Florida led by second half domination and impressive play by Lavender Briggs to lockdown third straight win
Photo by Brian Fox | ChompTalk
For the third game in a row, the Florida Gators have chomped on the taste of success after flying by the USC Upstate Spartans in a Monday night showdown. Few fans filled the seats of Exactech Arena but the Gators team still brought the energy needed to take down the opposition.
It was a sloppy first quarter for the Gators but the team was able to limp out of the period with a lead. The teams penetrated the paint equally but neither squad could seem yo find find a finishing touch at the basket. The Gators just barely claimed a six-point lead thanks to a corner three-pointer by freshman guard Alberte Rimdal.
Rimdal played off the bench and finished Monday night with an impressive stat line of her own. The Denmark native placed 11 points on top of going 4-7 from the field. Rimdal even made an impressive finger roll late in the third to hype up the Gator bench.
Junior Lavender Briggs didn’t find her touch until the second half. In the first, the guard from Provo, Utah went 4-10 from the field and nabbed three boards on top of two assists.
The performance pushed Florida to a basket lead after the conclusion of the first half. The Spartans kept Florida uncomfortable, especially in the paint, outscoring the Gators 20-12 and using them like a turnstile. But Florida was able to capitalize off turnover points, recording 13 points compared to the Spartans’ two in the first half.
Florida rampaged out of the locker room to ignite a 13-0 run in the third period. Briggs also continued her highlight reel by placing 10 points on the scoreboard and going a perfect 4-4 from the floor. The junior found her teammates an additional two times to add to her scorecard.
Interim head coach Kelly Rae Finley was proud of the team performance out the halftime break but didn’t take any credit for whipping the team into shape.
“I wish that was something that I could take credit for, but I will not do that,” Finley said. “You know, when they put their minds together and they really focus, they know what adjustments need to be made. They know how to motivate each other and that’s just what happened.”
Graduate student Kiki Smith went down with an injury in the third frame and needed assistance off the court and to the locker room. There was no update given for Smith’s injury status in the post-game press conference.
Up next for Florida is a trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico to take on the Saint Louis Billikens and the George Washington Colonials over the next weekend. The tip-off against Saint Louis is set for 7 p.m. on Friday.
I took an informal poll of 50 Florida fans, including a few former players via text and social media messenger to gauge their thoughts on the Gators head coaching vacancy.
I asked them to give me the top three coaches on their short list for the Florida job. I received responses from 38 of those and tabulated their picks.
Who were the three most often mentioned names?
Lane Kiffin, Bob Stoops, and Billy Napier.
Later Sunday, I asked Florida fans on my Facebook page to weigh-in and the most popular names were The three names that came up the most often were again- Lane Kiffin, Bob Stoops, and Billy Napier followed by Mario Cristobal and Luke Fickell.
Here is a capsule of each coach mentioned even those who are certain not to get a call from Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin.
Top Tier
Mario Cristobal, 51 The Oregon head coach has to be among the top candidates on the board. Born and raised in Miami, Cristobal played for UM when the Hurricanes were winning national championships in the late ’80’s, early ’90’s. He spent several years there as an assistant before taking the job at FIU where he was 27-47 overall before being fired in December 2012.
Cristobal was then hired by Al Golden to coach the Hurricanes tight ends. However, after just one month in Coral Gables, Alabama’s Nick Saban offered him the opportunity its to come to Tuscaloosa and take over the offensive line duties. He did a terrific job recruiting and coaching up the O-Line for Saban at Alabama.
He took the offensive line position at Oregon under Wille Taggart in 2017 and was elevated to interim head coach when Taggart left for Florida State. A few days later, Oregon made it official and named him head coach. Cristobal has enjoyed two strong years at Oregon (2019 & 2021) and led the Ducks to a 9-4 season in 2018. The school rewarded him with a six-year, $27 million dollar deal last December.
Cristobal’s recruiting prowess is much needed in Gainesville. Mullen failed to lock-up The Sunshine State when arch-rivals Miami and Florida State were down.
