Some observations following Texas A&M’s 63-62 win at Florida:
– Junior guard Eli Carter was able to get going early by driving to the basket and not settling from 3-pointers. As a result, the 6-foot-2 Carter finished with a season-high 22 points on 9 of 17 shooting. Carter, who only took one two-point attempt against Ole Miss, made five two-point baskets against Texas A&M. “I was just trying to be aggressive,” Carter said. “I saw the way they were playing me and they were switching so I tried to attack their bigs.”
– Freshman forward Devin Robinson failed to build on his breakout 14 point game against Ole Miss. Robinson went 0 of 4 from the floor and finished with no points, 4 fouls and 1 turnover in 21 minutes. The 6-foot-9 Robinson never found his rhythm and was beaten down the floor by Danuel House on a few plays in the first half.
– This was a game where the Gators could have used 6-foot-11, 260-pound John Egbunu, who is sitting out this year due to transfer rules. Because Texas A&M center Kourtney Roberson was too much for the Gators to handle inside. Roberson had a season-high 22 points on 8 of 10 shooting and was able to position his 247-pound body inside for easy layups. A key basket came on an in-bounds play to put Texas A&M up 61-56 when he out-muscled freshman center Chris Walker to get position inside on an in bounds play with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. There may have been a shove on the play, but it wasn’t called, and late in the game in that situation, it’s hard to get that kind of call unless it’s blatant. But Florida needs more muscle in the post, and help is coming next season with the addition of Egbunu and 245-pound incoming freshman power forward Noah Dickerson.
