Dropping passes and dribbling balls off their feet, No. 24 Florida’s high-energy offense looked frantic in the first half on Saturday.
And after back-to-back Tennessee three-pointers to open the second half put UF down five, the Gators were desperately looking for any strand of momentum to pull on and unravel a stingy, sticky Volunteer defense.
Then UF coach Mike White called out guard Canyon Barry’s name.
Barry faked one way, ditched his man under the basket and freed himself up for a fadeaway midrange jumper.
“(White) just called a play,” Barry said. “And I was able to read the defense and kind of take what it gave me and knock down the shot.”
That basket, on Barry’s 23rd birthday, kicked off a crisp run of six straight made field goals for Florida. And in front of a roaring sellout crowd, Florida (12-3, 3-0 SEC) rallied from behind to earn a 83-70 win against Tennessee (8-7, 1-2 SEC) on Saturday night in the O’Connell Center.
“I think shooting is one of those things that’s kind of contagious,” Barry said, “so when one person starts making them, everyone else can capitalize.”
No one capitalized more than KeVaughn Allen.
The sophomore guard fueled Florida’s comeback with a game-high 23 points and four three-pointers, including two back-to-back deep balls to put UF up seven points with seven minutes to go.
“When I got the ball, I saw a man kind of backed up a little bit, so I just went up and shot it,” Allen said.
Allen’s shots weren’t the only ones falling in the second period.
After shooting 38 percent from the field in the first half, the Gators shot 66.6 percent from the field in the second, including 7-for-8 from three-point range.
Gators forward Justin Leon was also instrumental in the Gators’ comeback. The senior made 3-for-4 from beyond the arc en route to a UF career-high 19 points.
“I thought he hit some timely shots for us,” White said of Leon after the game.
“You wish he’d fall into a few more open threes a game because he’s shooting the ball so well,” White said.
The first half saw Tennessee slowly climbing away from Florida, forcing 15 points off UF turnovers. But a 7-2 Gator run to close the half kept the game close and the crowd invested.
Leon said that at halftime, White reminded the Gators of their embarrassing road loss to Tennessee last year — one in which UF trailed by 30 at one point.
Volunteers coach Rick Barnes said the Gators showed maturity in this game that they didn’t in Knoxville last season.
“They are a much different team than they were a year ago,” Barnes said. “You can feel it with the chemistry.”
Barry said even when Tennessee led, he wasn’t too worried the Volunteers would spoil his birthday.
“Obviously we had a pretty rough first half,” he said, “but we were able to turn it around and execute.”
Contact Matt Brannon at mbrannon@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @MattB_727.
Florida guard Canyon Barry (24) drives to the basket over Belmont forward Amanze Egekeze (32) and guard Dylan Windler (3) in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Tampa, Fla., on Monday, Nov/ 21, 2016. (Andres Leiva/Tampa Bay Times via AP)