I don’t see any scenario where Manny Diaz survives as head coach at Miami. Is there any doubt that the ‘Canes will try to bring Cristobal home? His buyout is reportedly $9 million, dropping to $6.5 million on January 15th, 2022. Given UM’s financial limitations, wouldn’t Cristobal would have to take a pay cut to return to Coral Gables? Florida owes Mullen $6 million just in time for Christmas. Furthermore, would an expanding Southeastern Conference appeal to Cristobal?
Lane Kiffin, 46
Many of us have watched Lane Kiffin grow up in the game and what a wild ride it has been. We all know about the Ole Miss head coach’s strong ties to the Sunshine State and the Gators through his ex-wife, Layla. There is no question that he understands the expectations.
Florida is an elite job and seemingly a no-brainer for Kiffin to pursue. Kiffin is one of the top offensive minds in college football, leading Ole Miss to a 9-2 record this season with quarterback Matt Corral, a Heisman Trophy front-runner.
Kiffin has helped develop some awfully good quarterbacks.
He previously led FAU to 11-3 and 10-3 seasons after being fired at Southern Cal and by the Raiders. Nick Saban brought Kiffin to Tuscaloosa in 2014 and he lasted three years, which was more than most of us had envisioned. At times, watching the pair was like a real-life version of The Odd Couple. Saban obviously grew “frustrated” with Kiffin, but the Tide did win a national championship and we watched Derrick Henry run for days as Kiffin fed him the ball.
Kiffin has never stayed in any job for very long. He isn’t boring. He’ll troll opponents and just seems to have a good time. Kiffin has definitely matured, but is it enough for Florida fans? It appears so. It’s hard to imagine Kiffin not being on Scott Stricklin’s list.
Can Florida afford him? Yes. Mississippi law limits the contracts on state employees to four years. Miami is also in play for Kiffin.
Billy Napier, 42
There is a lot to like about Louisiana head coach Billy Napier. He is another young coach who enjoyed early success before being fired and hired by Nick Saban as an analyst. Napier worked with former Florida head coach Jim McElwain at Alabama and he followed Mac to Colorado State in 2012.
Napier would go on to spend an additional four years under Saban at Alabama.
He took over at Louisiana in 2018 and led the Rajin’ Cajuns to four consecutive Sun Belt Championships Game appearances, losing to Appalachian State twice. He’ll get another shot at the Mountaineers on December 4th. (the 2020 game was cancelled)
Napier helped develop Levi Lewis into one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. The Rain’ Cajuns have gone 11-3, 10-1, and 10-1 over the past three seasons. Louisiana’s only loss this past season was a 38-18 defeat to Texas on the road.
Bob Stoops, 61
You’d have to go back to 1989 to find the last time Bob Stoops wasn’t mentioned as a candidate for the Florida coaching job. Is Stoops up for the job? Ask Steve Spurrier, he’ll know.
He spent 18 years at Oklahoma finishing with a 190-48 record, 10 conference titles, and a national championship. Big Game Bob lives on!!
Stoops was most recently (2019) acting as the GM/Head Coach of the XFL Dallas Renegades.
Lincoln Riley, 38
The Oklahoma coach has three consecutive 12 win seasons (2017-19) and the Sooners are currently 10-1. He has compiled an impressive 55-9 record since taking over the Sooners program in 2017.
Riley learned a lot from Mike Leach as a GA and wide receivers coach.
Would a Texas boy leave Big 12 country for a Southeastern Conference school when the Sooners will soon be welcomed into the SEC family in 2025?
Dave Aranda, 45
What a job Aranda has done at Baylor in 2021. The former LSU defensive coordinator has guided the Bears to a 9-2 record after a miserable 2-7 campaign in 2020.
His defenses at Wisconsin and LSU were usually outstanding. His name comes up for the LSU vacant, but so do many other names. Sound familiar?
Does a 2-7 2020 season and the 2021 turnaround provide you with enough on him as a head coach?
Mel Tucker, 49
For several weeks, Tucker was the hottest coach . His engines cooled a bit when Ohio State shelled Michigan State 56-7 last Saturday. Tucker has a wealth of experience as an assistant coach in the NFL, Big Ten, and SEC.
He seems to be right at home in the Big Ten. When asked about the opening at LSU, Tucker would only reply that he is focused on Michigan State. A 10-year, $95 million dollar contract can do that for you.
