GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For context, let’s just start with a stat.
Florida center Rueben Chinyelu had just nine fewer rebounds Tuesday night than the entire LSU team.
The Gators, as has been their calling card this season, joined forces with their 6-foot-10, 265-pound low-post wrecking machine and pounded away on the glass to a 79-61 victory that marked their fifth straight win and kept them atop the SEC standings.
Chinyelu finished with 15 points and equaled his career-high of 21 rebounds in just 23 minutes, becoming the program’s first player in more than a half-century to post a second game of at least 20 rebounds in a season. The outing was apropos, given Chinyelu was barely 24 hours removed from being named SEC Player of the Week after two punishing performances in a pair of road wins last week.
The Tigers certainly were impressed.
“His motor, physicality and toughness on the glass is better than anybody in the country,” LSU coach Matt McMahon said of the league’s leading rebounder.
For the Gators (14-5, 5-1) those traits are contagious. UF, which tops the nation in rebound margin, pulverized LSU (13-6, 1-5) on the boards with a 50-30 overall advantage and 24-7 edge on the offensive end – 11 from Chinyelu – that led to a 21-10 advantage in second-chance points. A couple of those re-do’s were 3-pointers, with backup junior guard Urban Klavzar making the Tigers pay with a career-best five 3s on his way to a team-high 18 points.
Rueben Chinyelu (9) hears it from the team huddle.
Sophomore point guard Boogie Fland and junior forward Alex Condon each added 10 points, but the story of the game was Chinyelu’s complete control of the low post, which allowed UF to shoot just 41.2% for the game but take a dozen more shots and offset a poor free-throw night of 14 of 27 (51.9%).
Chinyelu’s double-double was his league-best 11th of the season.
“Anytime that’s a good thing, but just trying to go out there and play and if that happens, it happens,” Chinyelu said of his individual numbers. “I’ll take that, but most importantly just making sure that we get the W.”
Chinyelu, who is averaging 11.2 rebounds per game, became the first UF player since David Lee in 2005 to string together four consecutive double doubles. The last player to have two games with at least 20 rebounds in a season was Chip Williams in 1974. Chinyelu also grabbed 21 back on Nov. 21 against mid-major Merrimack, but this was a rugged SEC game against the fourth-best rebounding team in the league.
“You’re seeing a guy that’s continued to grow and get better in real time, and he’s impacting the game tremendously,” UF coach Todd Golden said of his big man. “He’s just playing with such good balance [and] toughness. He’s obviously difficult to officiate. I think he gets fouled on every play, and there are times where he doesn’t get those whistles. But he’s just really come into his own [and] become a real stalwart for us in the frontcourt.”
Both teams hit just 40% in first half, but the Gators had 10 more shots with 10-2 edge on offensive glass. UF had 23 points and a five-point lead at the under-4 media timeout, but used a 15-8 run over the last 3:49 to open a double-digit advantage, with backup guard Isaiah Brown (8 points, 5 rebounds) and forward Thomas Haugh (7 points) hitting 3s along the way. Haugh’s came at the halftime buzzer and sent the Gators to the locker room up 38-26.
Less than 90 seconds into the second half, the margin was 16, with Chinyelu in complete control of the paint.
Junior guard Urban Klavzar (7) drops one of his five 3-pointers.
The lead was 15 with just under nine minutes left when Golden asked for and won an officials’ review that resulted in a flagrant foul against LSU’s Mike Nwoko, with Chinyelu awarded two free throws and UF the ball. Chinyelu made one of two, but Klavzar nailed a 3 on a baseline-out-of-pounds play and was fouled. He went to the line, missed the free throw, but Chinyelu ripped the board, put it back in the basket, was fouled and hit the free throw for a seven-point possession – an astounding second for Florida in as many games – over just four seconds for a 22-point lead.
“The ceiling is high for us, I’ll say that much,” Fland remarked.
With 6:58 to go and UF up 24, the 6-10, 261-pound Nwoko fouled out after a solid game of 17 points and six boards, both team highs. Nwoko, though, also spent his 23 minutes, unfortunately, mostly trading blows with Chinyelu.
“He’s physically competing against [Chinyelu] on every possession, and you’re looking out there, and the guy’s playing great with his hands on his knees on every free throw, and just kind of looking for air,” Golden said. “That’s who we are, that’s how this team is built.”
Translation: On top of Chinyelu’s massive shoulders.
“I just feel myself going out there and playing basketball, enjoying it with my teammates,” Chinyelu said. “If my opponent gets winded, they do, so I just go out there and enjoy it. It’s basketball, you know.”
Yeah. Big-boy basketball.
Email senior writer Chris Harry at [email protected]. Find his story archives here.
