‘My shot started clicking’: Thomas Haugh talks career-high game
Entering Saturday’s contest, Florida freshman forward Thomas Haugh had just six 3-pointers in the first 24 games of the season. He made that half that total in the first period at Georgia.
Haugh had previously missed all five of his 3-point attempts in SEC play and had just one trey in his last nine tries.
“He can really shoot it,” UF coach Todd Golden said. “He’s the type of guy being young makes every 3 in practice and then we get in games and it’s a struggle.”
Not in Athens. Haugh hit all three of his 3-pointers in the final 6:30 before the break, with the last shot cutting Florida’s deficit to two points. He was 4-for-4 from the floor in the first half with a team-high 12 points.
“My shot started clicking a little bit,” Haugh said. “I just work on it a lot, and I got some opportunities to shoot the ball and just capitalized on it.”
Haugh continued to contribute off the bench in the second half as three Florida bigs reached four fouls. He scored twice late, the first an offensive putback and then a driving layup with 1:42 left.
Haugh was also fouled while grabbing his fourth offensive rebound, making a free throw to put the Gators up four with 47 seconds left. He finished with a career-high 17 points, seven boards, a block and a steal in Florida’s 88-82 win.
“He was just huge for all 40, but I thought he was humongous in the first half — kept us in it,” Golden said of Haugh. “He hit all three of his 3s in the first half, all very much needed to keep them at bay and keep us in the ballgame. He played so hard. He had four offensive rebounds. The one late, with under a minute, it was huge. It kept it from being a one-possession game. Credit to him.”
The Gators had the rebounding edge 39-31, including a 15-7 advantage on the offensive glass, and outscored UGA 16-4 in second-chance points. Haugh had six of those points.
“Coach Golden said they’re getting all the 50-50 balls, and that’s a huge part of the game. Those plays add up in the end, so we just stayed aggressive and got them in the second half,” Haugh said. “We came together in the second half and regrouped, and just got the win at the end.”
