LSU unable to hold off No. 2 Florida in second half in 79-65 loss

BATON ROUGE – The No. 2 Florida Gators took control of the game in the second half and scored a rallying 79-65 win over the LSU Tigers Saturday evening at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

The Tigers played a strong last seven minutes of the first half, outscoring Florida 22-2, to turn a 14-point first-half deficit into a six point, 37-31, halftime advantage.

But the Gators went on a couple of runs in the second half, including a 14-0 advantage in the final 10 minutes that kept the Tigers at bay to win their 11th conference game and 24th of the season.

Robert Miller III had his best game as a Tigers as the freshman scored 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting, including 2-of-3 from distance and 5-of-5 at the free throw line. He also had 10 rebounds for his first collegiate double double. Curtis Givens III had 11 points, four assists and no turnovers in 31 minutes and Mike Williams III was in double figures for the second straight game with 10 points.

Florida posted five players in double figures for the fifth straight game as Rueben Chinyelu had 19 points and 13 rebounds, while Thomas Haugh had 16 points and 10 boards. Alijah Martin had 14 points, Walter Clayton, Jr., scored 13 and Denzel Aberdeen had 11.

LSU had just one turnover in the first 28 minutes of play, but the six in the second half proved costly as Florida was able to score 12 points off those six turnovers. The Gators also had the advantage on the boards, out rebounding LSU, 48-33, and 19-12 on the offensive end, resulting in a 17-8 advantage in second chance points.

LSU shot 38.1 percent for the game (24-of-63) and 9-of-31 from distance (29.0%). The Tigers were 8-of-12 at the free throw line. LSU started the game 1-of-9 from distance in the first half but then made five straight to finish with six first half makes.

Florida, which shot 55.6 percent in the second half (20-of-36), finished the game at 44.3 percent (31-of-70), with seven distance makes and 10-of-14 at the stripe. The Gators turned the ball over only five times.

LSU fifth-year senior Jordan Sears hit a career milestone at the 9:41 mark of the first half, making a layup for his 2,000th career point.

The Tigers trailed 29-15 with 7:14 to go in the first half before the defense ratcheted up the pressure. Givens made a three-pointer and after a possession in which Florida missed four shots, free throws would cut the Florida lead to 29-21.

A Florida turnover and a Cam Carter steal led to a Williams three-pointer that got LSU back within five, 29-24, with 4:58 to go in the half.

A minute later Robert Miller’s dunk made it 29-26 and Miller’s three-pointer on the ensuing possession tied the game at 29-29 with 3:22 to go before the half. Florida made their first points in several minutes to grab back a 31-29 lead but Bailey got in on the three-point shooting to give LSU a 32-31 lead at the 2:39 mark.

Robert Miller would add a couple of free throws and Williams hit another three to send LSU into the dressing room up 37-31 at halftime.

LSU increased the lead to eight twice in the first 4:13 of the second half, the last at 46-38, before the Gators had an 11-2 run to take the lead for good on a long two-pointer by Clayton at 49-48 with 12:16 in the game.

The Tigers conclude the three-game homestand on Tuesday night at 8 p.m. as No. 5 Tennessee comes to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Postgame quotes

LSU Head Coach Matt McMahon

Opening Statement…
“Credit to Florida, they’re a really good basketball team. I thought the final eight minutes of the first half was the best that we’d defended all year. We were great physically and the communication was good for the most part. We limited them to one shot in that stretch and it enabled us to get out in transition. I thought we moved the ball well out there in the first half and we had some guys step up and hit some big threes for us to go into the break, up by six. Second half, I think when you look at the story of the game it’s that they physically dominated us in the paint. At one point, we were 12-to-1 in assist-to-turnover ratio in the game and we finished 3-to-6 in that stretch where they built their lead and we weren’t able to knock down some of those threes that we were hitting earlier in the game. On the offensive glass they just overwhelmed us there. If you had told me that we’d hold (Walter) Clayton, (Will) Richard and (Alijah) Martin to 9-of-32 from the floor, I would have taken that every day. But up front, (Rueben) Chinyelu has a career game and (Thomas) Haugh had a double-double.”

On the growth of freshmen Curtis Givens III and Robert Miller III…
“For Curtis, his role’s increased because of the defensive end of the floor. He’s got good size and physicality there and now you’re seeing him with more confidence on the offensive end. He had four assists and zero turnovers tonight. He hit three three-pointers; we would have liked to have had a higher percentage from the floor, but he’s making a lot of winning plays for us. Rob Miller has invested a lot of time and you see him get better and better every time out there. His skill level was on full display tonight and I thought he was really good in the ball screen attack and made good decisions on when to drive it and when to make the extra pass. I think he got off to a 0-of-12 start from three this season and sometimes you lose a little confidence there, but I really believe in his shooting and his mechanics keep getting better there. He got 10 rebounds for us tonight as well, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to get him enough help on the glass.”

LSU Forward Robert Miller
On his growth over the past few weeks…
“I’d say mainly my coaches and my teammates just talking to me and just instilling the confidence in me to go out there and just do what I know I can do.”

On going against Florida’s frontcourt…
“Just watching film and knowing how good they were. Just being able to pay attention to the detail and just being able to capitalize on that mainly.”

On his offensive performance…
“I feel like just being able to play as a compliment to my teammates; just being able to watch what they do and play off of them.”
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Florida Head Coach Todd Golden

Opening Statement…
“Great win for us. We came out playing very well. We got off to a big lead in the first half and credit to LSU, I thought they punked us for the back half of the first half. They went on a 22-to-2 run, made some big threes, played with a lot of confidence, and didn’t allow us to operate very confidently offensively. We’ve been pretty good that way but, they held us to two points for eight minutes or whatever it was. At halftime we had to recalibrate and make sure that we got back to defending, rebounding, taking care of the ball, and doing the things that don’t require talent. In the second half, I thought we imposed our will on them a little bit. We were much more efficient offensively, scoring 48 points. Defensively, I thought we drilled down and did a better job at taking away their high pick and roll game and getting out to shooters. We made it uncomfortable for them to score. A big part of this win for us tonight was imposing our will on the glass. We were +15 on the glass, gave ourselves some second-chance opportunities, and limited their second-chance opportunities compared to ours. Great win for us, I’m really proud of our group and now we’ve got to get ready for Tuesday.”

On Florida Center Rueben Chinyelu…
“His best game as a Gator, for sure. Nineteen (points) and 13 (rebounds). He did what we needed him to do the whole game. In the first half, I think he was +7 or eight in a half where we were -6 overall. I can’t remember exactly what it was, but he was good and we were good when he was on the floor. We got hit with (Robert) Miller hitting a couple of pick and pop threes in the first half. If my coaches are right, those are his second and third made threes of the season. So, we got to live with that a little bit. But Rueben just did a great job at imposing his will, finishing around the rim, and just cleaning up the glass. He got us seven offensive rebounds, 19 points, and two assists again for him. He’s just improving so much in real time and he’s given us a big lift over these last couple of weeks.”

*LSU press release