Overcoming an 11-point second-half deficit, the Florida Gators took the lead with under 10 minutes remaining to put themselves in a position to down the Virginia Cavaliers in their Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame series contest on Friday night.
Trailing by one point with under a minute left, the Gators trotted up the court with the chance to take the lead. However, an early entry pass from starting point guard Walter Clayton Jr. was too high for Samuel, making contact with the rim and bouncing into the hands of Virginia's Blake Buchanan.
Florida fouled to send the center to the charity stripe. He split the pair of free throws to extend the UVA lead to two, giving the Gators another shot on the ensuing possession. However, the new possession suffered the same fate as Clayton lost the handle and allowed the reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year Reece Beekman to get his hand on his pass intended for Riley Kugel to put the game on ice.
Florida fell to Virginia, 73-70, marking the first loss of the season for the Gators and Cavaliers' head coach Tony Bennett's first win over UF as a head coach.
The Gators got off to a hot start in the contest, taking a 14-7 lead by establishing a dominant presence on the interior. All 14 of Florida's points in the first five minutes came inside as Micah Handlogten and Tyrese Samuel took advantage of the Cavaliers' less physical starting frontcourt.
The starting forward duo also found creases on the backside of plays to present easy targets for the driving backcourt pieces to find and dish the ball to. Handlogten and Samuel combined for 14 first-half points.
However, after falling behind by seven, Bennett's squad settled in, namely by anchoring the interior on the defensive end.
Florida scored just four more points in the paint in the first half. It forced the unit to find a different means of production. After a near-3:30 scoring drought, the Gators started to find their shooting stroke from the perimeter.
Wing Will Richard led the group in that effort, connecting on all three of his attempts from beyond the arc. His impressive output was highlighted by a late-half triple to mitigate a surge by Virginia.
The Hoos took a 39-35 lead into the half as a result.
In direct contrast to the opening stretch of the first half, Virginia jumped out to a fast start, feeding off the momentum it accumulated to close the first 20 minutes.
The Cavaliers fed off their big men, Buchanan and Jacob Groves, and Florida's carelessness with the basketball to extend the Gators' deficit to 11 with 13:27 left.
Groves knocked down two threes during the sequence, while Buchanan offered the length and physicality that lacked in the early going for the Hoos. The latter finished with 18 points, seven rebounds and one assist to uplift his squad's production.
Florida was down but not out.
A 12-0 run, beginning around the 13-minute mark in the second half, allowed the Gators to retake a one-point lead with 8:15. Kugel, despite an overall rough outing to that point, highlighted the unit's surge with an aggressive drive down the lane before finishing through contact.
The basket cut the lead to one. He missed his ensuing free throw attempt, but Handlogten came away with an offensive board and putback to put the Gators up 55-54.
The contest remained close down the stretch as the two squads traded punches.
Kugel's second-half performance proved crucial for the Gators in their efforts to remain within striking distance. He accounted for 15 points in the final 20 minutes — after having just two in the first half — to finish with a team-high 17 and set Florida up with a chance to win in the closing minutes.
Handlogten, who fouled out with just under three minutes remaining, finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds — including eight offensive boards — two assists and two blocks to keep the Gators afloat in the contest on both ends of the floor. His late-game absence was notable.
Even then, the Gators had several chances to prevail over the Cavaliers late, but Clayton's two inopportune turnovers put the nail in Florida's coffin. Virginia walked out of the Spectrum Center as victors, 73-70.
Florida will return to the hardwood on Tuesday against Florida A&M, looking to rebound following the early-season challenge versus Virginia. It will be the unit's final contest without expected starter Zyon Pullin in the fold.
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