Some observations following Florida’s 80-71 win over Ole Miss:
– Sports sometimes is about redemption, so credit junior point guard Kasey Hill with a strong effort off the bench against Ole Miss. After some bad decisions and missed free throws down the stretch against Texas A&M, Hill was much better against Ole Miss, with 11 points and four straight free throws down the stretch. On defense, Hill did a strong job containing Ole Miss senior guard Stefan Moody, getting two steals and forcing another turnover against the league’s leading scorer. Sophomore forward Devin Robinson also had a nice game off the bench with 5 points and 3 rebounds, allowing Florida’s bench to outscore Ole Miss’ bench 18-11.
– Senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith capped a consistent week with 17 points and 10 rebounds against Ole Miss. Finney-Smith always plays better when he’s more engaged on the boards. He posted back-to-back double-doubles this week, averaging 17 points and 11 rebounds in games at Texas A&M and Ole Miss. Finney-Smith also made 9 of 11 free throws. As a team, Florida went 21 of 31 (66.7 percent) from the free-throw line, above its season average. But Florida coach Mike White said the free-throw shooting was a little misleading because the Gators missed some front ends of one-and-ones.
– Live ball turnovers remained an issue for the Gators this week. Florida was sloppy at times with the lead, with 16 turnovers that resulted in 18 points. The Gators also allowed Texas A&M to generate 21 points off 16 turnovers earlier in the week, “live ball turnovers was really our biggest deficiency this game and it was the only thing we talked about going to into the game offensively, was just not turning the ball over and getting Moody out into transition offense,” White said. Freshman guard KeVaughn Allen had 4 turnovers and sophomore center John Egbunu, with three turnovers, continued to have issues working the ball out of double and triple teams.
