Alabama
Florida
Alabama Men’s Basketball Uses Huge Second Half to Beat No. 23 Florida in Gainesville, 68-50
2/3/2018 6:17:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Junior Donta Hall scored 14 points while going a perfect 7-of-7 from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds to secure his fourth double-double of the season
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Alabama men's basketball team beat No. 23 Florida, Saturday afternoon by a score of 68-50, marking the Crimson Tide's largest margin of victory against the Gators in Gainesville in program history.
Alabama (15-8, 6-4 SEC) was led by four double digit scorers including freshman Collin Sexton (17), junior Donta Hall (14), sophomore Braxton Key (13) and junior Avery Johnson Jr. (10). Hall grabbed 11 rebounds to earn his fourth double-double of the season and did not miss a shot from the field (7-of-7).
"Today was a tale of two halves for us, in terms of taking care of the basketball," head coach Avery Johnson said. "We basically looked like we never practiced before in our lives in the first half, throwing the ball all over the gym, too many turnovers. But we had a conversation about it at halftime… a great conversation. And fortunately, we came out, took care of the ball, played solid
defense and made sure we tried to reduce their success from behind the 3-point line, trying to mix up our defense a little bit. But you talk about a well-coached team, in Florida with Coach [Mike] White; he's done an amazing job since he's been here. We have a lot of respect for what he's done in their program, but I'm awfully proud of our guys tonight, especially bouncing back with the way we played against Missouri. Our team played a balanced game in the second half, both offensively and defensively. We had four guys in double figures, but ball movement in the second half was incredible. Our bench did an amazing job."
After trailing Florida (15-8, 6-4) for all but 38 seconds (during which the two teams were tied) in the first half, Alabama entered halftime down by six points, 33-27. The Tide then burst out of the gate in the second half by scoring the first eight points of the half to tie the game at the 18:13 mark.
The teams traded baskets for the next several minutes, but with the scored tied at 43-43 with 11:56 left to play, Alabama scored the next 11 points to extend its lead to double figures, 54-43, with 7:29 remaining. The Tide's defense took over from there, limiting the Gators' offense before stretching its lead to the final 18-point margin of victory.
Overall, Alabama outscored Florida, 41-17 in the second half, shooting 58.1 percent (18-of-31) while limiting the Gators to just 22.6 percent shooting (7-of-31) over the final 20 minutes.
After turning the ball over 14 times in the first half, the Tide trimmed that number to just five in the second half. The Crimson Tide's bench was also key to its comeback, outscoring the Gators 29-1, led by Key's 13, 10 of which came in the second half. Johnson, Jr., also chipped in double digits off the bench with 10.
The win marked Alabama's fourth consecutive victory over an AP top-25 opponent this season as well as its second conference road win. It also marked the first back-to-back wins at Florida for the Tide since the 1990 and 1991 seasons.
Alabama continues its road stretch Tuesday night when it travels to Starkville, Miss. to face Mississippi State. Tipoff is scheduled 6 p.m. CT and the game will be televised on the SEC Network.
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