GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Colin Castleton is accustomed to getting double-teamed each time he touches the ball, so he was pleasantly amazed — it’s possible even downright stunned — when Tennessee opted to guard him with a single defender in the next fifty percent.
“I’ve bought to consider benefit of that,” Castleton claimed.
He did. Castleton scored 20 details, including 16 in the 2nd fifty percent, and Florida upended the next-ranked Volunteers 67-54 on Wednesday night time.
Kyle Lofton additional 14 factors for the Gators, who sent coach Todd Golden his most substantial victory in his initially year in Gainesville. It was Florida’s second Quad 1 gain in the final two months.
The Volunteers, playing with their highest position in 4 yrs, misplaced for the very first time in 5 game titles. They experienced gained nine of 10.
“Our guys are upset,” Tennessee mentor Rick Barnes said. “We’re much better than this, but tonight we weren’t.”
Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Convention) seemed like it experienced taken management midway as a result of the 2nd 50 percent. They outscored Florida by 10 points in the early likely to just take a six-position lead.
But the Gators (13-9, 6-3) stormed back again at the rear of Castleton, who scored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk, two totally free throws, a 3-issue participate in, a layup and a shorter jumper — in essence putting the team on his back down the stretch.
“They went little, and I felt like I experienced a mismatch,” Castleton claimed.
Myreon Jones and Will Richard chipped in nine points apiece for the Gators.
Zakai Ziegler led the Vols with 15 details on 6-of-19 shooting. Olivier Nkamhoua extra 11 details and 9 rebounds for the visitors, who also obtained 11 factors and eight boards from Vescovi Santiago.
The Gators ended up pink incredibly hot to get started the video game, producing 6 of their initially 8 photographs — which include all three from 3-level range — while creating a 17-4 advantage. But they rapidly cooled against the nation’s most effective protection, missing nine of their following 11 as Tennessee designed cut it to 22-21.
The Vols had it heading coming out of the locker place, with Ziegler getting into the paint and creating factors come about. But it was limited-lived — many thanks generally to Castleton.
“We gave them a probability to commence believing in what they are performing, and they took it,” Barnes explained.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Tennessee undoubtedly will drop a couple of spots in upcoming week’s AP Top 25 faculty basketball poll.
Huge Image
Tennessee: The Volunteers gave up 10 details in the opening four minutes of the games, a exceptional sluggish begin for the nation’s most effective protection. Tennessee experienced held 4 of its initially eight SEC opponents scoreless at the initial media timeout, around the very first 4 minutes of game titles. It was a indication of factors to occur.
“We stored fighting uphill all evening lengthy,” Barnes claimed.
Florida: The Gators are two video games into the hardest extend of their period. Coming off a decline at Kansas State, they have street video games against Kentucky and Alabama up up coming. So to say they required this a person would be an understatement.
“It was a desperation activity,” Castleton reported. “We’ve received a tricky timetable listed here and we’ve bought to acquire online games. We ended up able to claw and struggle.”
IN THE Dwelling
Soccer mentor Billy Napier watched the game from a few rows powering Florida’s bench along with his two sons and receiver Ricky Pearsall. Previous Florida tennis star Ben Shelton, the NCAA singles winner in 2022, also was in attendance. So was previous Gators and NFL quarterback Doug Johnson.
UP Future
Tennessee hosts No. 25 Auburn and previous coach Bruce Pearl on Saturday.
Florida performs at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators have missing seven of eight in the sequence.
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