Gators take their lumps but finally show fight in holding off Wake Forest
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Wake Forest had all but liquidated an 11-point second-half lead and Florida coach Billy Donovan had his team in the huddle, with just over seven minutes to play, and promptly reminded his players about those late-game crumblings in losses to Miami and Georgetown and Kansas earlier in the season. That's the body language he was seeing. That's the real-talk they deserved.
OK, so now what?
That's when Donovan rolled his players back on the floor and saw something he wasn't accustomed to; not from this bunch.
"For the first time this year, I saw some internal fight," he said. "I saw a look."
A gutsy and timely 3-pointer from freshman Chris Chiozza ignited a late rally, as the Gators scored 16 of the next 20 points to run away from the Demon Deacons for a 63-50 win in the Orange Bowl Classic at BB&T Center.
Junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished four assists and had four steals. Junior guard Michael Frazier, after butting heads with a Wake defender and needing 14 stitches to close a gruesome gash, added 12 points. Junior forward Alex Murphy, the transfer from Duke (pictured right), had nine points, four rebounds, and a pair of steals and blocked shots in his UF debut, helping the Gators (7-4) win their fourth straight game, and fifth in a row on their annual holiday-season trip to South Florida.
There was very little about the game that aesthetically pleasing. Florida shot 32 percent in the first half, at one point missing 10 straight field-goal tries, and just 26 percent from 3-point range. Wake Forest (5-6) -- with three players suspended, including starting point guard and leading 3-point shooter Mitchell Wilbekin, the younger brother of former Gators star Scottie Wilbekin -- hit only 29 percent in the first half, 37 for the game and turned it over 24 times, with 10 of those by forward Devin Thomas.
And seeing blood spilling from Frazier's head (below) midway through the opening period was downright ghastly, while also leaving the Gators fending on offense without their leading scorer for the balance of the half.
Maybe that's what made the outcome so satisfying.
"We weren't playing well," Finney-Smith said. "But we came together when we had to."
A backdoor lay-in by Thomas (7 points, nine rebounds) drew the Deacons to 46-45 and Donovan called a timeout with 7:13 to play.
"A lot of times, it's not about looking or playing pretty," he said. "Sometimes, it comes down to who is the most competitive. It comes down to an offensive rebound, to a free throw or loose basketball or an extra pass. It comes down to the first to the floor. I think we fell short in some of those areas in November, but I think maybe this is something we can build on."
Their response to his challenge, that is.
Donovan did not like the way his starting point guard, sophomore Kasey Hill (6 points on 2-for-8 shooting, 1 assist, 2 turnovers), was playing and benched him. What Donovan did like was seeing Hill respond to the move by keeping engaged on the bench and during timeouts and cheering on his teammates, especially Chiozza, who is rounding into a nice rookie role player.
In Hill's place, Chiozza didn't stuff the box score (8 points, 2 assists, 1 turnover), but he stepped up with confidence and buried the second of his two 3-pointers at the 6:34 mark to stretch out that one-point lead and inject the Gators with some energy when they desperately needed it.
"I didn't start the year shooting very well," said Chiozza, who's made nine of his last 21 attempts from distance. "But I never lost confidence in myself."
A dump-down pass from Finney-Smith to Chris Walker for a layup and another free-throw from Walker made it a seven-point lead, until guard Codi Miller-McIntyre (16 points, 4 assists, 5 turnovers) converted a 4-point play that instantly took it back to a one-possession game.
Again, more internal fight.
"We couldn't afford another loss like we had earlier in the season," said Chiozza (left). "We battled."
Finney-Smith pick-and-popped for an open 3-ball in the corner to jumpstart a run of eight straight Florida points that opened up a 13-point lead with a minute to go.
It was a nice way to send the Gators off for the Christmas break, with the hope the team can be fully stocked when the players return, assuming junior guard Eli Carter, who missed his sixth game of season, is fully recovered from his bout with strep throat.
The arrival of Murphy, though, was a big step in that direction.
"I was just so excited to get on the court with those guys," said Murphy, the younger brother of former UF standout Erik Murphy. "It was a little bit of a sloppy game, but it felt good to get my feet wet and get out there and compete with those guys."
Added Donovan: "He's big body and strong enough and can rebound well enough and do different things to impact the game. It was nice for to see him, with the journey he'd taken, finally get on the court to have success like he did."
Now, the Gators can catch their collective breath and enjoy a respite with family before returning Dec. 26 -- UF faces Florida State on Dec. 30 at Tallahassee, then is home to reigning NCAA champ Connecticut on Jan. 3 before opening the Southeastern Conference slate -- to continue a journey of their own.
"We did not play very well and give Wake Forest credit; they probably had a lot to do with that," Donovan said. "But I could start to see that look, and I thought we fought better. That was encouraging to me."
He'll look for that look again post-Christmas.
