#13 Baylor 95, Florida 91
NIT Season Tip-Off Championship Game
Barclays Center| Brooklyn, N.Y.
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/11/24/2023.11.24_Florida_vs._Baylor.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/11/17/2023-24_UFStats.pdf> | Media Resources<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iv6cc1nl98a49pv/AAD_LkZm6hKvVz7FpyboOUR1a?dl=0>
Records: Florida 4-2; Baylor 6-0
Next up for Florida: at Wake Forest (ACC/SEC Challenge), Wednesday, 7:15 p.m., ESPNU
Notable
* Riley Kugel led the Gators with career highs of 25 points and nine rebounds, shooting 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
* Tyrese Samuel and Zyon Pullin earned All-Tournament Team honors.
* Samuel scored 18 and added six rebounds after going for 20 and 10 in the first game.
* Pullin, making his first start as a Gator, scored 17 and added five assists and no turnovers. He finished the tournament with 13 assists and one turnover.
* The 3-point line proved the difference as Baylor shot 14-for-25 from long range vs. the Gators’ 8-for-26.
* UF owned a 38-33 advantage on the boards, including 19 offensive rebounds, despite playing without injured starting center Micah Handlogten (ankle).
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement…
“Obviously a tough loss. I thought our guys played really hard, played really well for a majority of the game. As I examine the box score, even game all the way around with the exception of the 3-point line. They obviously shot incredibly well, 56 percent. There were plenty of things we could’ve done a little better defensively, in terms of guarding the 3. Like I told our guys in the locker room, we need to limit attempts better. But once that ball is in the air there is only so much you can do about controlling the outcome and 56 percent is going to be tough to overcome, 14 made 3s for them. Obviously, we only made eight out of our 26. We out-rebounded them, turned it over less than they did, shot a better percentage from 2 than they did, but they won the game today because they shot the ball better from 3 than we did.”
On the depth and number of weapons Baylor has…
“[Jalen] Bridges was really the one I felt got us today. RayJ [Dennis] used a lot of possessions, played well, but we knew we wanted to force him to beat us in the mid-range and beat us with those floaters. I thought we did a poor job on Bridges, obviously. Six for nine, 23 points, five for seven from the line, didn’t defend his shot well enough. Obviously, they’re a really talented team. I think they’re the best team in the Big 12. It’s not surprising all the depth they have and the talent they can bring in. Obviously, they hit big, big shots at big moments. I think we had it tied and then No. 23, their third-string center [Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua], hit that big pick-and-pop 3 in the middle of the floor. They hit like two or three in a row as a team, that was the separation. Similar to us, when you have really good depth and multiple weapons, you can’t rely on cutting one guy out because multiple guys will be able to beat you.”
On playing without Micah Handlogten (ankle)…
“I think it affected our depth in terms of just having one less guy that had been playing a lot of minutes out there. Obviously, Walter [Clayton] was a little under the weather and that affected him a little bit. I thought Denzel [Aberdeen] did a really nice job in his minutes and stepped up in a big game. Our two freshmen didn’t number as well as they’d been going. These are big moments for them, learning experiences. But you take away your starting center, to Riley’s point, it didn’t affect us on the offensive end. We still scored 91. It was more on the defensive end, I think, where it affected us in terms of putting Tyrese [Samuel] and [Alex] Condon in these ball-screen coverages all game long where they’re getting fatigued a little bit. We didn’t have one more guy to rest them or give them a little more time. Offensively, I thought we did a great job, especially this guy next to me.”
Sophomore G Riley Kugel
On how missing Micah Handlogten affected the offense…
“He’s definitely a big piece in our offensive set. He can fill up a ton of space. I wouldn’t say it affected us that much because we still have a lot of people coming off the rotation who can do what he does. Really, it’s just comes down to how bad do we want it? He’s a good piece, though. We definitely missed him.”
On playing with four guards…
“We definitely do that a lot in practice, so we definitely have a little chemistry going there already. All four of those guards can hoop, so we kind of got a good feel.”
