Chiozza gets in groove
PG steps into scoring role, fuels Gators
GAINESVILLE — UF point guard Chris Chiozza was feeling it, so he went with the flow.
A pass-first point guard by nature, Chiozza decided to stay aggressive as a scorer and see what happened.
The Gators were glad he did.
Chiozza ended the Gators’ 81-60 rout of Baylor Saturday with a game-high 20 points, including a pivotal five-minute stretch during which he scored 13 straight points for UF.
The team’s senior star did not even realize the extent of his solo run, but he knew he was in a zone.
“Normally I hit one, I hit a couple,” he said. “So once I hit two, I said, ‘I’m just going to come down and shoot another one, and see what happens.’ And they went in, so I was like, ‘All right, I might shoot some more.’
“I was just out there playing and it just felt good when I had the ball in my hands.”
Good things usually happen for the Gators when the ball is in the hands of Chiozza, who continues to build a strong case for SEC Player of the Year honors.
Chiozza not only led four Gators who scored in double figures against Baylor, he also chipped in six rebounds and six assists while committing just one turnover during 30 minutes on the court. He also defended Baylor guard and leading scorer Manu Lecomte, who finished with just 10 points.
“Chris Chiozza was amazing,” UF coach Mike White said. “I can’t imagine he’s had a better game than that. He put on a show today. “He was fantastic.” Baylor coach Scott Drew said his game plan to curtail Chiozza’s impact as a distributor backfired on the struggling Bears (12-9) and allowed the Gators’ 6-foot, 175-pound dynamo to showcase his complete game.
“We tried to take away his passing and he got us with our shooting,” Drew lamented. “He’s one of the best point guards in the country. When he’s scoring on top of his facilitating, he goes to another level.”
Chiozza, though, was far from a one-man show for the No. 20 Gators (15-6).
Coming off a surprising home loss to South Carolina, UF ended the day with 14 3-pointers on 25 attempts after shooting just 12 of 53 from beyond the arc during the past two games.
“When we’re shooting like that, it’s hard to beat us,” senior shooting guard Egor Koulechov said.
Koulechov’s hot hand ignited the Gators and an announced sell-out crowd of 10,623 in the O’Connell Center.
The man nicknamed “3gor” drained his first three from long range as UF built a 14-5 lead by the first TV timeout. UF pushed the lead to 20-7 fewer than seven minutes into the game.
But Baylor weathered the storm of 3-pointers and was clawing its way back into the game until Chiozza took over, single-handedly turning a 24-15 lead to a 37-22 advantage for the Gators.
Chiozza was not finished fending off the Bears, either. After Baylor cut the lead to 45-36, Chiozza hit a acrobatic reverse layup to stem the tide. The Gators ultimately never trailed during the contest.
“I’m not surprised by anything he does anymore,” said Koulechov, who finished with 16 points on 5 of 6 shooting.
Shooting guard Jalen Hudson then took over with a one-man run of his own, scoring 10 straight points for UF. Hudson finished with 17 points, including 14 during the second half.
With so many scoring options on the Gators, Chiozza looks to share the ball whenever he can. He does so with remarkable efficiency. During the past four games, he has 31 assists and just four turnovers.
But on Saturday, the Gators needed Chiozza to be a scorer, and he was happy to oblige.
“We have so many players who can ignite us,” he said. “It just happened to be me tonight.”