GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Joakim Noah and Al Horford each scored 16 points and No. 7 Florida rallied for a 71-62 victory over LSU on Saturday, snapping a three-game losing streak to the Tigers.
LSU (16-7, 8-2 Southeastern Conference) went on a 12-0 run to take a 51-45 lead. But the Gators (21-3, 7-3), who had their 20-game home winning streak snapped by South Carolina on Wednesday, responded with a 16-3 run to take control.
Noah scored inside on consecutive possessions to tie it at 53, and Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey hit consecutive 3-pointers to give the Gators the lead for good.
Trailing 69-62, LSU had two chances to get closer in the last 2 minutes, but Darrell Mitchell’s layup attempt on a breakaway was blocked from behind by Noah, and seconds later, Tasmin Mitchell‘s shot was swatted away by Horford.
Noah and Horford won the matchup of two of the SEC’s best frontcourts.
LSU’s Glen Davis had 16 points and 15 rebounds and Tasmin Mitchell added 14 points, but the duo combined for only 10 points in the second half, a total Noah matched by himself.
After getting outrebounded 24-17 in the first half, Florida had a 21-14 advantage on the boards in the second half. LSU is the SEC’s leading rebounding team, and Florida had been outrebounded seven times in its first nine conference games.
Darrel Mitchell, LSU’s leading scorer, had 11 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Green, Florida’s top scorer, went 1-for-9 from the field and finished with three points. LSU was 2-for-11 from 3-point range, while Florida was 4-of-13, getting three 3s from Humphrey.
Florida forward Corey Brewer picked up his second foul less than 3 minutes into the game and sat out the next 7 minutes. LSU went ahead 20-14 while holding the Gators to one field goal in a 6:30 span.
When Brewer returned, Florida coach Billy Donovan switched to a zone defense for the rest of the half, and LSU went cold from the field. Brewer’s baseline leaner, his only points of the half, keyed a 14-6 run that gave the Gators a 28-26 lead with 4:07 left in the half.
Head Coach Billy Donovan Post-Game Quotes
On the game…
“It was a great effort by our guys. They were certainly well-documented on LSU’s front court. You take a guy like Darrel Mitchell, who is having possibly an MVP season in our league, and we needed to be somewhat destructive because they do such a good job on offense. We felt like (Darrel) Mitchell was the key to their team, so we tried to run and trap him as much as we could. Both teams played very hard. We tried to run the trap and create helter-skelter situations. Our guys did a good job of trying to wear them down.”
On the team…
“They all did a good job guarding each other. If you would have told me that Taurean (Green) was going to be 1-for-9 and that Corey Brewer was going to be 1-for-7, I would have been concerned. But, it was a game where we got the ball inside. Our front-court did a very good job. Taurean didn’t have the best scoring day, but he did a nice job (guarding) Darrel Mitchell.”
On coming back to win…
“It always helps to make those shots. It seemed like we missed so many easy baskets. We didn’t have a great three-point shooting day. Lee’s (Humphrey) three and Taurean’s (Green) three gave us a cushion so that we could do some different things defensively. We tried to make them (LSU) score outside of their offense. We gave up 10 offensive rebounds in the first half, but in the second half their front court was fatigued and I think we did a better job.”
Florida Player Post-Game Quotes
February 11, 2006
Junior Guard Lee Humphrey
On the second half:
“We tried to defend them better in their half-court set. I think that was the difference.”
On his shoulder:
“My shoulder is actually still pretty sore. It’s still not 100 percent. It’s still day-by-day. We’ll see how it feels. The trainers have been doing a good job working with me and bringing me back quickly. My shots are feeling good right now. I’ve shot it well the past few games. My shoulder doesn’t really affect my shooting as much as it does my defense. You have to go out there and play like nothing is bothering you. If you don’t, you are not going to play as well.”
Sophomore Center Joakim Noah
On LSU Forward Glenn Davis:
“He’s a guy that just weighs so much and is so talented offensively. He can put it on the floor and he can shoot it. It’s just so hard to keep up with and to try and block.”
