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Sophomore guard Nick Calathes had an incredible performance finishing with 21 points, and with help by teammate Alex Tyus tacking on a 13 point, twelve rebound double-double performance helped the Gators get past the Miami Hurricanes 74-60 in round 2 of the 2009 NIT tournament.
The Gators (25-10) tied the school record for the most home game wins in a season with 18. Florida has now advanced to the quarterfinals to face off against No. 2 seed Penn State next Tuesday night at 9pm which will be televised on ESPN.
Miami really started out slow from the very start and never found a grove to get in. The Hurricanes trailed by 22 points early in the game and never found a way to bounce back from Florida’s pressure.
I was really surprised to see a 31-9 Gator lead with a little over 7 minutes left. I did not expect for the Gators to jump off to such of a great start. Let’s hope this carries on over to the Penn State game on Tuesday.
Florida shot an excellent 63 percent from the field in the first half, which was a season high best. The Gators kind of slacked back in the second half but Miami still could not find a way to jump back in the game.
Calathes played exceptionally well, four 3 pointers, six rebounds and seven assists, he went all out. Junior forward Dan Werner finished the contest with 12 points and six boards.
Miami was led by Dwayne Collins with 17 points and eight rebounds while teammate Jack McClinton running behind with 13 points.
Sophomore guard Nick Calathes has been struggling a bit the past few games, but he came out from his shell on Wednesday after scoring 19 to lead the Gators past Jacksonville in the first round of the NIT tournament.
Florida’s shooting was outstanding the first half. They could hardly miss from anywhere on the floor. The Gators shot 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half and led by 21.
Ray Shipman’s breakaway dunk led to a 26 point Gator lead. I was really surprised to see Ray get up there. I have been waiting all year to see him throw down a slam.
Chandler Parsons finished with 13 points while freshman guard Erving Walker put up 11. Junior forward Dan Werner added 10 points. The Gators finished the game shooting 56 percent from the field.
The Gators advance to the second round to face Miami on Friday, tip off will be held at 7 pm in Gainesville.
By: Brandon
The Gators failed to get into the NCAA tournament but it will not stop them from playing with everything they got.
Florida got a high seed ranking in the N.I.T tournament so they will host Jacksonville University at the O’Connell Center on Wednesday starting at 8pm.
The Gators ended the regular season at 23-10 and 9-7 in SEC play. Yeah I think they could have done a little better in some games which should have been turned around to wins, but that’s the game of basketball. Florida defeated Arkansas 73-58 in the first round of the SEC tournament but failed to get past Auburn in the second round after a 61-58 loss in Tampa, Florida.
Billy Donovan and the rest of the Gators return to the N.I.T for the second straight season and look to bring home the championship after losing in the semifinals last year. If Florida gets passed Jacksonville University, then look forward to watching them play again this coming weekend back in the O’Connell Center.
By: Brandon
The chances of Florida’s NCAA tournament bid have not gotten any better since the tough loss they took on Thursday against Auburn.
The Gators (23-10, 10-8) will find out today if they are selected to play in the big dance after being cut last year and placed in the N.I.T tournament. From what it looks like right now, it is most likely that the Gators will be attending the N.I.T for the second straight year, but still the chances of making the big dance are not impossible just yet.
What really shocked me yesterday was when I found out that Florida dropped to No. 52 in the ESPN final rankings, and their strength of schedule rankings stands at No. 91. Yeah the SEC is down and yeah the Gators haven’t played that many tough teams. The win against Washington was selected as the biggest win on the schedule, and the only team ranked on the top 50.
If Florida is selected for the N.I.T, I am sure they will be ranked very high for seeding and will start off with a small school and will also have the advantage by playing at the O’Connell Center.
The selection Sunday will be held at 6pm. Let’s all just pray the Gators get an NCAA bid and if not, they will still need to work as hard in the N.I.T and still try and bring home the championship.
Even with the 21 point double-double performance by sophomore Alex Tyus was still not enough to lead the Gators past Auburn in the second round of the SEC tournament on Friday.
The Gators had a chance for the semifinals but just failed to finish strong. There a great young ball club that will be incredible the next couple years.
Florida finished the first half with a one point lead on Auburn, 29-28.
With just seconds left in the game, Florida trailed by three points so they needed a three of course. Freshman guard Erving Walker threw up a prayer from beyond the arc but was blocked Quantez Richardson. Walker was comforted by teammate Kenny Kadji and Fricke. Walker finished the game with 14 points.
