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Sunday, December 22, 2024

True Believers: Gators Restore Momentum In Convincing Fashion

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University of Florida recently issued the following announcement.

The UF women's basketball team is a story that keeps on getting better following Thursday night's convincing win over No. 7 Tennessee.

Do they have your attention? If not, slip on some reading glasses and discover the new-and-improved version of the Gators racing around their showroom inside the O'Dome.

They are sleek and fast. They are resilient and tough. And they believe.

They showed those traits and more to the No. 7-ranked Tennessee team that visited their house on Thursday night. The Lady Vols never had a chance.

Yes, you read that correctly. The Big Orange, the program that had lost to Florida just four times in 54 all-time meetings, appeared to be playing in the dark against the upstart Gators.

Final score: Florida 84, Tennessee 59.

Before we go any farther, these Gators envision more. As of today, nobody is comparing the surprises they have pulled to those of the '69 Mets or the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team. A lot of season is left, and accomplishments to chase. But, hey, it's fun when a team comes out of nowhere and does the unexpected.

The Gators forced their will on the Lady Vols in their latest revelation and never let up. When Tennessee's Jordan Horston hit a 3-pointer in the opening seconds, the Gators responded with a 9-0 run led by guard Kiara Smith, who scored five points and dished an assist to put UF up for good.

The game was far from over, but as each minute ticked off the clock, it was apparent this Gators women's basketball team is not the one your older brother watched.

"Every game is winnable for us,'' Smith said. "We just go into each game with the same mindset."

They carried the same mentality onto the floor four days earlier against No. 1-ranked South Carolina with a much different outcome. At the end of the first quarter, the Gators trailed 19-3 after making just 1 of 19 shots.

Following the loss to the Gamecocks, many wondered if they had peaked with their five-game winning streak in the Southeastern Conference – the program's longest in 13 years. Were the best days in the rearview mirror by the start of February?

Far from it if Thursday night's dominant win is an indication. Florida snapped a six-game losing streak to Tennessee dating to 2016 and scored its most points ever against the Lady Vols in regulation.

The Gators did it in a variety of ways.

They outrebounded (40-38) the Lady Vols, who entered leading the nation at 50.5 rebounds per game. They outshot them (53 to 38 percent), forced 18 turnovers while committing only nine, and recorded 18 assists to Tennessee's eight. Tennessee's 6-foot-6 center Tamari Key, a candidate for national defensive player of the year, had four more fouls than blocks (none).

It was the Gators doing the dirty work defensively.

"Our defense won this game for us,'' Smith said.

"Their advantage was their size,'' interim coach Kelly Rae Finley added. "So, if we allowed them to play their offense at the 3-point line, post up our guards, it was going to be a long night. We understood the assignment, and I thought we executed it pretty much to perfection."

After the first quarter, Florida led 25-18 and 36-29 at halftime, and then blew the game open in the third quarter with a 14-2 run. When Lady Vols head coach Kellie Harper turned on a half-court press late in the second half, the Gators kept finding the open player.

And the shots dropped, unlike at the start of the South Carolina loss.

Sophomore forward Jordyn Merritt hit 5 of 8 shots, including a pair of 3-pointers, to finish with 13 points. Nina Rickards scored 16 and Zippy Broughton contributed 10.

Afterward, Finley spoke about her team's next-play mentality. When a play goes awry, don't come unglued. Stay attentive to the mission.

"It's something we really focus on,'' Finley said. "We in this program aren't going to lose anymore. That doesn't mean we might not get any L's in the loss column, but we're going to make our opponent beat us. Those are two totally different things. We have to stay centered on who we are."

Which begs the question, who are these Gators?

On Thursday, they were impressive winners. They did it by playing one of the program's best all-around games in recent memory.

She still carries the title of "interim coach," but the job Finley has done is not going unnoticed. Following the victory over the Lady Vols, some on social media touted her as the leading candidate to be SEC Coach of the Year. That is for others to debate.

The Gators say they plan to keep their focus on the court and see how far they can go on this joy ride.

"We believe in ourselves,'' Merritt said. "We are really good at facing adversity and just overcoming it together. That is what has brought us this far."

Adversity was in short supply against Tennessee. The Gators looked like the nation's No. 7-ranked team, not the Lady Vols.

Finley emphasized that while outsiders may be surprised at the Gators' success, she is not among them. She sees the work the team puts in. Thursday morning, before Tennessee arrived at the O'Dome for its pregame shootaround, Merritt and Smith were already there. They had shots to put up.

They are true believers.

"It sounds really idealistic, but I think these two [Smith and Merritt] would probably tell you, we don't tell lies in our program,'' Finley said. "We just don't do that. It's something that we stick with in terms of, if you want to be a great elite team, you have to be consistent."

The message is resonating. The same message Finley has stressed since she took over in late summer.

"We don't stop playing our game until the buzzer goes off,'' Smith said. "We can stand with anybody. Just because of the past the University of Florida has, that has nothing to do with who we are now. It just says to me that, so what, we are enough."

Do they have your attention? They have Tennessee's. If they keep playing like this, others are certain to join the club.

Original source can be found here.

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