Luke Fickell, 48
Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and former Tennessee head coach Butch Jones did a fine job leading the Bearcats before moving on to greener pastures. Fickell is doing the job. Is there a green pasture he has in mind?
The former longtime Ohio State assistant has lost only six games in four years at Cincinnati., which includes three consecutive appearances in the AAC Championship Game. Each of those losses were to nationally ranked teams. The lone loss for the Bearcats in 2020 was 24-21 to Georgia in the Peach Bowl.
Born, raised, and having coached his entire 23-year career in Ohio, Fickell has no Southeastern Conference ties.
Matt Campbell, 41
Campbell’s name has been on nearly every major D-1 coaching vacancy. The Cyclones finished 1st in the Big 12 (9-3) last season and went to the Fiesta Bowl. Campbell has also been named the Big 12 Coach of the Year three times. He grew up in Ohio and spent several years coaching in the Buckeye State at Bowling Green and Toledo before coming to Ames in 2016. Football Scoop’s Zach Barnett reported in March that Campbell’s buyout had been reduced to $4 million. Campbell has had other opportunities to leave. Why wouldn’t he want to leave Iowa State for (insert school name here)? He is still in Ames, Iowa.
James Franklin, 49
The Penn State head coach always finds his name out there for elite head coaching opportunities. I believe that trends back to his work at Vanderbilt when he coached the ‘Dores to remarkable back-to-back 9-4 records.
He has one Big Ten Championship and three double-digit winning seasons during his eight year tenure in Happy Valley. The Nittany Lions have struggled over the past two seasons though.
I see Franklin as good a motivator and recruiter, but the fact is that Penn State recruiting hasn’t been fabulous under Franklin.
Longshots
Jamey Chadwell, 44
Chadwell has won big at his last two stops, Charleston Southern and Coastal Carolina compiling an impressive 63-33 record.
He has done a fantastic job working with quarterback Grayson McCall, the 2020 Sun Belt Player of the Year into running his version of the triple-option offense. The Chanticleers average 42.3 points per game.
Virginia Tech should also be in play for Chadwell’s services.
Kerwin Bell, 56
Bell wins. Period. He wins conference championships. He wins overall championships. Unfortunately for Bell, he has not gotten an opportunity on a bigger stage.
The former Florida quarterback won the 2018 Division II national championship at Valdosta State (14-0), where he compiled a 27-7 record over three seasons.
Bell guided the Jacksonville University Dolphins to the Pioneer Conference Championship in his second season. He led the Dolphins to two more titles before the JU administration foolishly opted out of advancing the program, leaving Bell without a new contract due to philosophical differences.
Previously, Bell led Trinity Catholic High School to the Class 2A state championship just four years after starting the program from scratch. The following year the Celtics lost the state championship game.
He is currently serving as the head coach at Western Carolina.
Bill O’Brien, 52
O’Brien has six years of experience in the NFL with the Houston Texans and two years at Penn State during the tumultuous Sandusky trial. He took over the Alabama offensive coordinator duties when Steve Sarkisian left for Texas.
He led the Nittany Lions to an 8-4 record in 2012 earning several Coach of the Year honors.
Hugh Freeze, 52
Freeze has enjoyed tremendous success after the NCAA took 27 wins at Ole Miss due to recruiting and academic violations while he was the head coach. Freeze also used a university cell phone to call escort services. He took the job at Liberty University and has really done a good job coaching the Flames.
Charlie Strong, 61
Strong got his first GA job at Florida back in 1983. Former Florida players absolutely love him. Florida fans love him too. He has worked under former Florida coaches Charley Pell, Galen Hall, Steve Spurrier, Ron Zook, and Urban Meyer. Charlie has returned to Gainesville so many times that he still has a reserved parking space. Strong was one of the hottest names in college coaching after taking Louisville to back-to-back 11-2, 12-1 records. His head coaching tenures at Texas and USF resulted in three-year stints at both schools. He is currently the inside linebackers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
NFL Coaches
Joe Brady, 32
The Carolina Panthers offensive coordinator grew up in South Florida, playing at Everglades High School. He has tremendous accomplishments for a young assistant coach. He hasn’t been a head coach and I don’t think Florida is the opportunity for first-time head coaches. I’m not sure how he played as a recruiter, either. Would Brady want to leave the NFL?
