GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida guards Boogie Fland and Rueben Chinyelu utilized their guard and post skills to help the Gators roll to a 91-67 victory over No. 21 Tennessee on Saturday.
Fland had his best game as a Gator since transferring from Arkansas, as he led all scorers with 23 points and added five assists and four steals. Chinyelu’s athleticism and his continual presence allowed him to score 17 points and clutch 16 rebounds.
Fland took over the game late in the first half, scoring 10 of 15 points in the last 3:44 when the Gators hit a 15-2 run to take a 41-28 halftime advantage.
“I thought he defended very well, in kind of the middle 20 (minutes) of the game, he took over offensively and scored a majority of his points, and that gave the rest of the guys a lot of confidence,” explained Gators coach Todd Golden.
Fland hit a pair of three-point field goals and scored in transition when the Gators forced turnovers. He finished by playing 31 minutes. He continued to lead the team in the second half when he scored nine points in the first 6:57 as he pushed the Gators into a 60-36 lead with 13:03 to play.
“For me, I feel like it was big,” Fland commented about his control of the game. “It was a step in the right direction. I feel like that little slump tests you mentally, but you’ve got to be ready for basketball, the ups and downs is gonna come with it, and life in general. I feel like I battled through it, my teammates had my back and now we’re here.”
Chinyelu was a force in the paint against Tennessee, which also fosters a deep post presence. He had a tremendous double-double (17/16) as he was able to find a solid rhythm in getting several hook shots inside, as he used a myriad of polished post moves combined with a myriad of ball fakes.
Florida outrebounded Tennessee, 41-30, and the Gators netted 14 points off of 12 offensive rebounds. The Gators outscored the Volunteers, 38-30, in the paint and also scored 30 points off of those 18 Volunteers’ turnovers.
“We just know that they play physical, they rebound the ball, just knowing that it’s going to be a fight out there,” said Chinyelu. “Just knowing that we’re ready for the fight, we go to war, and everybody was ready for that moment.”
Chinyelu scored on excellent moves in the paint with a myriad of different ball fakes. Sometimes he would use the up-and-under to score, but most of the time, he scored on a series of hook shots with some drop-steps off the boxes.
“I was proud of that moment, and I appreciate everyone getting the focus that we gotta come out every night and chase that dream, that big picture, so they buy into that, and they understood,” noted Chinyelu.
Tennessee coach Rick Barnes pointed to Chinyelu’s dominance.
“(He) just did a great job,” said Barnes. “Totally dominated the game from an inside perspective and did a great job for them. And they got a national championship front line, we know that.”
Vols Had Many Areas of Fallacy in Loss: Tennessee fought Florida throughout most of the first half as Nate Ament was aggressive with the basketball on offense by scoring seven points in the first 7:33 to give the Vols a 12-10 lead. Florida didn’t allow leading scorer Ja’Kobi Gillespie to get comfortable, as he didn’t score until he hit a three to give the Vols a 19-17 lead with 7:58 remaining in the first half. Gillespie finished with 12 points in 37 minutes as he made only three of 10 attempts from the field.
Nate’s gonna be fine,” explained Barnes. “I’ve said it all along. I don’t know, I’m sure people have gotten on (him), but I wouldn’t trade Nate for anybody. He’s a lot tougher than everybody knows. I don’t think he’s ever gotten a great whistle, and because every time he gets hit, everybody thinks that because he’s thin, it’s not a foul.”
Ament scored his most points in a game since he had 20 in the 81-76 loss to Kansas at the beginning of November.
Barnes has depth in the middle with Felix Okpara, DeWayne Brown, Jalen Carey, and JP Estrella. He referred to Chinyelu, Alex Condon, Thomas Haugh, and Micah Handlogten as a “championship front line” who would teach him about his Volunteers in the post.
“Our whole deal was we wanted a frontline that we thought could help us,” Barnes commented. “We’re not there yet. Can we get there? There’s a long way to go. And I hope this game is a game we’ll look back on and think, ‘Ok, these guys showed us what it takes to win at the highest level with a frontline.’ We’ll see. They were in it. They saw it.”