CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Tyrese Samuel had a season-high 21 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, Zyon Pullin scored 22 points and Florida beat Michigan 106-101 in double overtime Tuesday night at the Jumpman Invitational for the Gators’ fourth win in a row.
Samuel got deep post position and threw down a dunk that made it 93-all with 3:51 left in the second overtime and Michigan sealed it with an 11-0 run. Pullin followed with two free throws and Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard made back-to-back layups before Clayton hit a 3-pointer that capped the spurt and gave Florida a nine-point lead with 47 seconds left.
UF football transfer tracker: Gators add to lines with Joey Slackman, Brandon Crenshaw-Dickson
“Just an incredible college basketball game, wasn’t it?” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “Both teams had moments in regulation and the first overtime where it looked like they were going to be victorious.
“Credit to them to cut that four-point lead in regulation. Credit to us, big shot by ZP to tie that thing and to take it to a second overtime. I’m just really proud of our team. They’ve done a really good job of executing and doing what we’re asking them to do. this should give us a lot of confidence as we move forward, as we get in these tough, highly contested games against really good clubs that we can find a way to win.”
Dug McDaniel scored a career-high 33 points and made 12 of 13 from the foul line for Michigan (6-6). Olivier Nkamhoua scored 24 points and a grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds, Terrance Williams II scored 17, Tarris Reed Jr. 14 and Nimari Burnett 10.
Richard scored 17 and Alex Condon 13 for Florida (8-3). Clayton scored 12.
“We definitely saw them wearing down a little bit, but for us it was just keep trying to do what we were doing — pushing the pace, keep attacking them on defense and offense and just try to slow them down because we knew they were not going to play a lot of guys,” Richard said.
Reed converted a three-point play early in the second half to give Michigan a two-point lead and spark a 14-4 run that gave the Wolverines their biggest lead of the game at 55-46 when Reed hit a jumper in the lane to cap the spurt with 15 minutes to play.
Micah Handlogten made a layup before Pullin finished through contact at the rim and hit the and-1 free throw to give Florida a three-point lead with seven minutes remaining in regulation.
Nkamhoua’s 3 put the Wolverines up 72-69 two minutes later but Richard answered with a 3-pointer. Pullin followed with a layup before he and Richard sandwiched three-point plays around another by Reed to give the Gators a four-point lead with 1:36 left. Burnett hit a jumper and — after a tie-up gave Michigan the ball back — Nkamhoua threw down a put-back dunk to make it 81-all with 12 seconds to go. Reed blocked a potential winning layup attempt by Pullin before Condon missed a 3-point shot as time expired.
Samuel grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed 3 by Clayton and kicked it out to Pullin for a 3-pointer from the left wing with eight seconds left in overtime to make it 89-all and eventually force a second OT.
The Gators had a season-high 10 blocks — including three by Condon — and reached double-digit steals (10) for the fifth time this season. Florida outrebounded the Wolverines 54-43 and had 21 offensive rebounds, the Gators’ sixth game this season, and second in a row, with at least 20.
Florida returns home to play Grambling on Friday.
Michigan kicks off a three-game home stand, and the Wolverines wrap up their nonconference schedule, Dec. 29 against McNeese.