Dan Quinn, 51
The former Florida defensive coordinator has spent nine years in the NFL since leaving Gainesville. Quinn was 43-42 in his six years as the head coach for the Atlanta Falcons, which included a Super Bowl loss to New England. He is currently the defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys. One of the nicest guys in football, Quinn just seems to be happy in the NFL.
Urban Meyer, 57
He has a job in Jacksonville and the perfect scenario for Dan Mullen is to go be Urban’s offensive coordinator working with Trevor Lawrence. Though several fans have mentioned that he be considered, I just don’t see it here.
Byron Leftwich, 41
Leftwich is running the offense of the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Tom Brady under center. After a 10 year NFL career, he has only coached in the NFL and appears likely to get a head coaching shot there.
Jon Gruden, 58
The St. Petersburg native was mentioned by four people in my informal poll. Personally, I thought that he should have stayed in the broadcast booth, but coaches so often find it impossible to resist jumping back in the huddle. The NFL email issues that resulted in his firing in Las Vegas make him untouchable at this point.
The second he started stepping off the jet, viewers could see his excited expression and a big set of Gator chomps. Dan Mullen, the newest heading coach hire for the Florida Gators, spent his introductory press conference explaining how much he understood the expectations and standard he, Urban Meyer and the rest of that staff set when he was the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach.
He pledged things like relentless effort from his team and in most aspects. Mullen went around to all kinds of events and up and down fraternity and sorority row to drum up excitement in the fall for the 2018 season. The spring game was also was another avenue Mullen took to get the Gator faithful fired up about his return. Mullen was there to right the ship.
2018
After the win against Charleston Southern, it seemed like Florida football was in for a better year than 2017. Then the loss to Kentucky in the Swamp happened, snapping an over 30-year winning streak for Florida. The Gators rebounded with drubbings of Colorado State and Tennessee then a gutsy win over Mississippi State in Dan Mullen’s return to Starkville since he left in late 2017. It began an important stretch for Florida as it used the momentum to “pack the Swamp” for a home game against the No. 5 LSU Tigers.
Thanks to some a ballsy trick play and a Brad Stewart pick six, Mullen and Co. earned their first Top 5 win of the regime. However, it needed a major comeback to beat Vanderbilt in Nashville. Of course that set up a big-time contest with rival Georgia. The Gators kept it close but couldn’t pull out a Year 1 win over Kirby Smart. That game beat them twice as Florida was embarrassed by Missouri on Homecoming the next week. Cue Mullen’s postgame rant about being a competitor. A comeback victory over South Carolina, a beatdown of Idaho and some revenge against Florida State later, Florida had a date with Michigan in the Peach Bowl. A bowl where Florida dismantled the Wolverines and earned a 10-win season after finishing with just four a year prior.
2019
Year 2 started out with a big win in Week 0 over Miami then, a few weeks later, the legend of Kyle Trask began in Lexington as Florida posted another road comeback to win over the Wildcats. Then after that Mullen pulled off yet another high, edging out the Auburn Tigers in Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Homecoming. With the defense playing well and Trask manning the helm, Florida had a colossal showdown with a revamped LSU. The Gators couldn’t pull it out in the shootout but Trask and Co. still impressed. Florida looked poised to upset the Bulldogs in Jacksonville to claim an SEC East title. Unfortunately, the Gators came out seemingly unprepared and poor defense on third down dashed any hopes of reaching Atlanta in Year 2. Florida ended the year strong with another win over Florida State and an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia.
It really felt like the Gators were improving and in the right direction.
The Beginning of the End
Then 2020 came along. A year where the world stopped and college football stood on its head to make the season happen.
And Florida came out hot as it put up over 60 points on the Ole Miss Rebels in Week 1. The defense was a concern but it was the first week and Ole Miss was a great offensive team.
Then it became a concern. After a too-close-for-comfort win over the Gamecocks at home, the Gators lost in a shootout on the road to Texas A&M. A game they would’ve won with just one or two stops. COVID postponed Florida for a few weeks and came back on Halloween to drub Missouri 41-17 albeit with a halftime scuffle thrown in.
