(Photo via Gators basketball)
The Florida Gators played the entirety of its game against Mississippi State without star guard Alijah Martin, and all but 30 seconds of it without star forward Alex Condon.
But even as the injury bug ravaged the Gators in real time, it wasn’t nearly enough to help Mississippi State keep pace with Florida. The Bulldogs hung around for a half as the Gators slogged through the first 19:30 without Condon, but had no answer for a 17-0 Florida run to start the second half as the Gators cruised to an 81-68 win that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated. The win adjusts Florida’s record upward to 21-3, and 8-3 in the SEC.
With the win, the Gators earned their first pair of back-to-back road wins over Top 25 teams in school history. Three days earlier, Florida pulled off a daring twilight robbery on the Plains, stunning top-ranked Auburn 90-81.
This one wasn’t anywhere near the caliber of Saturday’s all-orange-and-blue tilt, but wasn’t a whole lot more competitive after some early Florida struggles, either.
Florida and Mississippi State each spent most of the first half flinging up bricks as, without Condon the Bulldogs got the better of the rebounding battle. But MSU couldn’t pull away. In fact, they never led by more than three, although they did grab a slim 34-33 lead at the break.
Florida came out of the locker room a different team, and shattered any notion of a competitive game with a swirling torrent of three. Denzel Aberdeen, Will Richard, Walter Clayton and Thomas Haugh each hit one from deep in the first five minutes of the half to turn a 34-33 deficit into a 50-34 lead, and MSU never climbed within single digits again. In fact, the closest the Bulldogs got after that was the final margin of 81-68.
Forced to step into a larger role without Condon, Haugh had a career night. He even drew close to a triple double, finishing with 16 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists. Between his efforts, some tertiary help on the glass from Reuben Chinyelu, 20 points from Denzel Aberdeen and 19 more from Walter Clayton, Florida had plenty of firepower.
The question now becomes the health of Condon, who appeared to roll an ankle on the Gators’ first offensive possession. The good news for Florida is the schedule gets much easier now: home games against unranked South Carolina and Oklahoma teams precede a trip to 12-11 LSU and then a rematch against Mike White in Athens to finish February. Hopefully, those two and a half weeks are plenty of time for Condon to heal and return to action.
But even if the worst case scenario is the reality, and Alex Condon doesn’t play again this season– and let’s say for argument’s sake that neither does Micah Handlogten– the Gators sent the world a reminder that they’re still very, very dangerous.
