Finney-Smith sparks hot-shooting UF
GAINESVILLE — Redhot Dorian Finney-Smith hit his first seven shots, finally missing one when it no longer mattered.
By then UF’s senior forward had scored 20 points, his team led by 27 points and nothing was going to derail the Gators with 13:57 to remaining Saturday night against Auburn.
Finishing with a season-high 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting and eight rebounds, Finney-Smith led the way during Florida’s 95-63 rout of the Tigers.
The performance continued a torrid stretch for Finney-Smith, who averaged 19.5 points and 9.3 boards during the past four games. But he was far from a oneman show as the Gators put on offensive exhibition against the defenseless Tigers. “They were firing on all cylinders,” Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said.
The Gators opened the game hitting 14 of 20 shots and finished the contest shooting a blistering 56.9 percent from the field (33 of 58), including 60 percent (15 of 24) during the second half.
“We just made shots,” Finney-Smith said. “It’s like that some nights — you come out and can’t miss.”
UF (13-6, 5-2 SEC) also had better ball movement with an SEC-high 20 assists and hit 83.3 percent from the foul line (20 of 24) — more than 20 percentage points above their season average (61.1, ranking 340th among 346 teams).
“I told our guys I was shocked,” White joked. “Hopefully we have more nights like this moving forward.”
The Gators trailed Auburn 5-2 after a 3-pointer by Bryce Brown but soon seized command with an 18-0 run featuring 10 points by Finney-Smith on 4-of-4 shooting. UF never looked back, leading by no fewer than 18 points the rest of the night.
“It started with Dorian,” point guard Chris Chiozza said. “He came out ready to play. That’s the best I’ve seen him play in a long time.
“If he’s playing good, we’re all going to play good.”
Auburn (9-9, 3-4) also had no answer under the basket for 6 - foot-11, 255-pound center John Egbunu. Egbunu converted several easy baskets as the Gators pulled away and nearly had a double-double (11 points, six rebounds) by halftime.
Chiozza and fellow point guard Kasey Hill each had 14 points and combined for 12 assists. Hill shot 5 of 7 from the field to highlight his best offensive game in SEC play.
“That looked l i ke Montverde Kasey there,” Finney-Smith said, referencing Hill’s days at Montverde Academy. “Hopefully he can keep it going.”