Which set up another all-important ball game with the Bulldogs. And by God Mullen got the monkey off his back and beat Kirby. It really felt this was going to be Florida’s year. The Gators kept rolling and clinched the East against Tennessee until one fateful December night in Gainesville against LSU. A mysterious fog, a thrown shoe and an inexplicable oss had Florida now out of the CFP picture just a week before facing Alabama in the SEC title game.
Florida went toe-to-toe with the Tide but couldn’t put it all together. After having a high-octane offense all year, Florida found itself at 8-3 and playing in the Cotton Bowl. And that demolition at the hands of Oklahoma was a microcosm of Florida’s season: a disappointment. And Mullen seemed apathetic to it all whether his lack of hype-building for his Heisman finalist quarterback, putting his foot in his mouth during press conferences or just seeming to not care at times. The noise in the system started.
Then 2021 came along, a year fans envisioned would be a down year but it didn’t happen how they anticipated. A strong start with a near-win over Alabama again and a blow out of Tennessee gave the impression Mullen can win with his players in Gainesville. Then Kentucky happened. It began a stretch of 2-5 where Florida just didn’t put together a full game with embarrassing losses to the LSU (again), South Carolina and Missouri. Not to mention a shootout with FCS Samford. All the while Mullen didn’t do much to help his image with his behavior in press conferences.
The noise was at a fever pitch and eventually a move had to be made for Florida to part ways with its second Prodigal Son and made him $12 million richer.
The University of Florida has parted ways with Head Coach Dan Mullen. https://t.co/P1ebOcjrFJ
Scott Stricklin said those losses weren’t the real reason Mullen was fired but rather symptoms of bigger issues in the program. A lack of recruiting momentum and detrimental loyalty to underperforming staff are just two of those.
Back to the Drawing Board
Now, because an inability to capitalize on success and make the necessary moves to maintain it by Mullen, Florida will conduct it’s fourth coaching search since Urban Meyer left in 2010. With so many jobs open it will be interesting to see who Florida convinces to become the next guy at UF.
But as of right now, Gator fans are still reeling from the absolute free fall this program is spinning in.
The Gators swept South Carolina in consecutive matches this past weekend at the O’Connell Center to wrap up their home schedule. Florida improves to 14-2 in conference play and finishes 11-3 at home this season.
Match One
Florida cruised to a series-opening victory on Saturday. The Gators hit .454 — marking their most efficient attacking match since their season-opener against San Francisco. In the opening set, Florida landed 17 kills on 23 attempts with only a pair of errors (.652). In the final set, the Gators recorded 22 kills on 32 attempts and committed two errors (.625). Florida’s formidable net presence blocked eight spikes, while South Carolina denied only four Florida attacks. Freshmen Bre Kelley and Merritt Beason led the Gators with five block assists each.
Box Score
South Carolina: 14-22-16
No. 20 Florida: 25-25-25
Individual Stat Leaders
Aces
McKissock: 2
Beason/Adams: 1
Kills
Ceasar: 13
Hall: 11
Kelley: 8
Assists
Monserez: 40
McKissock: 5
Hall: 4
Digs
Hall/McKissock: 12
Monserez: 8
Blocks
Kelley/Beason: 5
Forte: 3
Match Two
Florida won comfortable in honor of its five seniors. Outside hitters Thayer Hall and T’ara Ceasar shined on senior day as they both recorded double-doubles. Hall landed 11 kills and tallied a season-highs in digs (17) and aces (3). Ceasar tallied 14 kills on 37 attempts (.297) and 17 digs. Setter Marlie Monserez notched 42 assists, nine digs and led the Gators with a .667 hitting percentage.
The Gators will wrap up their regular season schedule this weekend in Lexington, Kentucky, where they’ll take on the No. 8 Wildcats in a two-game series. Kentucky leads the SEC with a 15-1 conference record and it boasts a 10-1 home record. Florida leads the all-time series 52-16, but Kentucky has won seven of the last 10 meetings dating back to 2015. Friday’s match will begin at 1 p.m. and air on the SEC Network.
What an absolute back slide this Florida team’s experienced since that loss to Kentucky. The Gators suffered another loss to fall to 2-5 since that night in early October and 5-6 on the season. Thus, leaving the Gators fighting for their bowl eligibility lives. Let’s examine how they performed against the Missouri Tigers.
