Florida Gators
Prairie View
Men's Basketball Improves to 5-0 With 94-33 Win
Wednesday, November 22, 2006 | Men's Basketball
Horford's achieved the double-double feat just 34 seconds into the second half when he picked up his 10th rebound. He finished the night with 13 points and 11 rebounds to go along with two blocks and a season-high five assists. Speight's earned his first career double-double by notching 13 points and 10 rebounds, both career highs. He also contributed a career- high three steals.
Junior forward Joakim Noah (New York, N.Y.) led the team in scoring with 19 points as a total of five Gators scored in double figures helping extend Florida's winning streak to 16 games dating back to last year. UF has now won 25 consecutive games against non-conference opponents.
Florida shot a season-best 60.7 percent (37-for-61) from the field while pulling down 13 of its 24 missed shots, including 10 on only 13 missed shots in the second half.
The Gators opened the game by going on a 7-0 run, but Prairie battled back to take an 8-7 lead with 17.28 remaining in the first half marking the first time this season the Gators trailed. Florida had gone 162:32 minutes without trailing. The Panthers held their only other lead of the game at 15-13 before the Gators took control of the game by going on a 24- 0 run lasting 11:33, the longest run of the season by both time and points. Five Gators scored doing the run paced by junior forward Corey Brewer (Portland, Tenn.). Brewer scored the Gators first two points over the stretch with a pair of free throws that tied the contest at 15. He also scored Florida's final basket of the run making the Gator advantage 37-15. Brewer finished the night with 12 points including eight that came on a tear over the final 5:31 of the first period.
Florida continued to direct the flow of the game in the second half as Noah scored 13 of his 19 points in the first 8:34 of the period to guide the Gators to a 68-25 advantage. Noah was also a perfect seven-for-seven from the free throw line on the night. Florida did not allow Prairie View to make a basket from the floor for a stretch of 11:30 in the second half. The Gators went on a 25-3 run during that time. Florida only allowed the Panthers to score 14 points in the second half, the second lowest second-half opponent point total under Billy Donovan. The record under Donovan is 12 versus High Point on Dec. 18, 2001.
Prairie View's 33 points and 12 field goals made in the game are tied for the lowest opponent totals under Billy Donavon. Florida also held American to 33 points on Dec. 23, 2000 and held both Florida State on Nov. 16, 2001 and Georgia on March 2, 2005 to just 12 shots made.
Sophomore guard Walter Hodge (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico) contributed a season-high 13 points as the fifth Gator to score in double figures. He went 5-of-6 from the field including 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. On the night, 11 different Gators provided points.
Andy Genao led the Panthers with eight points including two three- pointers that gave Prairie View an 8-7 edge early in the first half.
With the win, the Gators complete the season-opening five game home stand undefeated. Over those five games, Florida's average margin of victory was 42 points by amassing a total of 442 points while only allowing 232. Tuesday's game was played as a second round match-up in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Invitational. The Gators are one of eight teams who will make a trip to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving weekend to complete the tournament. Florida returns to action Friday, Nov. 24 against Western Kentucky. Tip-off is set for 10:30 p.m. EST.
