort and will take what it can get right now.
Here are five takeaways from tonight’s game.
Gators get off to a hot start
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Florida took control of this one in the very beginning. After allowing the Bulldogs to score the first three points of the game, the Gators answered with an 11-point run to take a commanding lead through the first 3:31. Another 11-2 run put UF up by a game-high 16 points, but Florida couldn’t run away with it and ended up blowing the lead.
If you’re looking for a silver lining, the Gators have been stronger in the second half for most of the year, so it’s a positive sign that they came out with some fire tonight.
Bulldogs steal back momentum before halftime
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Mississippi State put together a 7-point run before halftime to pull the deficit to single digits, stealing back much of the momentum Florida built up through the first 15 minutes of action. The Bulldogs carried that into the second half and tied the game up after eight minutes.
Whatever game plan was working for UF in the first half proved to be unsuccessful in the second. The Gators’ typically strong defense had holes in it and a couple of scoring droughts allowed Mississippi State to snowball.
Will Richard's three-pointers make a difference
Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Florida’s bright spot was three-point shooting. [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] was a major factor in Florida’s strong first half, going 3-for-3 from downtown. He entered halftime as the game’s leading scorer, but only found one good look from deep in the second half.
Still, his 12 points were good enough for second on the team tonight and Florida probably loses this game if he doesn’t go 4-for-5 from the deep.
Kowacie Reeves steps up to close things out
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Florida struggled to score in the second half, but Kowacie Reeves found some success. He scored a team-high nine points in the half, including a clutch three-pointer that prevented Mississippi State from taking the lead. It hasn’t been a banner year for Reeves, but he’s still one of Florida’s most talented players when his shots are falling. Nights like these remind us just how valuable an asset he is for the Gators.
Not convincing enough
Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Florida was on its way to proving itself against MSU, but a 16-point collapse wiped away any positives poll voters might have taken away from this matchup. It always seems to be something with this Gators team, and there’s no reason to believe that the group is turning a corner just yet.
A Quadrant 1 win is good and could help come NCAA Tournament time, but Florida needs a dominant win over a second-tier conference foe such as Mississippi State to earn the respect it wants.
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