Strong First Half Not Enough for UALR vs Florida

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – UALR (0-2) played No. 11/10 Florida (2-1) to a 27-27 tie over the first 20 minutes, but the Gators outscored the Trojans by 30 in the second half to earn an 86-56 win Saturday afternoon at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Senior Will Neighbour came off the bench to score a team-high 21 points and grab eight rebounds.

Sophomore James White scored 16 points, grabbed a career-high nine rebounds and blocked two shots in 28 minutes of work. Junior J.T. Thomas scored eight points while sophomore Josh Hagins chipped in six points and three assists.

Casey Prather led four Gators in double figures with 27 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Dorian Finney-Smith came off the bench to score 17 points thanks in part to a 3-of-4 shooting effort from three-point range.

Florida was able to turn UALR’s 18 turnovers into 25 points and held a 44-24 advantage in points in the paint. The Gators also connected on 18 of 29 free throws, compared to just 10 of 12 for the Trojans.

UALR and Florida both started slow, with the teams combining to shoot 1 of 12 from the floor and 1 of 4 from the foul line over the first 4:34. White canned an elbow jumper for the Trojans first bucket of the game, while a free throw by Thomas at the 17:01 mark made it 3-all. UALR took its first lead of the game on a jumper by Neighbour at the 11:19 mark, but six straight points by the Gators pushed their lead back out to five, 17-12, with 7:30 left in the half.

An old-fashioned three-point play by Neighbour pulled UALR with two with just under five minutes left in the half. Florida went back up three on a free throw by Kasey Hill, but the Trojans answered with consecutive jumpers by Hagins and White to take a 24-23 lead with just over a minute remaining in the half. With Florida back up one, Neighbour canned a three from the corner to give the Trojans their biggest lead of the half. Hill scored on a transition layup just before the halftime buzzer sounded to make it 27-all at intermission.

UALR held a 22-15 edge in rebounding over the first 20 minutes and limited Florida to just 41.7 percent shooting from the floor.

Florida came out aggressive to start the second half, quickly building a six-point lead before the first media timeout. Another Neighbour jumper at the 14:21 mark cut Florida’s lead to 40-37, but the Gators scored 14 of the next 18 points to push the lead to 13. A trey by Finney-Smith made it 71-49 with 5:50 remaining, and Florida’s lead reached 30 on a layup by Jacob Kurtz with 1:26 on the clock.

The GatorZone Reported the game this way:

Four minutes into Saturday’s game, Dorian Finney-Smith checked into his first college basketball in 20 months. Florida’s 6-foot-8 forward and transfer from Virginia Tech had that look about him.

“You could see how ready he was,” UF freshman point guard Kasey Hill said. “You could see it in his face, see it in his eyes.”

Oh, the kid they call “DoeDoe” was ready, all right. Much readier, it seemed, than his Florida teammates. Together, the 11th-ranked Gators fiddled around with Arkansas-Little Rock for a little more than a half before unleashing a wave of full-court pressure that flattened the Trojans on the way to an 86-56 win before 8,843 at the O’Connell Center.

Senior forward Casey Prather was sensational in scoring 27 points, hitting 10 of his 11 shots, to go with five rebounds and five assists. Finney-Smith, suspended for the season’s first two games and in bed with a virus the previous three days, sparked the Gators (2-1) with 17 points, nine rebounds and 3-for-4 shooting from the arc. Hill added 14 points, plus six assists and no turnovers.

But it was the UF team — collectively — that awoke from a 27-all halftime tie and attacked the Trojans (0-2) with a wicked press three minutes into the second half and completely took over the game’s pace.

From very methodical (the UALR way) to totally chaotic (the UF way).

“I didn’t like how they’re walking the ball down the floor and utilizing the clock,” Gators coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought if we could score and be disruptive and force them to play quicker that would be the way to go.”

Enter four fresh bodies, including walk-on forward Jake Kurtz, who played zero minutes in the first half. Immediately there was a spark; an uptick in pace and intensity.

Over the final 17 minutes, Florida outscored Arkansas-Little Rock 51-25, shot 58 percent from the floor, out-rebounded the Trojans by 10, forced eight turnovers and eventually emptied the bench. Of UF’s 59 second-half points, Prather had 21 of them, including a handful in transition, where the Gators clearly excel and clearly got deeper with the addition of the 6-foot-8, 212-pound Finney-Smith.

“Coach D said to just go out and turn it up on ‘em,” Hill said. “So we went out and were aggressive on defense and pushed the lead out.”

And away.

“We got beat on the 50-50 plays in the second half, got beat on loose balls and got beat to the glass,” UALR coach Steve Shields said. “We didn’t handle their pressure the way we needed to.”

Give credit to Kurtz (3-for-3 from the floor, 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal in 12 minutes) for giving the Gators an extra lift of want-to off the bench. The sight of Kurtz spilling across the floor for a rebound and out-letting the ball from his back was an inspiring one for his teammates.

Or as UF director of basketball operations Darren Hertz suggested afterward, “Subway Sub of the Game.”

A nominee, for sure.

But were there such an honor, it would have gone to Finney-Smith. The flame he lit for the Gators under the glass and from the arc was much-needed for a team lacking in energy and, yes, scoring punch the first two games.

Smith was 5-for-10 from the floor and showed his length, ranginess and aggression in skying for those team-high nine rebounds in just 16 (albeit super-active) minutes

“I enjoyed myself out there,” Finney-Smith said. “I knew I had to come out and play with a lot of passion and fight. It would have been wrong for me to not come out with energy.”

That was after dealing with a sore throat and achy body, courtesy of the virus he battled the last few days.

Then there were butterflies that were a year and a half in the making.

“I really didn’t know what to expect. He hadn’t picked up a ball since Monday,” Donovan said. “He really moved the basketball and made the extra pass. Because he can shoot it, put it on the floor and pass, he opens up a lot of things for our guys.”

Finney-Smith certainly alters the Gators from what they looked like through the first two games of the season.

“I was so excited to see him play, but he didn’t really get to show all the dunks and stuff he can do,” Prather said. “Once he’s back 100 percent, it’s really going to be exciting.”

But first?

“I’m going home and going to bed,” said Finney-Smith, knowing the Gators have a quick turn-around to Monday night’s home game against Southern. “I need to rest, but I can’t wait to practice again.”

Imagine what kind of player Finney-Smith will be when he can actually practice. Imagine, also, what kind of team the Gators will have when senior guard Scottie Wilbekin returns from his suspension; and assuming junior center Damontre Harris, the South Carolina transfer also suspended, works his way back in the coach’s good graces.

That’s a lot of guys for Donovan to work with. That’s a lot of guys for opponents to deal with.

UALR will return to the court Monday night when it takes on Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.