After winning each home game by at least 12 points last year, No. 15 Florida’s 20-game home winning streak came down to whether Florida State’s Ian Miller could sink a last-second half-court shot.
He couldn’t.
After a back-and-forth game, the No. 15 Gators (6-1) defeated the Seminoles 67-66 on Friday night in the O'Connell Center.
Florida found itself ahead 60-53 with 3:47 remaining in the game. However, FSU (5-2) went on a 13-6 run behind 8 of 8 shooting from the free throw line.
A Will Yeguete foul on Miller allowed FSU to tie the game at 66 with 27 seconds left. After Scottie Wilbekin took five seconds to bring the ball past half court, Billy Donovan called timeout.
Casey Prather, who once again led Florida with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting, then inbounded the ball to Wilbekin, who immediately went into isolation. The other four Gators on the floor hugged the baseline while Wilbekin took time off the clock.
When the game clock reached six seconds, the senior point guard, who made his home debut tonight after being suspended for the first five games, drove to his right, pulled up at the top of the key and clanged the 15-footer off the rim with three seconds left.
“He didn’t make the right read on the play,” Donovan said of Wilbekin on his final shot. “I wish he would have driven all the way to the rim and provided some help.”
Although the Gators failed to convert with Wilbekin, Dorian Finney-Smith was underneath the basket along with Patric Young.
The ball hit off Young’s hands and fell into Finney-Smith’s. The redshirt sophomore, who led all players with 10 rebounds, immediately went up to attempt the game-winning layup with one second, but he was fouled.
With 1.3 seconds left, the game came down to Finney-Smith’s ability to make free throws.
Florida shot 14 of 22 up to that point in the matchup compared to FSU’s 20-of-23 performance from the line.
“The difference for them is that they made more free throws, but where we probably got a little bit of help was from the three-point line,” Donovan said.
The Gators shot 6 of 16 from behind the arc while the Seminoles could only land 2 of 10. Once again, Michael Frazier II led the way by shooting 5 of 8 for three. He came into Friday night’s game as Florida’s most efficient three-point shooter after going 17 of 33 from three to start the season.
But the ball wasn’t in Frazier’s hands at the end of the game. The Gators’ hopes lied with Finney-Smith at the free throw line.
The first bounced off the back of the rim and the 12,306 in attendance collectively groaned as the game appeared to head into overtime. But with one shot remaining, the 6-foot 8 Virginia Tech transfer stayed confident.
“My teammates were like, ‘Whatever happens is going to happen so we got your back,’” Finney-Smith said. “So I just shot it with confidence like I do every day in practice.”
Young approached Finney-Smith after the first miss and told him, “Be great.”
He was good enough. The shot fell through the hoop to give Florida a one-point lead with 1.3 seconds remaining. FSU immediately called a timeout to draw up one last shot.
Finney-Smith was not the hero until he reached the free throw line though as he only shot 2 of 12, including 0 of 4 from three. But one free throw redeemed his poor performance and the Gators survived their closest game of the year.
The Seminoles inbounded the ball to Miller, who needed to finish the game with 16 to win the game, but he left with 13. He shot over Wilbekin from half court and the ball barely missed and hit the rim instead.
“The one thing you want to do in that situation – our guys played it just like we told them we wanted to,” Donovan said. “We told our guys one thing we were going to give up was nay cuts in front of us and I thought our guys did a good job.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn.
Senior forward Casey Prather attempts a layup during No. 15 Florida's 67-66 win against Florida State on Friday night in the O'Connell Center.
