‘Poise was key’: Trio of Gators score last 25 points in win vs Mizzou

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tyrese Samuel’s career-high 28 points led the Gators to an 83-74 win over Missouri on Wednesday, while fellow grad transfer Zyon Pullin added 21. The duo combined to score 23 of Florida’s final 25 points down the stretch to seal the win.

Samuel added 10 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season, while Micah Handlogten recorded his fourth double-double with 12 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, including a dunk with under three minutes left in regulation.

Here’s everything Samuel, Pullin and Handlogten had to say after the victory over the Tigers.

Tyrese Samuel

On the coaching staff challenging him to have a performance like this: 

Samuel: “All year long, every day. I gave them one, so I’m happy for that. But you know, can’t relax right now, now that the season’s about to turn up a little bit more. So I’m going to try to get one every game from here on out.”

On if he’s ever had a 28-point game before: 

Samuel: “Nah, never – in my life or in college? Not in college, but in my life for sure.”

On the seniors taking over late in the game with Clayton out: 

Samuel: “Yeah, most definitely. I always think poise was the issue when a team goes zone against us in the second half after they like find out that’s our weak point, but I think today that we did a really good job staying poised and we came out with a dub.”

On being able to close out game the against Missouri:  

Samuel: “I think we played great down the stretch. We didn’t panic, like I said, poise was key. We didn’t panic, I had all the confidence that we still were going to win the game. I knew ‘cause the shots weren’t falling for us in the beginning, but at the end they started to fall, so, I knew it was probably going to get that dub at the end.”

On if they talked in the huddle about finishing strong:

Samuel: “Yeah we just kind of preached to get some stops at the end, good stops.”

On if these types of games are needed to grow tougher for postseason play:

Samuel: “No, most definitely. I feel like having games like this kind of just like ‘Okay, we can’t relax, we’re relaxing too much.’ It kind of like wakes us up, brings back a little bit of urgency that we need going forward. So most definitely, sometimes you need games like this, especially when you come out on top.”

On the potential wakeup call of having this game against a struggling Missouri team:

Samuel: “Most definitely, you know, SEC, it doesn’t matter if you’re 0-14, everyone’s good. Anyone can beat anyone on any given night, so you got to come ready to play.”

On Micah Handlogten’s performance:

Samuel: “My boy Micah the best offensive rebounder in the country. Quote that for real.”

Zyon Pullin

On the seniors taking over late in the game with Clayton out: 

Pullin: “Yeah, for sure. Definitely having someone like that go out, we were a little confused at what happened at first, but I think it was just staying together and, you know, try to keep making the right plays, kind of take what they gave us. I think that’s something this team did a pretty good job of today. You know, they went zone, they tried to mix it up a little bit, and I think we just kept taking what they gave us, and we were able to put the ball in the basket.”

On how critical his performance was from beyond the arc: 

Pullin: “Yeah, I think it was just big taking what they gave us. You know, my teammates did a great job finding me in some of those situations. It was just having the confidence to keep knocking them down. I felt super comfortable taking those, and it was just really just taking what they gave me.”

On if this performance was more gratifying coming his off game Saturday: 

Pullin: “Yeah, yeah, for sure. The biggest thing was, you know, sometimes it’s going to happen. Games like that are gonna happen. Biggest thing for me was just staying in the gym, you know. I knew the shot was gonna fall eventually. So, you know, it’s definitely nice to have a game like this, but even better to get the win.”

On if they talked in the huddle about finishing strong:

Pullin: “I think the biggest thing was just staying together. We’ve been in situations like this, you know, even worse situations, so it was just staying together. I thought we got some pretty good looks, and we just knew they were going to fall, and we just stayed together.”

On if these types of games are needed to grow tougher for postseason play:

Pullin: “Yeah, I think it brings us back to reality a little bit, you know, shows us our weaknesses, what we got to keep getting better at and so it’s definitely good, you know, not to have everything go great all the time or you know, blow teams out and stuff like that. But, you know, just stuff we can keep taking away to keep getting better and make a run down the stretch.”

On the potential wakeup call of having this game against a struggling Missouri team:

Pullin: “Yeah, like you see them playing Tennessee the other day. I mean, you definitely know this conference, anyone can win. You know, you got to bring it every day.”

Micah Handlogten

On what it means for the team to have veterans to rely on:

Handlogten: “I mean, it’s huge. Just the leadership roles that they provide, especially to a young frontcourt, I mean, you have me, Thomas [Haugh] and Condo [Alex Condon] look up to Tyrese every single game. I mean, he pushes us in practice, just makes us better. So, it’s huge. And, then I know that the guards are the same way. Having Zyon, having Walt, everyone looks up to them, they’re leaders on the team, natural leaders. It’s just really nice to have them.”

On his performance against Missouri:

Handlogten: “I just went out there and played my game. I just try to be physical, get rebounds, the ball bounced my way a couple times and I got to finish it.”

On UF’s production on the boards after emphasizing improvement:

Handlogten: “Yeah, especially coming off our last game where we didn’t exactly rebound the best. I think there’s just something that, almost like an ego thing, like, we didn’t want that to happen again. I mean, he says I’m the best offensive rebounder in the country, but he out offensive rebounded me tonight so. I mean, it’s just something that we were able to do, just a mentality thing. We’re not going to go out there get punked again.”

On if they talked in the huddle about finishing strong:

Handlogten: “I don’t think it was anything that was verbally said, it was just kind of like a mutual understanding amongst all of us.”