AUSTIN, Texas — Now owners of an eight-game winning streak, there’s an inexorable aspect to the size and length of the No. 7 Florida Gators that helped head coach Todd Golden’s team overwhelm the Texas Longhorns with a decisive 14-1 run late in the second half for an 84-71 win at the Moody Center on Wednesday.
Texas led by three points at the 7:27 mark before Florida finished the game on a 23-7 surge to outscore the Longhorns 48-32 in the second half. Head coach Sean Miller’s team missed its final
four shot attempts and had five turnovers over that stretch.
Eight of the 11 blocks by the Gators came after halftime as the Horns shot 35.7 percent from the field and turned the ball over eight times. Florida, on the other hand, hit 65.4 percent of its shots, including 6-of-9 shooting from three.
Gators forward Alex Condon scored a game-high 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting with three assists and four blocked shots in a dominant performance. Guard Boogie Fland, who averages 11.1 points per game, added 22 points, one off his season high.
For Texas, junior wing Dailyn Swain led the way with 21 points, hitting all seven of his free throws, but he struggled with Florida’s length. The Horns also struggled to move the ball effectively — on 25 made field goals, Texas only had two assists, one from sophomore center Matas Vokitaitis and one from sophomore forward Nic Codie.
After Miller emphasized the need to avoid Florida creating separation in the four-minute segments to start each half, the Longhorns accomplished that feat by forcing two early turnovers, one of which led to a three by senior guard Jordan Pope, and getting two baskets in the paint by Vokietaits to take a 10-6 lead into the first media timeout.
Two dunks by the Gators, the second of which came on a turnover by Swain, and a three evened the game before Longhorns junior guard Simeon Wilcher hit a floater in the lane and graduate guard Tramon Mark dribbled into his preferred mid-range shot, but couldn’t convert at the line or on a jumper after getting the offensive rebound.
A good defensive possession forced a desperate shot to beat the clock and the defensive rebound led to a transition slam for Swain.
Then a strong defensive effort by Wilcer led to a travel by 6’11 Florida forward Thomas Haugh and a break for the under-12 timeout with Texas leading 18-12.
Out of the timeout, the Horns took advantage of ball-denial defense on a potential dribble handoff and Vokietaitis hit Mark on a backdoor cut for a dunk, but a sloppy foul by Vokietaitis on an offensive rebound led to a three-point play.
Consecutive turnovers by Texas threatened to swing the momentum to the visitors, but Swain jumped a passing lane to create a breakaway dunk to limit the damage and Mark dribbled into a late-clock three that rattled home to maintain the lead.
Florida was executing well offensively, however, getting into the lane for baskets near the rim, the speciality for the Gators, and hit a three for a sixth straight made basket prior to the under-eight timeout. So how were the Horns up 27-26? Thanks to an 8-of-10 shooting stretch and 12-of-20 shooting overall despite Vokietaitis recording the only assist for Texas.
With Vokietaitis on the bench, the Longhorns tried to buy some time for the big man to rest, but gave up an offensive rebound that led to an alley-oop dunk and a leak out on a made three by Mark that forced Pope to commit a foul, precipitating the return of Vokietaitis.
A nice step-through move earned the Florida Atlantic transfer a trip to the free-throw line, his first of the game with 4:57 remaining in the half, but he split the trip. Working a pick-and-roll with Vokietaitis on the next possession, Pope drew a shooting foul and hit both to break a 31-31 tie.
Using a rare lineup with both available bigs in the game, Codie showed off some nifty footwork to spin into a half hook in the lane that drew a foul to send the game into the final media timeout of the first half with the Horns up by four points pending Codie’s free throw.
In an important stretch late in the half, Vokietaitis was the victim of a bad goaltending call, Pope missed an open three, Vokietaitis was blocked at the rim, and the Gators hit a corner three to tie the game at 36-36, prompting Miller to use a timeout with 1:20 remaining.
