The Gators (14-7) made 12 three-point field goals and shot 53.1 percent from the floor for the game against a Mountaineer defense that came into today’s game ranked first in the country in steals and turnovers, and second in the country in field goal percentage defense.
Today, the Gators were making them with hands in their faces, wide open, it didn’t matter. And Florida, one of the worst free throw shooting teams in the country, was even making those as well – 24 of 31.
Dorian Finney-Smith hit five of seven from long range, added five of six from the free throw line and finished with a game-high 24 points.
Gator guard Brandone Francis-Ramirez came off the bench to hit all three of his three-point attempts and finished with nine, and guards KeVaughn Allen and Chris Chiozza made two each from behind the arc to finish with 19 and 10 points respectively.
“We didn’t guard and our pressure is close to non-existent anymore,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “We’ve got guys worried about fouling and guys worried about staying in the game longer.”
West Virginia’s only effective stretch of the game came midway through the first half when the Mountaineers went on a 12-0 run to reduce their 16-point deficit to four, but a missed Tarik Phillip three and an Elijah Macon turnover led to a Phillip foul and two Allen free throws. More free throws from Finney-Smith and Devin Robinson followed to get the lead back to double digits, where it remained at halftime.
“We cut it to four, we make penetration and we throw it to Elijah, Nate thinks it’s coming for him so he touches it a little bit and then the ball comes down so Elijah fumbles it out of bounds. Then we take an absolutely God-awful shot and all of a sudden it’s back to eight,” said Huggins. “We can’t do that because our margin for error is just not good enough. We’ve got to make plays when we’ve got opportunities to make plays.”
In the second half, the Gators’ lead swelled to as many as 20 on several different occasions, the latest coming with a minute remaining on Finney-Smith’s last three.
Jaysean Paige and Tarik Phillip scored 15 each coming off the bench, Devin Williams contributed 12 and Nathan Adrian, starting in place of suspended Jonathan Holton, added 10.
Courtesy Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG.
“We didn’t run offense but the times that we did run offense I think we scored every single time at the end,” said Huggins.
West Virginia shot 43.1 percent from the floor, was whistled for 27 fouls and committed 19 turnovers – several of those in live situations resulting in Florida fast-break baskets.
“We continue to turn the ball over,” said Huggins. “I counted five transition opportunities when we had big numbers and turned the ball over before we could get a shot off. That’s 10 points that would have gotten us back into the game and give us a chance.”
Today’s game was supposed to have been the eye of the storm for a West Virginia team that must now go on the road and play 14th-ranked Iowa State on Tuesday night in Ames, followed by games coming up against 17th-ranked Baylor at home on Saturday and then at fourth-ranked Kansas in Lawrence three nights later.
Obviously, the Mountaineers are right in it now.
West Virginia drops to 17-4 overall and is now 0-3 in SEC/Big 12 Challenge games, falling by one last year at home to LSU and dropping an 11-point decision at Missouri two years ago.