Gators rally around teammate after gaffe hands Seminoles victory
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- No one had spoken a word in the deftly quiet Florida locker room. Certainly, there was much to lament and second-guess in the aftermath of Florida State's 65-63 buzzer-beating defeat Tuesday night of the Gators, but Billy Donovan's first words were directed exactly where they needed to be.
At Jake Kurtz.
"You do not need to feel bad," the coach said.
Moments earlier, FSU guard Devon Bookert took an inbound pass with 2.6 seconds to play -- and the score tied at 63 -- and launched a falling-away prayer from the corner that fell just short of the rim. Kurtz, the senior walk-on forward who seconds earlier had helped make the game-tying play at the other end of the floor, was alone under the basket and jumped to catch the ball, only to have it tip off his hand and roll into the cylinder with four-tenths of a second remaining.
The basketball version of an own goal.
Just like that, the Gators (7-5) had their four-game winning streak this season, plus their four-game winning streak in their series with the rival Seminoles (8-5), halted after rallying from five points down with 50 seconds left for a shot to put the game in overtime.
Instead, instant heartache.
"We wouldn't have been in the game at the end if it wasn't for Jake," junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith said of the popular and consummate teammate after Kurtz scored four points and also grabbed a team-best five rebounds, including three on the offensive end. "Sometimes the dice roll like that. That play did not determine the game. We did a bunch of other things that cost us the game."
Like turning the ball over a season-high 17 times; like shooting a woebegone 4-for-19 (21.1 percent) from 3-point range; like making just seven of 13 free throws (53.8 percent); like getting very little production from the UF big men.
The confluence of those issues allowed luck to be introduced into the game. Interesting, because a year ago against FSU, the Gators blew an eight-point lead in the final two-plus minutes before escaping with a one-point win -- but only after a seemingly dead-on Hail-Mary halfcourt shot by the Seminoles bounced off the back of the rim at the horn.
This time, luck was on FSU's side.
"It was just one of those shots you shake your head over," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said. "I've been on the other end those many times, so I'll take it."
Donovan, now in his 19th season as a head coach and a basketball lifer, could have said the same thing. But didn't. It was that confounding of a play.
"Listen, I've been doing this for a long, long time [and] been doing this for a lot of games -- and I've never seen anything like that in my life," Donovan said. "My heart goes out to [Jake] because he really tried to make the right play."
Collectively, the Gators did a lot of things right down the stretch after the Seminoles -- led by their trio of guards in Montay Brandon (17 points), Xavier Rathan-Mayes (13 points) and Bookert (12 points) -- twice built seven-point advantages inside the final eight minutes; and by five with less than a minute to go.
After Brandon swished a pair of free throws to push FSU up 63-58 with 49.3 seconds left, UF sophomore point guard Kasey Hill drove hard to the basket, converted a bank shot and was fouled. His free throw cut the lead to two with 43.9 to go and then UF's full-court pressure forced FSU into an ill-advised shot after the Seminoles got into their halfcourt.
Florida grabbed the rebound and at the other end Hill found freshman Devin Robinson for a wide-open 3-ball from the corner. The ball caromed toward the free-throw line, where Kurtz chased it down and dished to back to Hill with 10 seconds left. Hill wasted no time hitting the lane and lobbing a perfect pass to Finney-Smith, who laid it off the glass to the game at 63 with eight seconds remaining, as FSU frantically fought UF's pressure to get the ball up the floor.
Hamilton called a timeout with 2.6 seconds left.
And then, well, you know.
"That play did not determine the game at all," junior guard Michael Frazier said.
Hill, who played the finest (and most aggressive) offensive game of his career, went 7-for-9 from the floor, hit all three of his free throws and had three of UF's season-low seven assists in 32 minutes. He was the reason the Gators were able to stage such a game comeback.
"None of that matters," Hill said. "We lost, so we go from there."
Don't bother asking where.
"Back to the gym, back to work," said Finney Smith, who had 14 points and seven rebounds, but also five turnovers. "We have another game this week ... and a bunch after that."
