On Saturday, Gators men’s basketball closed their 2024-25 season with an 89-87 win against California State University, Los Angeles Golden Eagles, who clinched the last playoff spot after Thursday’s games.
The Gators were 21-10 on home court against their cross-state rivals. They have not lost on home court against the Golden Eagles since March 5, 2019.
Throughout head coach Vince Inglima’s tenure, the Gators have a 10-5 record against the Golden Eagles, including a 70-65 road victory in January this season. Inglima is familiar with the different energy and intensity these two teams bring against each other.
“The San Francisco-LA rivalry is always a good one,” Inglima said. “We’ve had so many competitive games. We played each other in the postseason a lot. They knocked us out of the playoffs last year, so it’s really nice to get the sweep on them this year.”
Although the Gators weren’t able to make the tournaments like their opponents, Inglima said “it’s always nice to win your last one” of the season.
The Gators always anticipate an aggressive matchup against the Golden Eagles, and Saturday’s game was no different.
“They’re always gonna be a competitive game, and we usually always have a fun matchup against them,” said Tyjean Burrell, redshirt senior guard. “When we know we’re about to play them, we come with a lot of energy, and we know they’re going to bring it as well.”
Prior to game time, the Gators were honored on Senior Day, where each senior Gator athlete was awarded a large frame with their associated jersey in them.
“The coaches and the parents really put a lot of effort into it to make sure it was special for us,” senior guard Devon Jackson said. “We had a lot of guys who’ve been here for five years, so it was cool to just see everybody pouring to us for tonight.”
The Gators starting lineup saw seniors opening their final game as Gators, including John Bakke, Burrell, Jackson, Alex Gilat and Pearse Uniacke.
The Gators displayed a strong performance in the first half and scored some important 3-pointers, including three from Jackson who scored 11 points in the first 20 minutes of play.
“Devon’s a great guy to mention because he’s had a tough career of ups and downs, injuries and some challenges,” Inglima said. “This year in particular, he has really struggled to shoot the ball, but he’s continued to work and show up every day with a positive attitude, compete and get better and better. So it just feels so good for him to have that capstone on his career, to be able to make those shots and play a big role for us in getting our final win.”
Burrell also scored 11 points and both seniors combined for 22 points at halftime. The hosts walked into the break with a 42-28 lead against the Golden Eagles.
The Golden Eagles sought to close their 14-point gap as they had full-court press and ramped up their aggression against the Gators.
The first seven minutes of the second half saw the Golden Eagles soaring their way to get as close as two points to the Gators.
Inglima said the team was expecting that strong pushback from their visitors after their first half success.
“They were a slow starting team,” Inglima said. “Even on Thursday, they went down big to East Bay and then they came back and won, so we were ready for that. They’re very athletic and aggressive. We kind of got jumped in that second half, but I thought we showed a lot of poise, took control and got enough done.”
By this time, Bakke was getting warm on the scoreboard. The senior forward put up 12 points in the second half, including three that kept his team distant from the Golden Eagles.
The final 10 minutes saw the Gators’ 16 free throws at the line. Those 16 of their 47 second-half points proved to be crucial in their victorious ending to their 2024-25 campaign.
Three senior Gators were their leading scorers, including Burrell (19 points), Bakke (18 points) and Jackson (13 points). The Gators finished their season 11-17 with a 9-13 conference record.
Burrell was proud of his performance in his final game in purple and gold and said it was good to see the shots go his way after a scoring slump in recent games.
“It was good to see the ball going back in the rim for me,” Burrell said. ”I feel like these last couple of games, the ball wasn’t falling and I’m glad today, on my senior night, they were falling.”
Inglima said the team has five seniors, who collectively have 19 years of Gators basketball experience, graduating this year. He said it was important for them to end their careers at The Swamp in the best way possible.
“It was nice to see guys like Alex and Devon, who haven’t had as much opportunity in their careers to come out, perform and make some big plays for us,” Inglima said. “Tyjean, Pearse and John also made some big plays for us down the stretch like they always have, to end on a good positive note as they move on.”
Bakke said their final game held personal value to the Gators despite their circumstances.
“We had five seniors, three that have been here for a long time and they just want to showcase our legacy and what it means to us,” Bakke said. “We just came out with the energy they didn’t have for obvious reasons and it worked in our favor.”
As the senior Gators concluded their collegiate careers, it came with the emotions and the realization that this was it. Burrell said it finally hit him that this chapter for him would end.
“This morning, I got in early and I just kind of soaked it up and looked around,” Burrell said. ”This was the school I chose to go to out of junior college. It’s a blessing, all my experiences here are good and bad and I’m excited for the future.”
Jackson said he’ll hang it up after this season, but he plans to be around the game in some way in the future. Jackson said he’ll miss the relationships and the competitiveness the game brought to him and the guys.
”Coming every day, competing with people I really build relationships with,” Jackson said. “As new teammates come and go, those bonds are just made and I feel you just maximize them when you get on the court and compete with each other every day.”
This season, the team had to overcome and step up without another key starter in Jailen Daniel-Dalton due to a shoulder injury, which put the senior out for the 2024-25 campaign. Inglima said he’s proud of his guys for taking on the challenge and playing big down the stretch of the season.
“It’s not an easy thing to do to replace a major piece due to injury,” Inglima said. “I’m just really happy about their attitudes, the energy they bring every day and really the culture they have helped instill in our program, that’s going to live on after they leave.”
