At the Buzzer: Florida 76, Charleston Southern 46 (Instant Breakdown)
Friday, November 9, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
AT THE BUZZER FLORIDA 76, CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 46
UF senior forward Kevarrius Hayes flushes a slam in the first half of Friday night's win over Charleston Southern.
WHAT HAPPENED: Scoreless in the season opener three nights earlier, senior guard KeVaughn Allen knocked down his first three shots of the game Friday night, finished with a team-high 14 points to go with five steals and the Gators raced past the Buccaneers in their home debut at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. After attempting just four field goals in 23 minutes in the blowout loss Tuesday at Florida State, Allen put up three shots inside the first three minutes on his way to an 11-point first half. The Buccaneers hung around, trailing by just six inside seven minutes to play in the first half, but the Gators went on a 15-5 run to intermission, then scored the first 12 points of the second half -- CSU missed its first 12 field-goal tries after the break -- to build a 28-point lead that grew to as many as 36. Sophomore guard Deaundrae Ballard added 12 points, giving him double figures off the bench in both games this season. Fifth-year senior swingman Jalen Hudson had 10 points, but only made two of his seven field-goal tries. Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard had seven points, seven rebounds, six assists and just one turnover in 29 minutes. Florida shot 46.4 percent for the game, despite going just 8-for-28 from the 3-point line (28.6 percent). Those numbers sizzled compared to Charleston Southern, which hit 25.5 percent overall, 17.9 from distance and furthered its woes with 19 turnovers that led to 24 points for the Gators.
WHAT IT MEANS: A win, that's about it, but it was much needed after the bloodbath in Tallahassee. Beating CSU isn't likely to jump off the pages of what will become Florida's eventual postseason resume, but handling business as expected in the O'Dome obviously was a good thing; and obviously had to happen.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: The Gators need the most confident KeVaughn possible, so this was a step in the right direction. He was 6-for-11 shooting and 2-for-6 from deep.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The Bucs went more than 12 minutes (from the 2:57 mark of the first period to 10:37 of the second) without scoring a field goal, and along the way missed 19 straight shots. As for whether it was poor shooting vs. great defense? Let's just say it was a little (or a lot) of both.
UP NEXT: Florida (1-1) has a home date against LaSalle (0-1). The Explorers opened their season Tuesday night with a 75-67 loss at Temple and will play their home opener Saturday against Lafayette.
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