The defending national champion Florida Gators went into their Monday night season-opening matchup looking to pick up where they left off; however, it was the Arizona Wildcats and their freshman sensation Koa Peat who stole the show.
It was a breakout performance for Peat, who finished with 30 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists en route to a 93-87 Wildcats victory.
Florida jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first ten minutes of the game, but Arizona stayed poised and eventually came back and retook the lead with 3:21 to play in the first half. They never gave that lead back, leaning on their star freshman in Peat and veteran leader Jaden Bradley, who finished with 21 points, five rebounds, and three assists.
The Gators shot just 25.9% from beyond the arc on the day, and their struggles from three forced them to attack inside. Overall, they were led by Thomas Haugh, who finished with 27 points and 4 rebounds, including 16 of his 27 in the second half.
After one game, Arizona sits at 1-0, with a ton of potential moving forward following Koa Peat’s breakout performance. As for Florida, while things may seem gloomy after a shooting slump and season-opening loss, there is hope moving forward in the fact that they fought until the end with Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee struggling from the field.
Here are three takeaways from Arizona’s strong debut and Florida’s first taste of adversity since walking away as national champions a season ago.
Koa Peat’s coming out Party
A coming-out party it was indeed for Peat, who became the first player since 2002 to finish with 30 points, five rebounds, five assists, and three steals in their collegiate debut (H/T Matt Norlander, CBS Sports).
When Arizona went into the first half under-12 media timeout trailing 26-16, Peat had made just one shot from the field. As the Wildcats began to fight back and eventually take the lead, Peat’s usage increased, finishing with a game-high 13 points at halftime, before dominating in the second half.
Peat had three separate scenarios in the second half in which he scored consecutive baskets for Arizona, including back-to-back dunks, igniting the Wildcats. Anytime Florida looked to get a spark of their own, Peat was ready with a response, it seemed. There was no tentativeness from Peat, as he outplayed preseason All-American Alex Condon for nearly the entire game, especially in the crucial second half.
A Peat performance like that, in general, is impressive, but when you include the element that it was a debut game, it is a nearly unheard-of feat for Peat. After the game, when speaking about Peat’s performance, Tommy Lloyd mentioned that “nobody really knew about him,” and while that may have been true before, that is far from the case now.
“Koa, it was a coming-out party for him, so to speak. You know, everyone’s known about him, but no one’s really, really studied him and watched him, you know, and he’s a special player,” Lloyd said.
“Just the way he came out in that atmosphere, he went against the first team All-American, and that kid’s a heck of a player. And Koa, obviously, more than held his own.”
Although Koa Peat is just a Freshman, he has had a lengthy career playing for Team USA, including most recently this past summer for Team USA’s Gold Medal-winning U19 team, where he was coached by Lloyd. That experience, which Peat spoke on after the game, played a large role in his ability to make an impact right away for Arizona.
“I think it really helped me this summer, especially playing with Coach Lloyd. He ran some of the same sets at USA, so coming to U of A in the fall, it was pretty easy to adapt to those,” Peat said.
If Peat can continue to produce at a level like this consistently, Arizona could be a team we see make it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament, if not further.
Jaden Bradley IS a Top 20 Point Guard in the country
In Tommy Lloyd’s opening statement after the game, he expounded upon Bradley not being named to the Bob Cousy Award watchlist, noting that “If there’s any way this guy’s not one of the top two or three point guards in the country, I mean, I’ve been doing this for a while, and then they don’t make them much better than this. He was amazing today.”
And while exactly where Bradley falls on the list of top point guards in the country is debatable, his status as a premier guard in the country is not, and he showed why on Monday night.
Bradley was crucial for the Wildcats down the stretch, both as a distributor and a scorer. Both Peat and Bradley finished with a team-high five assists on the day, leaning on each other when Arizona needed a bucket.
When Peat slowed down briefly in the second half, Bradley stepped up as a scorer, going on an 11-6 run on his own from the 5:08 mark to the 1:41 mark in the final frame.
Bradley did it all for the Wildcats on Monday night, and after the game, he noted that even when the team went down, they never panicked and just took what the Gators’ defense was giving them.
“We just knew Florida was a great team, so we tried not to panic when we got down. We trusted in each other, trusted in the system, two-three ball screens, and we just took what they gave us. Whether it was a pocket pass, a layup, and we just trusted each other. And we ended up getting that lead,” Bradley said.
A point guard is usually judged on how well they distribute the ball, and while that is certainly an important aspect to their job, the overall goal is to be a catalyst for the offense in any means necessary. Bradley did exactly that on Monday, as he distributed when needed, but he also wasn’t afraid to get a bucket on his own.
Bradley’s confidence to do it all for the Wildcats is a reflection of his experience, and similar to Peat, if he continues to play at a level like what we saw against Florida, that would go a long way in helping Arizona make a deep tournament run.
This Gators team is still finding its footing, and that was evident on Monday night with star transfer guards Xaivian Lee and Boogie Fland struggling at times. The duo combined to finish eight of 26 from the field with 25 total points, failing to generate consistent offense.
Fland was not as score-dominant as he was during a lot of his playing time last season at Arkansas, as he attempted fewer than 10 shots from the field, something he did only twice during the regular season last year.
There were flashes of what we saw last season at Princeton from Lee, who finished with 14 points; however, the streakiness that plagued him at times last year came back to hurt him again tonight. Lee shot just 29.4% from the field, and although he had shooting struggles at times last year, he only shot under 30% three times.
Between Fland’s lack of aggressiveness and Lee’s shooting slump, the Gators’ offense was stymied at times tonight against Arizona. Despite the lack of offense from both players, Gators Head Coach Todd Golden is not concerned about it moving forward.
“Boogie didn’t have a turnover tonight. I thought he did a good job on offense and taking care of the ball, and putting us into some good spots. We did not finish at the rim very well. I think that was our biggest issue from our backcourt. We got in there, and Krivas is big. Awaka is big. Koa is pretty strong, like we just got in there a little off balance sometimes, and took some tough shots,” Golden said.
“But you know, I think Xavian Lee is going to be much better than five-for-17 on most nights. Boogie is going to hit a shot or two that he missed tonight, so I’m not concerned about it moving forward.”
It is a long season, and one night of struggles is no reason to hit the panic button. Nevertheless, the Gators do need Lee and Fland to perform at their best if they want to have a chance to defend their title, so it will be paramount that they find their rhythm over the next few games.
Cover Photo Credits: Christian Proscia
