GAINESVILLE, Fla. – What Barry University’s men’s basketball team can take away from its encounter with a second Top 10 opponent in the exhibition season is simple: the Buccaneers have potential.
Barry fell to No. 7 Florida, 79-70, Thursday in an exhibition game at the O’Connell Center in front of 9,016 on a day they reiterated glimpses of what began to rear its head in Kentucky.
“They’re gonna have a really good year, I would think,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said of the Bucs. “They’ve got a nice team. They play fast, they play hard, they’re physical. They’ve obviously got a lot of pretty good transfers that are in there right now. This was very helpful for us. Hopefully the last two exhibition games will be good for their program.”
Barry outrebounded the Gators, an NCAA Final Four team from a year ago, as it did against No. 8 Louisville six days earlier. The Buccaneers grabbed 13 of their 42 rebounds on the offensive end. Florida also had 13 boards on the offensive glass, and finished with 39.
The Bucs whittled an 18-point deficit with 18:53 to go down to 10 when Tray Leonard scored in the paint at the at the 7:39 mark. Yunio Barrueta’s field goal 1:02 later pulled Barry within 63-54. Florida increased its lead back to 14 before Bucs sophomore guard Arie Williams buried his second three-point field goal with 3:00 left on the clock.
Barry senior point guard Deric Hill sank two free throws a minute later, Leonard hit a driving layup, and Anders Haas sank two free throws in the final minute as the Bucs kept the deficit in single digits.
“I think it doesn’t hurt our confidence,” Buccaneers coach Butch Estes said. “You want to play people better than you are so you get better, so I hope that’s part of our goal.”
The Bucs shot 40.7 percent in the second half, outscoring the Gators, 38-33. Barry outscored Florida, 22-18, in the paint. The Buccaneers went 24 of 62 from the field for 38.7 percent. The Gators shot 41.8 percent on 28 of 67 shooting.
“We have a lot of work to do offensively,” Estes said. “We’re not moving the ball as effectively as we need to to be successful in our league. There’s a lot of work left to be done, but I think we’ve made good progress.”
Barrueta had 18 points and 14 rebounds on eight of 15 shooting in 32 minutes.
“Individually, I think I played alright,” the Bucs junior transfer from East Tennessee State said. “I forced a couple shots that I should’ve just passed. Overall as a team, I think we played pretty good. We faced the No. 7 team in the country. We just got to get a little bit better, keep moving the ball. It shows that we can compete against the top teams in the country.”
Hill finished with 16 points, sinking all 10 of his free throws. He had four assists and a steal. Senior guard Juan Ferrales had 11 points and four rebounds. Ferrales’ layup with 4:19 remaining in the first half cut the Gators’ lead to 36-26. Hill’s triple with 4:21 to go sliced a 13-point Gators lead to 69-59.
“We huddle up, and we talk about what we need to work on, and then we play it out on the court,” Hill said.
Leonard had nine points and seven rebounds, and was four of eight from the floor. Florida’s Eli Carter had 21 points, and Dorian Finney-Smith 16 points and 10 rebounds. Kasey Hill had eight of the Gators’ 17 assists. Barry was credited with 11 assists.
Florida improved to 63-13-1 in exhibitions, including a 38-2-1 mark under Donovan, whose history with Estes dates back 20 years.
“I’m a big fan of Butch,” Donovan said. “Butch and I coached against each other when he was at Furman and I was at Marshall. He’s a great guy, and I’ve always respected and admired him as a man and as a coach.”
The Buccaneers open the regular season Friday, Nov. 14 against cross-town rival Johnson & Wales in Barry’s Health & Sports Center, reaffirmed in its own club after two tough road tests against the nation’s best teams.
“I was really pleased with our effort,” Estes said. “I thought we competed and we gave great effort.”
No. 7 FLORIDA 79, BARRYU 70
BARRYU (0-0)
Yunio Barrueta 8-15 1-2 18; Deric Hill 2-4 10-10 16; Juan Ferrales 5-12 0-0
11; Tray Leonard 4-8 1-2 9; Arie Williams 2-4 0-0 6; Adrian Gonzalez 3-9 0-0
6; Anders Haas 0-4 2-2 2; Savad Garner 0-2 2-2 2; Alvaro Simoza 0-0 0-0 0;
Jevoni Robinson 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 16-18 70.
FLORIDA (0-0)
Carter, Eli 7-12 2-4 21; Finney-Smith, Dorian 5-10 3-4 16; Frazier, Michael
5-14 2-2 15; Hill, Kasey 3-6 1-3 7; Kurtz, Jacob 2-3 2-2 6; Robinson, Devin
2-10 0-0 5; Horford, Jon 2-6 1-2 5; Chiozza, Chris 2-4 0-0 4; Graham, Dillon
0-2 0-0 0. Totals 28-67 11-17 79.
BarryU........................ 32 38 - 70
Florida....................... 46 33 - 79
3-point goals--BarryU 6-26 (Deric Hill 2-4; Arie Williams 2-4; Juan Ferrales
1-6; Yunio Barrueta 1-6; Anders Haas 0-4; Adrian Gonzalez 0-1; Tray Leonard
0-1), Florida 12-37 (Carter, Eli 5-9; Finney-Smith, Dorian 3-5; Frazier,
Michael 3-12; Robinson, Devin 1-6; Chiozza, Chris 0-2; Horford, Jon 0-2;
Kurtz, Jacob 0-1). Fouled out--BarryU-None, Florida-None. Rebounds--BarryU
42 (Yunio Barrueta 14), Florida 39 (Finney-Smith, Dorian 10; Horford, Jon
10). Assists--BarryU 11 (Deric Hill 4), Florida 17 (Hill, Kasey 8). Total
fouls--BarryU 15, Florida 15. Technical fouls--BarryU-None, Florida-None.
A-9,016.
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