Gators Top Jayhawks in SEC Big 12 Challenge
The O’Dome was gearing up for a big game on Tuesday
The SEC-Big 12 Challenge is not the ACC-Big 10 Challenge. It’s not even close. But then again this is only the first year of it. The Big Ten-ACC is the original and the original is always a little bit better. It’s kind of like the Rose Bowl and the SEC Championship Game. But that doesn’t mean the Big 12 SEC Challenge isn’t fun to watch. Last night we had what was the marquee game of the event with the Kansas Jayhawks in Gainesville to take of the Florida Gators.
The Jayhawks and Gators came in with identical 6-2 records. Both had experienced some tough losses, Florida lost to the Wisconsin Badgers and UConn Huskies both on the road. In both games they had a chance to win the game all the way to the end. In the UConn game it literally went down to the final buzzer before Shabazz Napier won it by one point. The Jayhawks have been there recently. they were tied with the Colorado Buffaloes on the road until the finals buzzer when a three-pointer from Askia Booker to win it by three. That came days after dropping their first game of the season to the Villanova Wildcats on a three from Ryan Arcidiacono with 10 seconds left beat them.
Kansas came into the contest with one quality win, a 94-83 win over the Duke Blue Devils. The Gators best win so far was a one point win over the Florida State Seminoles at home. Not a bad win considering how well FSU has been this season, but certainly not as much clout as a win over Duke. So one could say this game was more important to the Gators, although not by much.
The Gators also probably wanted to save a little face for the SEC who were being badly beaten in the Challenge so far. Only the Missouri Tigers win over the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Alabama Crimson Tide beating the Texas Tech Red Raiders had gone the SEC’s way. Even the mighty Kentucky Wildcats lost their game to the Baylor Bears.
The Jayhawks came out hot, starting the game on a 10-3 run. Andrew Wiggins was as advertised all night long. The kid rarely misses a shot it seems as he was 7-15 from the floor, going 4-9 from three points and 8-8 from the free throw line. He nearly led the Jayhaks to victory single-handedly. But the Gators answered the 10-3 Jayhawks start with a 21-0 run that got the packed O’Connell Center rocking. Florida’s defense was stifling as they shut down the Jayhakws, forcing bad shots and a lot of turnovers, 16 alone in the first half.
Scottie Wilbekin, who sprained an ankle late in the UConn game, played perhaps his best game as a Gator. He scored a team high 18 points and dished 6 assists. On defense, he picked up four steals, one of them at a most critical point in the game as Kansas threatened to get back in it. Dorian Finney-Smith kicked in 15 points with four three pointers in six attempts and Patric Young and Casey Prather both added 12 points each as Florida improved to 7-2 going into another big game against the Memphis Tigers next week.
The standings are now Big 12 six wins and the SEC three with only the game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Texas A&M Aggies left.
