ATLANTA — Before No. 1 seed Florida cruised past eighth-seeded Missouri 72-49 on Friday in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals, it had struggled for almost 30 minutes to pull away.
Then, Scottie Wilbekin made what his teammates called the defining play of the game.
With 10:04 left on the clock, the Gators shifted to a full-court press after a Will Yeguete layup. When Missouri forward Ryan Rosburg tried to inbound a bounce pass to teammate Jabari Brown, Wilbekin read the play and made the steal.
He then passed it to Yeguete, who found the senior point guard open in the left corner. Wilbekin spotted up and sunk a triple.
“I was hyped after the three,” Wilbekin said. “Plays like that where you just steal a possession or get a 50-50 ball that they could have easily got, those are the plays that really motivate and amp up the team.”
Wilbekin’s three-pointer awakened the Gators, who outscored the Tigers 34-13 in the final 10:04 of action in the Georgia Dome. After his steal, UF scored the game’s next 10 points.
“That kind of gave us a momentum boost,” Michael Frazier II said. “We were kind of able to feed off that the rest of the game.
“We never looked back.”
Wilbekin and Frazier each scored 15 points on a combined 10-of-13 three-point shooting in the victory. Overall, the Gators saw 12 of their 21 attempts from downtown find net.
Florida (30-2, 18-0 SEC) had success shooting the three-ball all game, but it struggled to handle Missouri’s matchup zone defense in the early goings. Billy Donovan’s unit shot just 3 of 14 in the first half from inside the arc as both teams entered halftime tied at 29.
“I thought our energy wasn't where it needed to be,” Donovan said. “Things were not going their way in the first half, and I thought we looked a little bit pouty and cranky to me.”
Added Patric Young: “We missed a lot of finishes, turned the ball over a lot, weren’t really utilizing each other. We were fortunate to have 29 points.”
Coming out of the half, the Gators began playing more zone defense and started moving the ball better on the offensive end. Florida opened up the second half on a 7-0 tear until Missouri responded with a 7-2 run.
But during the Gators’ 34-13 close to the game, they held the Tigers to just 4-of-11 shooting and forced them to commit four late turnovers.
“They're good at shooting out of those maybe weak pick-and-roll coverages and giving their big a free run to an offensive rebound. So I think there's a lot that goes into trying to defend them because they can be very explosive on offense,” Donovan said.
“So, a lot of that requires five guys really working together every possession, understanding the position and where they need to be on the court based on where the ball's at. That's really important.”
Now winners of 24 straight games, No. 1 seed Florida will face fourth-seeded Tennessee on Saturday at 1 p.m. in the SEC Tournament semifinals.
After coming out of the gates slowly Friday, the Gators will hope to not make it a trend.
“It doesn’t help us at all,” Wilbekin said. “We need to have a high intensity for 40 minutes, and we only had it for 20 minutes this game.”
Follow Landon Watnick on Twitter @LandonWatnick.
Scottie Wilbekin attempts a layup during Florida's 72-49 win against Missouri on Friday in the Georgia Dome. The senior point guard scored 15 points against the Tigers.
