Andrew Nembhard poured in a career-high 21 points, going 9-for-9 from the floor, to help lead Florida to the big 71-53 road win over Alabama.
“I thought Andrew was the best player on the floor, he was terrific,” Gators head coach Mike White said in his post game radio interview. “Offensively and defensively he led, he was vocal. Communicates at a high level really all the time, nothing changes. Andrew is the type of kid whether he goes 1-for-8 or 9-for-9, he’s happy in the locker room either way. Let the game come to him. Of the nine shots I thought nine of them were quality looks. He didn’t press, he didn’t try and make something out of nothing.”
Fellow freshman, forward Keyontae Johnson added 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, while senior guard KeVaughn Allen had 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists in the win over the Crimson Tide.
It was a slow start for both sides, however, the Gators managed to take the lead early and never relinquished it. UF would take a 35-26 lead into the break after Nembhard's hot start in the first half.
“I thought our attention to detail with regard to ball screen defense, transition defense, setting of the press, we were able to slow the tempo,” White said. "That was as key as anything. They’re good in all aspects and I think they’re elite in transition offense. We did a good job to slow a couple of spurts that they had where we could set that tempo press."
Florida's lead did dwindle to eight in the second half, 52-44, however, Nembhard was there to end Alabama's 10-1 run with an old fashioned three-point play that jumpstarted UF's own 10-4 run.
Alabama had three players in double figures: freshman guard Kira Lewis led the way with 14, while Donta Hall and John Petty both added 10 points.
This is Florida's second straight win but most importantly it was a win against a team that is ranked in the NET Top 50 - the system used to by the NCAA selection committee.
“I thought we were terrific, it’s as well as we’ve played all year. This one would rival the home game against Butler. It’s been a while," said White about how big this win is for the team. "When you consider winning on the road against an NCAA team, playing with poise, great environment, overcoming those things that you’ve got to overcome in the SEC, size of course, coming in and out-rebounding these guys, shooting 54 percent, which we hadn’t done many times this year.
"When you consider all of those things it was as good of a performance as we’ve had with this team. Proud of the guys, proud of the effort and defensively we were fantastic as this group has been most nights.”
White's men will back on the road against on Wednesday night at No. 19 LSU.
