What Occurred
Colorado level guard KJ Simpson hit a fall-away baseline jumper with 2.2 seconds left and the Tenth-seeded Buffaloes handed No. 7-seed Florida, after a beautiful late comeback, a crushing 102-100 defeat Thursday in opening-round play of the NCAA South Area at Bainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Simpson’s game-winner got here after the Gators erased a 13-point deficit over the ultimate 4 minutes, capped by junior guard Walter Clayton Jr.’s 35-foot 3-pointer that tied the sport with 10 seconds remaining. The Buffs obtained the ball into the halfcourt, referred to as timeout and drew up a play for Simpson, the All-Pac-12 guard and workforce’s main scorer. He obtained the inbound cross, dribbled to the baseline, created some house by leaning into his defender, guard Zyon Pullin, and threw up the shot. The ball hit within the cylinder, bounced out, then fell again in. Clayton, who completed with a career-high 33 factors and scored his workforce’s final 16 factors, had a desperation heave on the horn, but it surely banged off the backboard. Simpson completed with 23 factors in main six completely different Buffs into double-figure scoring on an evening they shredded the Gators by capturing 63 p.c from the ground (with 48 factors within the paint), together with six of 10 from the 3-point line, went 28 of 33 from the free-throw line and had 27 assists. Simpson, who was 7-for-12 general and 8-for-9 on the line, additionally had 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Middle Eddie Lampkin adopted with 21 factors, six rebounds and 5 assists, whereas ahead Tristan da Silva completed with 17 factors (7-for-10 general, 3 of three from deep) had 4 rebounds and 5 assists. Clayton was spectacular for the Gators, scoring 26 within the second half. He was 10 of 17 from the ground, 4 of 10 from deep and 9 of 10 from the free throw line. Guard Will Richard had 15 factors, whereas UF’s two grad transfers, Pullin and ahead Tyrese Samuel, tallied 13 and 11 factors, respectively, of their closing recreation in a Florida uniform. CU was much less than 48 hours from a event play-in win over Boise State in Dayton, Ohio, and confirmed no signal of fatigue, regardless of falling behind by 10 factors halfway by way of the primary half. UF really held its personal by way of a primary half that was tied at 45 on the break regardless of the Buffaloes hitting 61 p.c from the ground. The second half was extra of the identical, with Colorado taking management by making 11 consecutive photographs, in addition to a ton of free throws (20-for-25 within the second half), which drew the ire of UF coach Todd Golden, who was hit with technical foul after what appeared like a late name went towards his workforce, with official saying his whistle was damaged. Throughout that 11-for-11 blitz, the Buffs turned a three-point benefit right into a 13-point lead over seven minutes and led 94-81 with simply over 4 minutes left when the Gators kicked of their Clayton-led comeback, outscoring CU 21-8 till these closing two seconds. Florida, enjoying its first recreation for the reason that devastating season-ending damage to 7-1 beginning heart Micah Handlogten within the Southeastern Convention Event title recreation Sunday, shot 51.5 p.c for the sport with 22 assists, made 11 of 25 from distance and hit 19 of twenty-two free throws. Freshman Alex Condon, making his first profession in changing Handlogten, had six factors, seven rebounds, a career-high six assists and two blocks.
What it Means
The Gators are headed house after the primary spherical of the event for the primary time since 2010.
Within the Highlight
Clayton completely took the sport over down the stretch. He deserved (as did the Gators) to play one other 5 time beyond regulation minutes.
Staggering Statistic
It is uncommon to be out-shot by 12 p.c, particularly when the opposite workforce is at 63.0, and be within the recreation.
Up Subsequent
For Florida (24-12), the winningest season in seven years is over, however the future seems to be very vivid for the Gators beneath their energetic, younger coach, who can be (rely on it) mixing it up within the switch portal in subsequent to no time.
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