Florida Gators
Ole Miss
Defense Keys UF's 75-55 Win Over Ole Miss
Thursday, February 22, 2001 | Men's Basketball
The Gators used a 7-0 run to close out the first half, taking a 31-16 lead into the halftime locker room. Teddy Dupay brought the crowd to it's feet with a long distance trey as time ran out. In the second half the Gators built a 57-39 lead, only to see the Rebels go on a 9-0 run to cut Florida's lead to nine points. But a pair of free throws, a Brett Nelson three and a dunk by Haslem keyed an 11-0 run as the Gators went back up by 16, 64-48.
The Gator defense was the story of the game. "Everytime they scored it was difficult," said head coach Billy Donovan in his postgame radio interview, "and that's what you want to try to do because that's the way it is against them. It's hard to score against them. Our defense won the game for us."
The Gators received a scare when senior forward Brent Wright sustained an injury early in the second half. Wright hurt his right foot, the one that was operated on in early January. He was taken to Shands Hospital where x- rays proved he re-aggravated the injury. His status for Saturday's game against Alabama is questionable and he will be re-evaluated on Friday.
Joining Haslem in double figures was Teddy Dupay with 14, Brett Nelson with 11 and Matt Bonner with 11. Bonner also pulled down 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. Guard Jason Harrison led Ole Miss. The 5-5 guard had 20 points.
The Gators are now 19-5 with a 9-4 mark in the SEC. Ole Miss falls to 21-5 and 9-4 in the SEC. Florida's next game is against the 14th-ranked Crimson Tide Saturday, February 24th at the O'Connell Center with tipoff at 1:00 p.m. eastern time.
