Duke guard Isaiah Evans’ three gave the No. 4 Blue Devils a 67-66 win over No. 14 Florida with his three-pointer at the left top of the key with 21 seconds to play. Thomas Haugh scored 24 points and added six rebounds as he made 9-of-15 shots from the field in 39 minutes.
The Gators outrebounded the Blue Devils, 44-33, and scored 15 points off 20 offensive rebounds, which passed Duke, who had 11 off of eight offensive boards.7-remaining.
Fland picked up his game immeasurably, scoring 16 points with nine of those in the last 4:04 of the game.
Cameron Boozer led the all scorers with 29 points, but Chinyelu was a major reason why he was able to make 4-of-12 shots in the second frame.
“Credit to Cam; obviously, a great player; did a lot of great things out there tonight,” said Golden. “But also
credit to Rueben Chinyelu. I thought he was absolutely remarkable in the second half defensively, made (Boozer’s) life really difficult for the most part, and making him more inefficient in the second half was what gave us the opportunity to outscore them by 11.”
Boozer finished 10-of-21 from the field with three makes from behind the three-point line. He was most consistent in the first half.
“What we couldn’t live with was allowing Cam to get back to his right hand, left shoulder, sending him to the line, giving him those right lane line drives,” commented Golden. “In the second half, I thought Rueben shut his water off, didn’t allow that to happen.”
Haugh once again was the Gators’ key catalyst. He was consistent in finding the driving lane, getting to the line, and defending at a high level.
“Whether it’s stuffing the stat sheet or just making winning plays across the floor, when we sit there getting ready for the jump ball, we feel really good that we’re going to win that matchup, whoever he’s going up against, and he delivered again,” Golden explained.
Florida used its post-game to outscore Duke, 19-6, in the first 7:30 of the first half, which cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 44-43.
After Duke took a 54-45 advantage behind Boozer with 9:14 to play, Haugh and guard Urban Klavzar netted back-to-back threes, and after two Haugh free throws, the Gators cut it back to 56-53.
“I’m proud of our fight,” said Haugh. “Boogie stepped up there at the end and knocked down some really big shots that we know he’s able to hit. Rueben may have done his best job. All the credit goes to him being able to limit Boozer by being super aggressive. He was so effective for us in the second half.”