Florida 67, RV LSU 56
Pete Maravich Assembly Center | Baton Rouge, La.
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/1/10/2190018.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2022/11/7/2022-23_UFstats.pdf>
Records: Florida 9-7 (2-2 SEC) | LSU 12-4 (1-3 SEC)
Next up: #20 Missouri, Saturday, Jan. 14, 3:30 p.m., SEC Network
Downloadable Postgame Sound (download info not for publication)
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Credit: Florida Athletics
Notable
* The Gators’ defense locked up LSU to snap the Tigers’ 13-game home winning streak.
* Colin Castleton drew 10 fouls and knocked down 12 of 15 free throws, a career high in both makes and attempts, to lead the Gators with 18 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots.
* It marked Castleton’s fourth straight game with 4+ blocked shots, the best such streak by a Gator since Joakim Noah reeled off seven straight, a streak that included all six games in UF’s 2006 NCAA Tournament run (3/16/06-11/10/06). Castleton has blocked 5+ in back-to-back games for the fourth time in his career, also the first Gator since Noah did so within that same stretch.
* Myreon Jones played a season-high 30 minutes, adding eight points and three assists with no turnovers.
* Jones’ 3-pointer with 13:38 to play capped a 7-0 run that put the Gators up, 41-36. He also assisted on Riley Kugel’s 3-pointer that opened up a 48-40 lead for UF with 10:14 to play.
* Riley Kugel scored seven points and posted a massive +21 plus-minus in 18:40 of court time.
* After LSU drew within four, Alex Fudge drew a key offensive foul with just under 7:00 to play and scored on an offensive rebound on the ensuing offensive possession. Fudge scored all seven of his points in the second half in his return to LSU, where he played his freshman season.
* Florida weathered an 0-for-6 start from field with four turnovers in the opening minutes, falling behind 7-0 before responding with an 8-0 run. The Gators only committed six turnovers over the final 36 minutes.
* Florida limited KJ Williams, a .492 3-point shooter entering the night, to 1-for-9 beyond the arc.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On the defense…
“It’s what our identity has become. Again, we felt like we could be good defensively but early on our transition was eating us up. When we made that conscious decision after Portland to really address that, we’ve been really hard to score on the past month and a half since then. It’s our guys pouring in to what we’re doing, being coachable. They’re executive really well. We did a lot of things tonight that we don’t normally do defensively. We switched a lot, and we’re generally a pretty sticky man-to-man defense where we want to stay on our own [man]. It’s the guys. They’re doing a great job guarding. This LSU team has a lot of talented offensive players, and for the most part we shut them down.”
On dealing with a tough shooting first half…
“We felt good at halftime because we didn’t make a shot in the first half, and we were only down three points. So the message to the guys was, ‘Continue defending, continue rebounding, continue taking care of the ball, and then at the end of the day, somebody’s gotta step up and hit some shots to get us over the hump.’ We did a wonderful job in the second half getting to the foul line, but the two 3s we made – Myreon [Jones] made one, and Riley [Kugel] made one in the corner in front of our bench – those were big, big shots. In a game like tonight where neither team is shooting the ball particularly well, those feel like five-pointers instead of three-pointers, and they ended up being separators.”
Grad G Kyle Lofton
On the mentality down the stretch…
“You want to cherish every possession and get a shot up and don’t turn it over and give them extra possessions. I think down the stretch, get a good shot, get a stop, get a rebound, I think we have to rebound better obviously, but I felt like our first shot defense was fine, then we get a rebound and a shot, we can live with that.”
Grad F Colin Castleton
On the halftime message…
“We were all talking on the court, I felt like this was one of the best games of the year where we were the most connected. Last game was a really good building block for us, just playing with passion and every huddle we were just talking about things we were seeing on the court and just me and Kyle [Lofton] as well as MJ [Myreon Jones] talking to each other like, what do we see to get better at? We were missing some shots and that’s basketball, but the little things we were doing, rebounding, blocking out, winning the 50-50 balls, and that’s what wins you basketball games in the SEC. That was the biggest thing, and coming into halftime, Coach Golden just gave us a little more energy.”
Grad G Myreon Jones
On keeping it together when the shots weren’t falling…
“We take a lot of pride in getting stops, especially on the road. Everybody is against us. Just keeping everyone composed, and when they go on runs just stay with it and don’t get too ahead or lose focus. Just having us three leaders out there just kept everyone calm and collected during the game.”