Swain drove for a tough layup and Vokietaitis earned an trip to the free-throw line when he was held going for a defensive rebound, again splitting the trip, but senior guard Chendall Weaver came up with a loose ball to afford the Horns another possession. A three off the dribble by Swain missed badly, but Florida could only throw up a desperation three from past halfcourt to send the game into halftime with Texas leading 39-36.
After scoring four points in Saturday’s loss to the Bulldogs, Mark led the Horns with 13 points in the first-half as Texas shot 50 percent from the field. Florida shot 54 percent and turned four offensive rebounds into seven second-chance points.
The Gators opened the second half with a three to beat the shot clock, a layup on a bad turnover by Pope, and another layup to take the lead as the Horns took four free throws and turned the ball over twice before taking a shot from the field until Codie hit Vokietaitis for a layup on a high-low action. But Codie couldn’t hold his position in the post and got bullied for a jump hook on the other end as Florida started the second half 5-of-6 shooting.
Swain’s ability to get to the rim with his crossover showed up big before the under-16 timeout as he shook the bigger Haugh and finished through contact, converting the three-point play at the line.
A steal by Weaver led to three straight blocked shots by Florida, but the persistent effort of Swain finally paid off with a shot in the lane to retake the lead. The length of the Gators continued to bother Swain with another block on the next possession before a missed three from the corner. After a switch by Pope forced help from Swain, a corner three by Florida made it 51-49 and forced a timeout by Miller with 12:43 remaining.
At the stoppage, the Horns had missed seven of their previous eight shots as the Gators opened the half 6-of-8 shooting. Thirty-four seconds later, the game went into an official review when Weaver was called for a cylinder foul when he was hit in the face with an elbow after a defensive rebound. The foul was assessed to Wilcher after review.
Refusing a ball screen to get a switch on a smaller defender, Swain drove and finished at the rim to tie the game, but a foul on the other end sent the Gators to the line for two makes. Swain couldn’t take advantage of another switch on the next possession, and Florida guard Xaivian Lee took advantage of his trip to the line to create enough rhythm to hit a big three. A good pass from Lee found his teammate for an open corner three that gave the Gators a 61-55 lead and forced a timeout by Miller at the 9:52 mark.
It was the fourth made three of the second half on six attempts for Florida, a team that entered the game among the worst three-point shooting teams in the country at 30.1 percent.
After a long delay for a review initiated Florida, Pope stepped into a long jumper as play resumed before Vokietaitis picked up his third foul going for a loose ball after a miss by the Gators. Texas came up with the stop nonetheless and Pope hit a three. On an extended possession after a steal, Swain hit a jumper in the lane over a bigger defender and Weaver’s effort defensively forced a turnover that sent the game into the under-eight timeout up 62-61 and the Moody Center crowd ignited.
Pope continued his late surge by beating a Florida defender off the bounce and flipping in a layup, but the length of the Gators resulted in another blocked shot at the rim and a fast-break alley oop to tie the game again. The second bad-pass turnover of the second half by Pope led to a diving foul trying to recover the ball and put Florida into the bonus, connecting on both attempts.
When Swain had a dunk attempt blocked that produced a layup on the other end for the Gators, Miller used a timeout down four points at the 6:00 mark.
A bad turnover by Vokietaitis led to a missed dunk by Florida, but the Gators secured the loose ball and hit a jump hook in the lane. After Vokietaitis split his fourth trip to the line, a foul on the other end resulted in two made free throws by the Gators for a seven-point lead, the largest of the game for Florida. Like Lee earlier, Fland used that trip to gain enough rhythm to hit a three on the next trip for a 10-point lead at the under-four timeout as Texas had not made a shot from the field in 3:34. The Horns finished the game without making another.
After Pope made two free throws out of the timeout, Lee hit a three and Mark turned it over trying to float a pass over the top to Vokietaitis. Then Fland hit a floater in the lane and a giveaway by Pope led to a transition dunk and a 15-point lead, at which point Miller didn’t even feel the need to use his final timeout.
Texas fans headed to the exits as a “Let’s go Gators” chant broke out.
The Horns head to College Station to face the Aggies on Saturday at 3 p.m. Central on ESPN2.
