The Gators dominated the entire night.
Almost.
With 15 seconds left in Florida’s matchup with Mississippi, UF guard Chris Chiozza stood at the free-throw line after throwing up a brick on his first attempt. The 6-foot junior calmly went through his routine and knocked down the second shot to put the game away, and the No. 24 Gators (11-3, 2-0 SEC) defeated the Rebels (9-5, 0-2 SEC) 70-63 in Florida’s SEC home-opener.
Kasey Hill was a standout for UF, registering eight points, five assists, five rebounds and six steals.
But graduate transfer Canyon Barry, who was 12-of-46 on three-pointers entering the game, stole the show during an otherwise inefficient night for Florida’s offense. The 6-foot-6 guard scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the field and hit three crucial three-pointers throughout the contest.
“If he doesn’t come off the bench and have the game that he has, we could be sitting here in the other column,” UF coach Mike White said of Barry. “That’s what he’s capable of in any game. … He didn’t play a perfect game, but he was good.”
The first half started with both teams shooting blanks. The Gators were 3-of-15 from the field until Barry gave Florida’s offense life. After clanking a free throw off the front of the rim, he went on to score nine-straight points, including a pair of triples.
Hill continued what Barry started.
With eight minutes remaining in the half, the senior guard tipped a pass from Ole Miss guard Rasheed Brooks and rocketed down the court for a wide-open, one-handed slam to put the Gators up 21-14. The stolen pass was one of Hill’s five opening-half steals.
“I was just aggressive,” Hill said. “Playing the passing lanes — the coaches allow me to do that — and I try to use my speed to get some steals.”
In addition to Hill, sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen went 3-for-5 and the Gators entered the locker room with a 14-point lead.
Florida struggled in its return to the court but managed to hold a double-digit lead for much of the game, including a game-high 20-point lead with 11 minutes remaining.
However, with the Gators leading 65-49, an otherwise vanilla game became a nail-biter.
Sparked by two straight three-pointers, Mississippi’s offense clicked as the Rebels went on an 11-2 run to cut UF’s lead to six. Florida’s six missed free throws in the final four minutes didn’t help either.
In the end, though, 21 turnovers and 26.3-percent three-point shooting held Ole Miss short of its goal, and the Gators, who shot just 41.7 percent from the field and went 11-of-21 from the free-throw line, escaped.
But, despite poor offense and dismal free-throw shooting, what was Hill most concerned with?
“The win,” he said. “If we would have lost the game, then those things, they definitely would have been on my mind.
“But we won, so I’m happy.”
Contact Ray Boone at rboone@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @rboone1994.
UF guard Canyon Barry attempts a layup in Florida's 94-71 win over The University of Arkansas at Little Rock on Dec. 21 at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
