Recap of Long Beach State vs The Florida Gators

Florida Gators first half

The Gators started the half building a 14 point lead completely shell-shocking Long Beach State.  The Gators, for the most part, followed their usual plan of relentlessly attacking the rim. 24 of 59 points came off points in the paint for the Gators.  The Gators continued to make it ugly for Long Beach gathering 11 offensive rebounds and splashing seven 3-pointers for the half. 

Collectively the whole unit was exceptional scoring the basketball, but the first half belonged to Blackshear Jr. and Nembhard. Blackshear Jr. hit two threes and his bruising presence in the interior mercilessly kept drawing fouls. Nembhard’s respected deep shooting forced defenders to play uptight, but his nifty handle allowed him to elude them.  Nembhard was a havoc cutting to the basket and finding the open man dropping nine assists and zero turnovers

Scottie Lewis the best perimeter defender on the team sat out this game due to being in concussion protocol.  In his absence, Florida still did a stellar job on the perimeter forcing turnovers and coming away with five steals.  

Florida Gators second half

The Gators continued its world-beater impression in the second half reaching a 44 point lead at the 7:48 mark.  Offensively they kept their first half mojo rolling. Florida terrorized the Beach’s interior for 18 points in the paint to go along with five extra offensive rebounds.  From beyond the arc, the Gators continued to rain fire hitting an additional six threes, achieving a new season-high of 13. 

Despite having an insurmountable lead, Florida kept its defensive edge all second half.  At the nine minutes mark up by 40, Keyontae Johnson took a charge from Freshman guard Max De Geest.  This unyielding effort Florida displayed had their opposition in fits all evening.  

Florida finished this game with a W shooting over 50% from the field and 40% from deep.  The Gators also held the Beach to under 40% shooting from the field and an average 35% from three.  

What This Means

The best thing this win will do for Florida Gators is sharpened the chemistry of this young unit.  Long Beach State is not a very good basketball team, but good teams must perform well against the bad ones.  The one area for concern the Gators should have is their abysmal free-throw shooting performance of the evening (55%).  This is the primary issue they must correct as they will now face seven straight opponents in the SEC. As a group, the Gators are now shooting below 70% from the line.