Records: Florida 20-13 (9-9 SEC); Iona 25-8 (17-3 MAAC)
Next up for Florida: Sunday, 1 p.m., at Xavier, ESPN
Notable
* Florida defeated Iona in its first-round NIT game with four players scoring double figures and coached by interim head coach Al Pinkins.
* Florida earned its eighth win of the season after trailing by 8+ points. The Gators trailed 46-38 with 16:44 to play, but outscored Iona 30-15 over the next nine minutes and staved off a late rally bid by the Gaels.
* Florida improved to 11-4 this season when four or more players score in double figures.
* The Gators have reached 20 wins for the 21st time in the last 22 full-length seasons.
* Colin Castleton posted his 10th double-double of the season and 13th of his career with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Phlandrous Fleming Jr. co-led with 18 points. Tyree Appleby and Kowacie Reeves added 14 points each.
* Florida posted a 39-37 edge on the glass despite missing both power forwards on its roster, with Anthony Duruji (ankle) and CJ Felder (hip) both sidelined.
Interim Head Coach Al Pinkins
On the win…
“It was great. Best feeling I had in a long time. Thought the guys battled. I think we got down [eight] and they kept battling, kept defending. We talked about stops during timeouts because we couldn’t stop them at one point. They were scoring back-to-back-to-back. Every timeout we talked about stops and eventually we kind of gathered ourselves and got a couple of stops and changed the game.”
On the adjustments he made…
“The first half we were going zone to man, zone to man. In the second half, I can’t remember which timeout I asked the guys ‘Hey guys, what do you believe in? What do you want to play?’ They said one, which is our man, so we stopped switching defenses and just went to man-to-man for a long period of time and we just started to get stops. We turned them over in the second half. That helped us a couple of times in the second half. That gave us a little bit of momentum.”
On getting his first head coaching win vs. Rick Pitino…
“With the team, I tried to make it not about myself. I think they did a really good job of just locking in and playing the game with all the hoopla between me and Pitino, but it’s exciting. The guy’s a hall of fame coach. He actually recruited me. He probably doesn’t remember it, but I remember him calling me as a recruit when he was at Kentucky in the early ’90s, so it was great. Great to beat him. On to the next one. We’ll celebrate this one for 24 hours and get on to Xavier.”
#12 Colin Castleton, Senior Forward
On the shock of Mike White leaving…
“It’s basketball, it’s life. Things happen. You’ve got to respect people’s decisions and you’ve got to move on… from anything in life. You’ve got to move on from stuff that happens that you don’t think is going to happen. We all respect him, but he moved on and he knew what he wanted to do. So, we had to move on as well, we had a game coming up. We had to get ready. Coach Pink moved into that role like we talked about, and we just locked in, had a good couple of practices. But, yeah, it’s life. Everything happens for a reason, and you’ve just got to move on with a good attitude.”
On his former team Michigan getting into March Madness…
“I don’t really know what goes into them picking certain teams in the tournament. I know they’ve got some type of formula they use. I know in my heart, I feel like we are a tournament team. Could we have changed things and done things better? Of course. There were games we should have won that we didn’t win. But, I feel like with the roster we have and the coaches we have, we’re good enough to go to the tournament and do some things. Like I said, it’s life. You’ve got to move on. We can’t worry about what other teams are doing right now, but congrats that they made the tournament.”
#22 Tyree Appleby, Senior Guard
On who this game was played for…
“It was all for Coach Pink. He came in, he told us we weren’t going to do anything special. We’re just going to keep it simple and have the game plan ready for Iona because you know they’re a well-coached team. I think it was just for him, just wanting him to be a first-time head coach. Just winning felt good.”
On excitement of Coach Pinkins getting the win…
“It was good just seeing him smile, joyful playing with us in the locker room. I think it was very emotional for Coach for sure. I think going on to the tournament we’re going to get him some more wins. We’re going to try to finish strong and get him a Championship for his first head coach [position].”
#24 Phlandrous Fleming Jr., Graduate Guard
On his first postseason game…
“It felt great, man. It feels good every time I can get out there with my brothers. We’ve been through a lot this year. This whole year has been about resiliency. We’ve just been doing that every day, every game, we go out there and we work. It felt really good to go out there and get a win today. I’m not ready for it to be over with these guys.”
On Kowacie Reeves’ freshman season…
“Kowacie’s a pro. He will be a pro. He has that pro drive, he’s a worker. I think that’s going to set him apart from a lot of people. He’s a worker. He’s open to learning everything from us, from coaches, from anybody. He’s very open and he’s very humble. He’s a pro. I am so proud of who he’s become. He’s a pro.