Sophomore Nick Calathes finished with just 7 points and eleven rebounds. The Gators are questionable for the NCAA tournament, but it is most likely not going to happen. They have a good shot at making the N.I.T for the second year in a row.
Auburn was led by Korvotney Barber with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Auburn will head into the semifinals to take on the Tennessee Volunteers.
By: Mark Stainton
The Florida Gator basketball team won back-to-back National Championships during the 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 basketball seasons. These are not your championship Gators. Gone are Joakim, Taurean, Big Al, and Lee Hump. Gone are Brewer and Richard. The top 6 players on that team left and the Gators were left with an N.I.T. berth in the 2007-2008 basketball season. The 2008-2009 team should have been improved. They returned everyone (except transfer Jai Lucas) and they had all-world guard Nick Calathes. It seems this year’s team has followed the same pattern as last year’s team. Start strong and finish weakly with a lot of losses towards the end of the year.
The Gators have one chance now. They have the SEC tournament. They need at least two wins to solidify a spot in the NCAA tournament. First up is Arkansas, which should be a win, but nothing is guaranteed lately. The Gators lost a heart-breaker to Georgia in mid-February when Terrance Woodbury went off for 32 points against UF. It was Georgia’s first SEC win of the season. Walter Hodge does
not deserve back-to-back N.I.T. bids after winning back-to-back National Championships in his first two seasons. After Florida beats Arkansas, they basically have a one game tournament against Auburn. If UF wins, they should be dancing. If they lose, then it is back to the N.I.T.
Calathes is the leader of this team. He leads the SEC in assists and is
sixth in scoring as well. He has been a great player for UF all year, but his Achilles heel seems to be finishing games. He hasn’t played out of this world during crunch time. If he can step it up some when it matters most, then not only could UF make it to the NCAA tournament, but they could win a few games.
The Gators need to prove they are not the same team as last year. They need to prove that they are an NCAA caliber team. It is unacceptable to miss the NCAA tournament in back-to-back years after winning back-to-back National Championships. It is unacceptable to not make the NCAA tournament when you play at
the University of Florida. The Gators need to win two games. Calathes and Hodge need to lead them to the tourney. Anything less is unacceptable for the University of Florida basketball team. Go Gators.
By: Brandon
Walter Hodge played his final home game as a Florida Gator, but his career at Florida is still not retired. Hodge finished with 18 points on Senior Day as he helped Florida top Kentucky 60-53.
The Gators (22-9, 9-7) started off shooting real well as they took a 18-10 lead with roughly fourteen minutes left in the half, but Kentucky (19-12, 8-8) answered back every turnover the Gators forced early on in the game. The Refs did not help a bit in the contest, not calling hardly any fouls on either side unless there was blood. Well, not really blood but as I mean they let them play very physical and coach Billy Donovan had every right to argue with the refs after every time a Gator player was mugged.
The Gators went into the locker room leading 29 to 22 at the half after a Patrick Patterson tip in at the buzzer which was reviewed and counted.
Kentucky fought back in the second half. I do not know if coach Billy Gillispie got them fired up or what, but the Wildcats dwindled the score down by 5 with four and a half remaining in the game. But it did not mean a thing. Freshman guard Erving Walker stepped up and hit a huge three that got the crowd back into the game after the creeping comeback from Kentucky, which put them up by eight.
With 3:40 remaining in the game, Walter Hodge took away a Kentucky pass near the sideline, and apparently all the fans and players thought he stepped out so they just paused but Hodge kept going which led to an easy two that gave the Gators an eight point lead that pretty much summed things up. With just ten seconds left in the game, Hodge was fouled and sent to the free throw line. Everybody stood up and cheered Walter on as he shot the double bonus. Hodge missed the first but sunk the second attempt, and then coach Billy Donovan made a quick substitution for Hodge so he would get his standing ovation from the fans. At the end of the game, Hodge was interviewed and he told the fans and Gator Nation that he appreciates all of their support throughout the four years at the University Of Florida.
Billy Donovan told the press how much of a physical contest it was, and how Dan Werner and Alex Tyus battled by not letting Patterson get to the bucket as much in the second half.
Other statistics for the Gators. Sophomore Alex Tyus added 11 points along with a pair of dunks and three rebounds. Erving Walker scored 10 while junior Dan Werner put up 8 points and came down with six boards. The game was very exciting, but emotional. I hate to see any senior leave, but Walter Hodge was one of the best, along with the most winningest player to wear the Gator uniform.
The Gators clinched the third spot of the Eastern part of the SEC and will face Arkansas in the first round of the SEC tournament on Thursday starting at 9:45pm.
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