With his team trailing by one in the waning seconds, No. 12 Connecticut’s Shabazz Napier sunk a game-winning mid-range jumper to beat No. 15 Florida 65-64 on Monday night.
The winning shot came after Napier was given a second chance on the final possession. To the dismay of coach Billy Donovan, Napier had been given a second chance on the possession before that, too.
Although the Gators (6-2) won the rebounding battle 34-26, the Huskies (8-0) grabbed the game’s final three offensive rebounds in the last 1:03 to overcome a 62-59 deficit .
Patric Young outscored UConn 7-2 in a two-minute offensive explosion to give Florida the slight three-point lead, but his late-game efforts were erased by his team’s defense giving away opportunities.
After the Gators failed to grab two defensive rebounds, Napier knocked down the Huskies third attempt from behind the arc in just 29 seconds.
Dorian Finney-Smith fouled Napier on the shot, as well, giving up a four-point play and the lead.
“I was really worried about the rebounding part in the zone,” Donovan said.
“The play that really hurt us was the possession (where) we had two opportunities up three to rebound the basketball with a big lineup and we didn’t come up with it twice, which resulted in fouling a three-point shooter for a four-point play to put them up one.”
When the Gators were forced to play from behind with less than a minute remaining, they did not have their floor-leader, Scottie Wilbekin.
The senior point guard, who returned from suspension a week ago against Jacksonville, left the game with 3:01 remaining after spraining his right ankle on his way down from a jump shot.
Donovan said he does not know the extent of Wilbekin’s injury.
Freshman point guard Kasey Hill is still out with a high left ankle sprain he suffered Nov. 18 against Southern.
Without Wilbekin down the stretch, Young and Michael Frazier II stepped up offensively. Young scored seven of his season-high 17 points after Wilbekin left, and a Frazier layup gave the Gators a 64-63 lead with 18 seconds remaining in the game.
Donovan said he was proud of his offense stepping up without a true point guard at the helm.
However, it was the Gators’ defense that came up short Monday night.
Florida forced Napier into an awkward last-second shot at the top of the key, but Donovan’s team was out of position for the rebound. Napier cleaned up his own mess with a put-back as time expired.
“We got him to take a bad shot,” Donovan said. “So, our defense was really good. But what happened was the shot goes up, everybody kind of just ran to the rim instead of everybody getting matched up man-on-man and getting blocked up.”
Donovan said the final Huskies’ shot was a fluke play. If the ball had landed anywhere else but Napier’s hands, the Gators would have won the game. However, he said his team gave UConn too many chances to win.
Florida committed a season-high 16 turnovers, including a combined 11 from Finney-Smith and Casey Prather. UConn scored 24 points off Florida’s turnovers.
“We self-sabotaged,” Donovan said. “(We) let them back in the game, coming surging back.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Scottie Wilbekin (right) watches Connecticut’s Shabazz Napier shoot a free throw during the first half of the Gators’ 65-64 loss to the Huskies on Monday night in Storrs, Conn.
