Florida Gators
Ole Miss
Noah Leads No. 1 Florida past Ole Miss 79-70
Saturday, January 20, 2007 | Men's Basketball
Junior Joakim Noah (New York, N.Y) recorded a double-double including a game-high and season-best 24 points to lead the No. 1 ranked Florida Gators (17-2, 4-0) past the Ole Miss Rebels (12-7, 1-4), 79-70, on Saturday afternoon at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
Noah completed his fifth double-double of the season and 12th of his career by pulling in 12 rebounds. Noah shot 9-of-10 from the floor and a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line, and with his 24 point effort, he has now scored in double figures in six-consecutive games
The Gators improved their current winning streak to 10 games, tying the fifth longest winning streak in school history, and Florida has now won eight of the last 10 match-ups against the Rebels including the last five. The Gators moved to 4-0 in Southeastern Conference play for the first time since 2003 when they started 7-0 in league play.
The Gators never trailed in the contest scoring on the opening possession of the game. The Rebels tied the game twice within the first couple of minutes, but Florida increasingly pulled away throughout the first half building a 19-point advantage by halftime. Early in the second half, the Gators pushed the game to a 25 point contest at 53-28, but Ole Miss fought back as the game progressed, managing to pull within seven points at 64-57 on the heels of a 13-0 run. However, Al Horford (Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic) ended the run and sparked a 9-3 Gator run that put the game back in Florida's control at 73-60 with 5:44 remaining. Horford finished the game with nine points and eight rebounds.
Senior Lee Humphrey (Maryville, Tenn.) and junior Taurean Green (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) also provided the Gators with excellent performances. Humphrey provided the Gators with 13 points shooting 4-for-5 from the floor including 3-for-4 from behind the arc and 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Humphrey has now scored in double-figures 11 times on the season. Green contributed 14 points to go along with a game-high six assists. As a team, UF dished out 19 assists, just one shy of the 20 assist mark which the team has reached eight teams this season. Humphrey and Green combined to make five of Florida's six three-pointers.
Florida shot 60.9 percent from the field (28-for-46) for the game including a perfect 4-for-4 from junior Corey Brewer (Portland, Tenn.). It marks the sixth contest this season that the Gators have shot 60.0 percent or better.
In the first half, the second of the two early ties came at 4-4 before Humphrey sank a three-pointer that gave the Gators a lead that would not be relinquished for the remainder of the contest. The Florida advantage continued to grow throughout the period building to a 24-13 difference at the 9:59 mark when Brewer rolled in an alley-oop pass from Green. The lead grew to a first half high of 19 points with 2:56 remaining in the period when Humphrey netted another three that made it a 39-20 contest. The Gators entered the locker room holding to that 19 point led at 45-26 as Humphrey and Noah led the team in scoring 10 points each while Florida shot 55.6 percent (5-for-9) from beyond the arc as a team. Ole Miss was not able to make consecutive shots from the field in the first half.
Clarence Sanders led Ole Miss in scoring with 17 points while three other Rebels also finished in double-figures scoring. Todd Abernathy netted 14 points while Bam Doyne added 11 points and Dwayne Curtis contributed 10 points.
With the victory, Florida improved to 13-0 at the O'Connell Center and has won 14 games in a row at home dating back to last season.
Up next, the Gators hit the road to face the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville, Miss. on Wednesday, Jan. 24. Tip-off is slated for 9 p.m. ET.
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