GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Scottie Lewis scored 15 points in his first start to lead the No. 15 Florida basketball team to a 66-60 win over Towson on Thursday night.
“When I first got here, every shot that I took was kind of hesitant,” Lewis said. "I'm getting comfortable trying to figure out when I am going to make shots. I am just mentally preparing for everything that could happen which is making me into a better player."
"Thats the best he has played," said Gators head coach Mike White.
"I think he picked his spots really well today," said forward Kerry Blackshear. "I think he was elite on both sides of the floor. He played with a calm, confidence tonight."
Lewis finished 5 for 8 from the field, including 2 of 4 from beyond the arc, hitting both of his triples in the second half. However, Lewis also stepped up defensively, defending Towson's guard Brian Fobbs, who only managed two points in the second half after scoring ten in the first.
"[Fobbs] is very difficult to defend and Scottie did a good job on him on the second half, and that's what he is capable of down the road," said White. "His ceiling as a defender is really high. On top of that he made some plays offensively down the stretch."
In addition to Lewis, Blackshear had 13 points and 13 rebounds in his third game with a double-double, while sophomore guard Andrew Nembhard contributed with 11 points and nine assists.
“With all the hype around us, we definitely have to come out with our best effort," said Nembhard.
“I thought we played with some toughness. Towson is really good. Their guards are fantastic. Their bigs really move well, defend well, rebound well,” White said. “They play with poise, with confidence.”
Allen Bertrand, who scored 14 points for the Tigers, put the visitors ahead with a three with 5:46 left to the clock. However, the Gators' defense tightened up. UF ended the game going on a 6-0 run, while Towson finished 1 for 6 from the field.
"Thats big time," said Blackshear of the defensive intensity to close the game. "Defense is big for us. We are going to play some high level guards and high level bigs throughout the whole year- just being able to get stops in crunch time I think that was big. I think being able to communicate in these type of environments is big."
Blackshear would hand the home side the lead for good with a jumper with 1:06 to go in the clock.
“I thought we played with some toughness. Towson is really good. Their guards are fantastic. Their bigs really move well, defend well, rebound well,” White said. “They play with poise, with confidence.”
It took a while for the Gators side to gain some momentum offensively. In the first half, Towson jumped out to an early lead after starting the game shooting 50 percent from the field compared to Florida's 38 percent.
The Gators improved in the second half, shooting 48 percent from the field and shooting 31.8 percent from three-point range in the game.
"Our ceiling for offense is tremendous," said Lewis.
"In the first half we were getting each other open looks," said Blackshear. "Once you get good players good looks, if they miss the first time, they are not going to miss the second time more often than not. So I think us staying consistent and trying to make plays for each other, I think that showed in the second half."
"I thought the flow was okay," said White about the offensive flow. "We're still searching with playing fast and playing slow. We've gotta pick our spots. I don't think we're an incredibly fast team. I don't think we've been really efficient in transition offense. That doesn't mean that we don't continue to push it and try to continue that part of the our game. Right now we're better in the half court.
"We don't want to be one-dimensional. We've been one-dimensional for a while," he added. "As we go through this process we understand we're going to take some lumps and there's going to be some learning lessons. Theres going to be some trial and error but I like the focus there of getting more paint touches."
"We are growing as a team," said Lewis. "We are trying to find our identity. We have principles that we try to play too. We work on that everyday. We got a little better at those today."
Florida will now have a quick turnaround as it turns its attention to UConn on Sunday.
"It's a road environment, so that's big time," said Blackshear. "Two days to prepare for those guys. They are a really good team on both sides of the floor. We understand that it will be a big environment and a big game for us and we need to continue to grow."