Offense: D After posting 70 points and over 700 yards of offense on FCS Samford last week, the Gators struggled to do much of anything against a conference foe. Missouri entered the game as one of the worst rushing defenses in the nation and one of the worst total defenses. And Florida managed just 93 yards on 38 total attempts running the ball. Its leading rusher? Emory Jones with 45 yards on 17 carries. The offensive line was quite the revolving door during this game due to injuries and that led to some issues. Regardless, a team that had such a run-dominant offense this season should be able to break 100 or more on a team allowing two bills to teams on the ground per game. Third down efficiency was not good either at a measily 5-for-18. Vanilla/non-aggressive play calling plus inefficiency running ball did this offense in. This side of the ball posts an average day and Florida leaves CoMo with a win.
Defense: B People will remember the blown coverage on the two-point conversion to lose the game. But this L is hardly on this unit. Much like the Kentucky game, the Florida defense gave its offense plenty of opportunities to take control of the game. The Gator defenders came out with a sense of urgency and great energy. The defense actually held the Tigers to under 300 yards for the game. They posted several tackles-for-loss in just the first half and bottled up star running back Tyler Badie. Now, they couldn’t hold him the whole game and some lapses did happen in the second half but this group played well enough for Florida to win this ball game. Ty’Ron Hopper stole the show on the stat sheet with 11 solo tackles and multiple TFLs. Not to mention Brenton Cox Jr. who had multiple tackles and a sack plus Antonio Valentino posted four solo tackles and two TFLs including a sack.
Special teams: B- Chris Howard, now back as the starting placekicker, nailed all three of his field goal attempts. Although, his longest attempt was a 42-yarder. But can’t knock a guy for making the attempts he’s given. After a terrible shank on his first attempt, punter Jeremy Crawshaw had a solid game as well. He punted eight times for over 300 yards including a long of 67 with five of those eight kicks being downed inside the 20. That said, punt return is basically a nothing burger every time that unit comes out. The longest return of the day came from a ball hitting Ja’Markis Weston on the head and bouncing up the field for 14 yards.
Conclusion:
There is no reason Florida should’ve lost this game but this team’s refused to fully show up on the road in 2021 since the Week 2 win over USF. Florida finished the year 0-4 and averaged about 24 points a game in true road contests since that win.
And, unfortunately, its inability to play a full game against Mizzou was the final straw for the Dan Mullen era.
Mullen finishes his tenure with a 34-15 record, but his team won just two of their last eleven against Power-5 teams.
The Gators season has been on a downward trend since nearly upsetting then No. 1 Alabama. The losses mounted and the frustration of the fan base grew. Eventually, it became too much.
Mullen took heat for his team not standing with the band for the traditional playing of the Alma Mater after losses in Jacksonville and at South Carolina.
Mullen has done himself no favors on the recruiting trail, either. The Gators currently have the nation’s No. 23 ranked recruiting class, which is good for ninth in the Southeastern Conference. Florida has thirteen prospects committed in this year’s class.
Reports indicate that staff and administration is meeting with the team Sunday afternoon.
The 2021 Florida Gators have produced on the most epic collapses seen in a long time. Just over two months ago, Florida was riding high after dropping a tight contest against then- No. 1 Alabama. What’s happened since is rather incredible.
The Gators have dropped five of their last six against FBS teams with the lone win coming against a hapless Vanderbilt team.
The way these losses have come are just as frustrating. Week to week, there is not a single aspect you can count on. Against Kentucky, the offense scored 13 points. The Georgia and South Carolina games were blowouts. Saturday’s game represented something new, however, as the Gators went to overtime at Missouri.
But, how did we get to overtime?
The Gators received possession with 1:04 on the clock following a missed field goal. With Missouri playing prevent defense, Jones handed the ball to Nay’Quan Wright on the draw and lost three yards. Instead of taking a couple of shots (quick outs, etc.), Dan Mullen elected to sit on it and take the game to overtime.
In overtime, Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz opted to go for two (and the win) rather than play into a second overtime. The Gators’ defensive line brought pressure, but Parker Daniel was left wide open to clinch the 24-23 victory.
