GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
LSU and its four-guard attack ran No. 2 Florida out of the arena over the last seven minutes of the first half by a 22-2 count to take a 37-31 lead at the break.
Upset alerts were trending.
A third straight win seemed very possible.
Then Florida coach Todd Golden remembered he had the bigger team and decided to paint a new picture in the second half, and the Gators swamped the Tigers inside for a 79-65 victory in front of 8,569 at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
“I thought they punked us in the back half of the second half,” Golden said. “Didn’t allow us to operate very comfortably offensively, and we’ve been pretty good that way.”
Florida (24-3, 11-3 Southeastern Conference) had not trailed at halftime by more than six since Jan. 22 at South Carolina, and the Gators came back and won that one, too.
“I thought the final eight minutes of the first half was the best we’ve defended all year,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said. “Great physicality, the communication was really good.”
But in the second half, Florida 6-foot-9 forward Thomas Haugh scored 13 of his 16 points and grabbed six of his 10 rebounds, and 6-10 center Rueben Chinyelu scored 11 of his 19 points and snared seven of his 13 rebounds. And after outscoring LSU (14-13, 3-11 SEC) by only 12-8 in the paint and 6-3 on second chance buckets in the first half, Florida dominated those categories, 44-24 and 17-8, to finish the game.
The Gators outrebounded the smallish Tigers 48-33 after they held just a 24-19 advantage in the first half.
“In the first half, we did a really good job in our switches and keeping them in front of us on the dribble,” McMahon said. “So, they ended up taking a lot of contested, mid-range shots.”
And Florida shot just 11 of 34 (32 percent) in the first half and 4 of 14 from 3-point range (28 percent).
“I thought in the second half in the half court, they put their head down and they whipped us off the bounce, got to the rim and finished those plays,” McMahon said.
The Gators hit 17 of 28 shots within the arc in the second half for 60 percent.
LSU still led 46-40 at the 15:29 mark of the second half, but Florida soon took over from the 15-minute mark on of the second half on. The Gators outscored a suddenly cold and turnover-prone LSU, 20-6, from 14:55 left to 8:56 to go for a 60-52 lead. Florida fast broke to a 69-59 lead with 4:18 left and led by as many as 18 at 59-77 with 2:22 to go on a Chinyelu layup.
“I thought we imposed our will on them,” Golden said. “We imposed our will on the glass.”
“That last 10 minutes when we didn’t make threes and we turned it over, they’re relentless in their pace in transition,” McMahon said. “And they made us pay right there.”
Florida’s defense also shut down LSU leading scorer Cam Carter like few this season. Carter, who scored 46 points in his last two games and was averaging 17.3, scored in single digits for just the third time all season with seven on 3-of-13 shooting, including 0 for 6 from 3-point range.
“Cam Carter’s a great player,” Golden said. “He was a huge key to our scouting report. We just made it hard on him. Every shot was contested. Honestly, I think we frustrated him a little bit.”
LSU’s only starter to score in double figures was freshman guard Curtis Givens III with 11.
Freshman forward Robert Miller III scored 19 off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range, and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds in 25 minutes. Guard Mike Williams III scored 10 off the bench.
Guard Alijah Martin scored 14 for Florida with six rebounds. Guard Walter Clayton Jr. added 13 with six boards, and guard Denzel Aberdeen scored 11.
“The story of the game is obviously they physically dominated us in the paint,” McMahon said. “They just overwhelmed us on the offensive glass.”
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