Next up: vs. Xavier, Phil Knight Legacy (Portland, Ore.), Thursday, 5:30 p.m. EST, ESPN2
Notable
* Florida opened the second half on a 33-5 run and outscored FSU 50-24 in the 2nd half to come back from a late-first half 19-point deficit, 43-24, to win the game.
* It marked the fourth-largest comeback in program history and second-largest for the Gators on the road.
* 22, Georgia, 2/5/20
* 22, at South Carolina, 2/24/93
* 21, Alabama, 1/4/40 (2OT)
* The Gators posted three separate runs of 10-0 or better as part of their rally, with an 11-0 run spanning the final basket of the first half and nine straight to start the second half. UF added a season-best 14-0 run to go from nine down to a 49-46 lead. The Gators then compiled a 10-0 run to build a 59-48 lead with 10:48 to play.
* Colin Castleton had another dominant performance with 25 points and nine rebounds, including 19 points in the second half.
* Over the past three games, Castleton is averaging 29.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game, shooting .561 from the field and 23-for-30 from the free throw line.
* Trey Bonham had his best game as a Gator with 11 points, seven rebounds and three assists off the bench and helped push the pace against a shorthanded FSU team.
* Will Richard chipped in 13 and has scored double figures in all four games this season.
* UF posted its first road win at Florida State since 2012, snapping a four-game losing streak in Tallahassee. It marked the Gators’ second straight overall win in the series.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On the difference between the first half and second half…
“I thought we were going to be well-prepared for this game, and we didn’t play like it in the first half, though. I thought we played on our heels. I didn’t think we were aggressive enough. We weren’t shot-ready when we got penetration kick-outs in the first half. They blocked a couple of our threes. We just didn’t have a punch to us, and that was disappointing. We addressed it at halftime. Obviously, we changed a couple things. Defensively, we really tried to turn up the heat and the pressure because I felt like they were too comfortable offensively in the first half. I thought Trey Bonham did a great job early on in the second half – and really the whole game – of putting pressure at the top of their offense.”
On his first taste of the rivalry…
“I love it. Absolutely love being a part of it. This is why you coach in college basketball – to be part of an incredible program, get to wear this ‘F’ on my chest here, come in to Florida State, incredible program. Coach (Leonard) Hamilton has been doing it a long time and been winning at an incredibly high level for a long time. Great crowd in the building tonight. Obviously, you could tell everybody cared what the result was. It makes the win even sweeter, coming back all the way from 17 (down) at halftime to win a rivalry game, first time we’ve won here in 10 years as a program, pretty neat.”
Junior G Trey Bonham
On what changed in the second half…
“It was toughness. We knew we were being soft, and they were getting lots of layups. It was really defensive. We knew shots were going to fall, and we didn’t make shots in the first half, so defensively, we wanted to change that.”
5th Year F Colin Castleton
On the difference between the first half and the second half…
“Coming out in the first half, we were a little lackadaisical energy-wise, just something wasn’t there. We just didn’t bring it, that’s what it came down to. We came out and didn’t have enough energy and weren’t rebounding as good as we should have. So we came back in the locker room, and it was pretty high-energy in there. Can’t say everything that was said, but we understood the assignment coming into the second half. Being down 17, we just tried to chip away little by little with our energy.”
