UF MBK: Florida 66, USF 55

Orange Bowl Classic
FLA Live Arena | Sunrise, Fla.
Box Score<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_documents_2021_12_18_2021-5F12-5F18-5FUF-5Fvs-5FUSF.pdf&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=K2uDoko8P2vPNsVSMVNGQhwoQZZ02A_Hd1-k-T0wqi0XJqtgTu_w7zzFnPSgHBAH&s=e7MxIyS3FqiL4-omWBNJjUH-_k9K0g5ffd-zj3cL5KU&e= > | Season Stats<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__floridagators.com_documents_2021_11_9_2021-5F22-5FUFStats.pdf&d=DwIFAg&c=sJ6xIWYx-zLMB3EPkvcnVg&r=o5LKAX7slotfFMyE71jI7L22NYBIi1-KbRGNSXudTPo&m=K2uDoko8P2vPNsVSMVNGQhwoQZZ02A_Hd1-k-T0wqi0XJqtgTu_w7zzFnPSgHBAH&s=BkGfTL6SWaK4JGEvdxONdn4NUfRq4f-mDJ3itlBZGmk&e= >

Records: Florida 8-3; USF 4-5

Notable

  *   Florida picked up its third win vs. an in-state opponent this season, following wins vs. Florida State and North Florida.
     *   The Gators got off to a slow 0-for-7 start from the field and fell behind 10-3, but outscored USF 27-8 through the rest of the half on 12-for-22 shooting to carry a 30-18 lead into the break.
     *   USF got within 48-45 with 9:00 remaining, but Florida responded by holding USF without a field goal for more than seven minutes to put the game away.
  *   Colin Castleton picked up MVP honors, notching his fifth double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Phlandrous Fleming added 12 points, and Anthony Duruji scored 11.
  *   Florida posted a 45-27 rebounding advantage, with 18 offensive rebounds leading to 14 second-chance points.

Head Coach Mike White
Opening statement…
“Great hospitality as always. Great to play in front of some of the fans that you don’t always have a chance to see as often as you like. South Florida is a team who is as sound, physical and disciplined defensively, especially in the half court, as you’ll see throughout the country. They make you fight for every inch on the court and make you fight for every open shot that you can find, if you can find one. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a good win and we’re ready to get back home.”

On the team’s turnovers early and the run at the end of the first half…
“I was really pleased with the ball movement early. I thought we made some skips and some extras, and that ball was popping. We had some really good looks early, which actually surprised me – the level of looks that we got that didn’t go in. Then, all of a sudden, the ball started sticking a little bit, we started passing up open ones trying to drive it into their gaps, which [USF] is terrific in converging on the basketball. That led to some turnovers. They also made a couple of plays, some reach-arounds from behind, which led to live-ball turnover layups. We settled in there a little bit midway through the first half, executed pretty well down the stretch and got some stops as well. I thought we were really good early in the second half and extended the lead a little bit. But, credit to those guys. They continued to fight and made it interesting more so than it needed to be for us if we want to progress. I thought that, unfortunately for us, the tempo slowed, the defensive intensity slowed, the ball movement slowed a little bit, but with them changing their ball-screen coverage, I thought they did a good job there which made it stick a little bit for us as well. They packed it in pretty tight there the last 10 minutes and we had to make a couple of individual plays at the end.”

On how the team played overall…
“I thought we played pretty well. I think [USF] is hard to play. As we talked about with the guys a lot, every game [USF] plays has been close. They’re going to be good in their league. They’re good, they’re solid, they’re sound, they’re disciplined, they’re tough and they’re physical. I thought that we looked really good at times, and if our shooting percentages go up, which is what we’re searching for of course, maybe we would look better more times than that. Then, at times, I thought we had some lapses. But, some of that has to do with your opponent. I liked the way we rebounded. We have to value the ball better. We have to adjust better to changing defenses, or even though it was all man, they changed what they were doing, and we have to find a way to make some shots. That’s on myself and our staff as much as anyone. A lot of this is trial and error and we need to change something that we’re doing in practice. We need to continue searching because we are better shooters than this – we are. I believe they’ll go down and maybe it’s trying something different.”

#12 Colin Castleton, Senior Forward
On the big runs in the first and second half…
“We hit some shots and didn’t turn the ball over like we did in the beginning, which was holding us back a little bit because they were getting easy transition layups. We were able to stop letting doing that, stop turning the ball over, and then just got out and do what we needed to on defense.”

On being able to win despite not shooting a high percentage in field goals…
“[Defense] is our identity and that is what we pride ourselves on. We go hard every possession with defense and try to do the little things because that helps you get the easy buckets when shots aren’t falling. To be honest, we’ve been struggling this year with field goal percentage and we all know that. Everybody is working on what they need to do to get shots up and get their rhythm going. But, that takes care of itself. We always say, ‘You can’t control whether the ball actually goes in or not. You can control how hard you play on defense if you rebound and do all the little stuff that helps you actually win games.’ You can still hit shots and have bad defense and win the game.

On the team’s rebounds…
“That’s what we talked about coming into this game – that we can be a little more physical, get in the glass, be a little more dirty and get offensive and defensive rebounds. That helps us flow into offense because that leads to easy buckets. If you’re not able to hit shots, easy layups help everybody. It gives confidence and then gets a flow going.”

#4 Anthony Duruji, Senior Forward
On the big runs in the first and second half…
“I would say that it started on the defensive end. I think we were solid on defense – we weren’t turning over the ball, we weren’t casual, and we did what we did. We were just ourselves. We got that rhythm, ran with it and were able to get a run.”

On being able to win despite not shooting a high percentage in field goals…
“Defense. We were solid on defense, and when we don’t turn over the ball, that gives us a better opportunity to win any game. So, I think it starts on the defensive end, which is our identity. That gives you a chance.”