Oh, and Drinkwitz trolled Mullen after the game, check it out here:
MIC DROP from #Mizzou football coach Eli Drinkwitz after beating Florida in OT! 😂
Now, Florida will face rival Florida State. Both teams maintain 5-6 records and the winner will become eligible for a bowl game. My, how far this rivalry has fallen.
After slipping up in the preseason WNIT classic, the unranked Florida Gators returned home to Gainesville to take on Grambling State in a shooting tug-of-war.
The teams went blow-for-blow in the period but once Florida found their confidence in their shooting, the game was all but over. Sophomore guard Brynn Farrell went a perfect 3-3 from downtown while recording 15 points and graduate student Lavender Briggs found her own rhythm to go 4-9 from the floor with 14 points.
Senior forward Emanuely De Oliveira also shared the spotlight to place 14 points on the scoreboard and recover five boards.
But guard Brynn Farrell carved her own legacy on Friday night playing off the bench and going perfect from all points on the court. The sophomore went 3-3 from three-point land and 5-5 inside the field.
Interim head coach Kelly Rae Finley praised Farrell’s work ethic during the post game interview.
“Farrell is another person whose always ready. She’s in the gym, she’s working,” Finley said. “To be perfect from the floor tonight, I thought she made some really big toughness plays and huge moments for us.”
Grambling State went on a 8-0 run late in the fourth quarter to threaten a comeback but Finley made the right adjustments down low to fend off the anxious visitors. Six straight field goals by the Gators in the final minutes of play filtrated to a runaway victory even though the Tigers found a few baskets to inch closer.
Overall, the Florida defense did well to shut down Grambling for most of the game and held the team to 39% shooting and won the rebound battle 38-28.
Now the Gators (3-2) will look forward to another home stance on Monday against the USC Upstate Spartans at 6 p.m. on Billy Donovan Court.
Florida forward Colin Castelton continued his torrid start to the 2021-22 season, this time leading the Gators to a 81-45 rout of Milwaukee on Thursday.
The Gators took an eleven point lead into the halftime intermission thanks to ten from Castelton and nine more by Plandrous Fleming. Florida shot 44% in the opening half, but eclipsed that mark easily in the second half.
Florida opened the second half by outscoring Milwaukee 13-2 over the first six minutes. The run would continue, all the way to 30-4 as the Gators turned this one into a laugher.
For the game, the Gators shot 47% from the field and made 11-28 three-pointers. More impressive, the Florida defense was aggressive and intimidating, again. Milwaukee made just two shots from deep and were held to a 31% clip from the floor.
Four Gators scored in double figures with Castleton’s 19 leading the way. Tyree Appleby (14), Anthony Duruji (12), and Fleming (12) were the others.
Castleton added ten boards to capture his fifth career double-double.
Florida (3-0) will head to Fort Myers next week to take on California and either Ohio State or Seton Hall in the Fort Myers TipOff. The Cal game will tip off at 8:30 PM on Monday and will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1.
The Gators dominated the Tigers from start to finish. Florida hit .305 and held Auburn to just .089. The Gators racked up 49 kills in contrast to Auburn’s 20 kills. Outside hitter T’ara Ceasar led Florida with 12 kills, while outside hitter Thayer Hall landed 11 kills on 22 attempts (.455) and middle blocker Lauren Forte tallied 10 kills on 15 attempts (.667).
The Gators recorded 50 digs, while Auburn tallied only 30. Florida made 48 assists led by senior setter Marlie Monserez’s 39. Monserez and Ceasar both recorded double-doubles.
Florida improves to 12-2 in conference play, which ranks third in the SEC trailing only Kentucky and Mississippi State.
Box Score
Auburn: 11-15-19
No. 20 Florida: 25-25-25
Individual Stat Leaders
Aces
Beason/Monserez/Adams: 1
Kills
Ceasar: 12
Hall: 11
Forte: 10
Assists
Monserez: 39
McKissock: 7
Ceasar: 1
Digs
McKissock: 17
Ceasar: 12
Monserez: 10
Blocks
Kelley: 2
Beason/Hall: 1
Next Up
The Gators will return to the O’Connell Center this weekend for a two-game series versus South Carolina. Saturday’s match will begin at 4 p.m. and Sunday’s match will start at 2 p.m.
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