The Florida Gators (10-4, 6-3 SEC) played as hard as their team played throughout the season on Saturday. The result was an 85-80 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers (11-5, 4-3 Big 12) in the SEC / Big 12 Challenge. It is the fourth consecutive victory for the Gators, who now have unreserved victories against the country’s No. 6 team in Tennessee and now No. 11.
This was a game full of lead changes with 18 in the competition. Despite receiving a mysterious offensive foul on a three-point ball made by Tyree Appleby in the first half that erased the kick and West Virginia had an extra free-throw attempt because Jason Jitoboh’s shirt number was incorrectly listed in the list before the game, Florida remained within five points at 52-47 going to the locker room at halftime.
The Gators also faced terrible problems in the opening stanza, in a game that was as physical for both sides as any other player in Florida this year. Florida saw second-year point guards Tre Mann and junior Tyree Appleby, along with the great starter, junior Omar Payne, lost extended minutes with two fouls each in the first half. The two teams would combine to launch 61 free throws in the competition.
But the second half was a different story. The Gators fought the problem. Most of those who were in trouble in the first half turned away from him in the second and changed things. They increased their defense against West Virginia striker Derek Culver, who scored 21 points in the first half, keeping him with seven in the second.
The Gators got their first advantage in the second half at 13:50 with a three-pointer from junior guard Noah Locke who made it 59-58. Thereafter, the lead would change four more times until Florida took a two-point lead over another three-point Locke with 6:29 remaining. The advantage would fluctuate between one and six points from then on, before the Gators ended.
For the Gators, junior striker Colin Castleton would be the man in the second half and led the Gators with 21 points, 7 rebounds and 5 blocks. He scored 15 of those points and scored four of the blocks in the second half.
Florida is now 10-0 this season, when it scored at least 80 points and the Mountaineers did not lose a game when they kept teams below 72. The Gators had three double-digit players, with Locke scoring 19 in 4 of 7 pitches. behind the arch. Locke has made 18 shots from three points in the last five games. Appleby scored 12 and was great on the free throw line, going 6-7 on the day. He also made seven assists and only three turnovers.
Mann was also big. He added nine points, all from the three-point line (3-6). He also had three rebounds and three assists, with only one turn in the day.
Culver scored 28 points to lead the Mountaineers and was pretty unstoppable on the inside until he doubled in the second half. He was fouled after foul and submitted 14 of 17 on the charity track. Guard Sean McNeil got off the bench and scored 21 points, making 5 of 11 long distance. McNeil took the Gators in a few awkward spins and was open very often. Guard Taz Sherman was the only other double-digit Mountaineer to finish with 11 points.
Florida did a good job of defending goalkeeper Mike McBride, keeping him at 3 out of 15 shots and scoring just nine points. McBride was averaging 15.3 this season.
The Gators once again outperformed their opponent in painting, scoring 32 points close to the edge, compared to 22 for the Mountaineers. But led by Culver, it was the second consecutive game in which the Gators lost the advantage of an offensive rebound by 16-10 and this led the Mountaineers to lead the Gators in second chance points by 21-8.
It was really a team win. With four players in trouble in the first half, Mike White used 11 of the 12 available fellows and, in the end, only Appleby finished with 30+ minutes and ended with 31. This may have contributed to the Gators playing hard in the final stretch of the contest.
All 11 players scored in the game with the Gators getting 20 points from the bench.
The Gators will host South Carolina next Wednesday in a game at 6:30 pm on the SEC Network.