On the team:
“That’s what is great about this team. Everyone contributed today. It did not come down to one person. It comes down to everyone contributing.”
Sophomore Guard Taurean Green
On Coach Donovan’s advice:
“Coach [Billy] Donovan just told me to be smart. He told me to find the shot and take it.”
On LSU:
“They are an athletic team. From positions one through five, they are an athletic team. They are physical, big, and on the ball. That was probably the most difficult game we had to play all year.”
Sophomore Forward Al Horford
On LSU:
“With those guys, if we don’t block them out, they are going to dunk on our heads, especially with Tyrus Thomas. That was our goal, to keep them off the glass.”
On the second half:
“I feel like our guys just figured it out. They figured out that they had to go after loose balls and finish out possessions.”
Florida Player Post-Game Quotes
Sophomore Guard Taurean Green
On the loss:
“You still have to think about the 6 or 7 games left. You have to learn from it and move on and play strong the rest of the season.”
On South Carolina:
“They hurt us with their guards. We just played bad transition defense. They knocked down threes. That was the key to the game. We were bad in transition and they hit threes. I thought we played hard. They came down on the break, looked for each other and hit threes.”
Senior Forward Adrian Moss
On South Carolina:
“They played great basketball. Give them all the credit in the world. Their bigs run. They get out in transition well and always penetrate. They pick up pressure defense. They are close to us. They made great shots, so gives those guys all the credit.”
On the game:
“Sometimes it goes one way and sometimes it goes another. We have all the killer instinct in the world, but sometimes things happen in basketball. They made some tough shots with guys hanging on them. Guys like Al Horford stepped up. Guys made shots over him. Guys made shots coming off the screens with our defenders hanging on them.”
Junior Forward Chris Richard
On the first half of play:
“They were 7-for-15 from the three-point line in the first half, so we just didn’t do our job guarding them.”
On South Carolina:
“They did a good job of getting open. We could have stopped them and we should have but we didn’t and that is why we lost. I thought we communicated as well as we should have.”
On the game:
“We played okay but we didn’t do a good job of containing them on the perimeter. We did a lot better job of keeping them from penetrating this time, but we just didn’t do a good enough job of stopping them from the three-point line. They beat us from the three-point line tonight. I think we stepped up the defense a lot from the last time we played them.”
Post Game Notes
Florida vs. LSU
February 11, 2006
Team Notes
Playing in a half-court offense, the Gators outscored LSU in the paint 40-30. Florida did not record any fast-break points.
Florida went on a 14-2 run at the 10:22 mark of the second half to erase a six-point LSU lead.
Florida recorded the second best field goal percentage against LSU during SEC play by shooting 47.4 percent. Ole Miss holds the best shooting percentage against LSU this season with 52.9 percent performance against the Tigers on January 28, 2006. LSU leads the league holding opponents to 41.1 percent shooting during SEC games.
The Gators defense held the Tiger scoreless on its first seven possessions of the second half, while going on a 6-0 run to open the half.
Florida kept its turnover total under 15 for the 15th time this season. The Gators’ 13 turnovers on Saturday was the second-lowest total for the team during SEC play this year. Florida only had 12 turnovers against Vanderbilt on Jan. 28.
The Gators’ largest lead was nine points, which was matched twice during the final five minutes of the game.
Defensively the Gators were able to match the Tigers with 38 rebounds apiece. LSU leads the SEC with +10.6 rebounding margin this season.
Florida snaps a three-game losing skid against the Tigers.
Individual Notes
Lee Humphrey made his 130th career three-pointer at the 7:50 mark of the second half. Humphrey currently ranks 10th on the Gators’ all-time list and is only two shy of tying Dan Cross for ninth.
Taurean Green led the Gator defense in holding LSU’s leading scorer Darrell Mitchell to his second-lowest point total this season. Mitchell finished the game with 11 points. Mitchell is second in SEC scoring, averaging 18.6 points per game.
Walter Hodge scored two big lay-ups to pull the Gators out of a five-point deficit during the second half.
Al Horford recorded four shot blocks for only the fourth time this season. His season-best was six against Savannah State.