UF Right at Home at UNF

Thursday, December 1

Jacksonville, FL

7 PM

Florida Gators

North Florida

Chris Chiozza (No. 11) drives for a shot against the Ospreys. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)

Thursday, December 1, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score Photo Gallery by Tim Casey & MacKenzie Meyer

The Gators shot 59 percent from floor and 47 from 3-point range in blowing out Ospreys 91-60 Thursday night.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Sometimes, the number of players at Mike White's disposal puts the Florida coach in a quandary. Nearly three weeks into the 2016-17 season, White and his staff are still evaluating and debating rotation and minutes. It's not a bad problem to have, but even White admits he likes his depth on some nights more than others.

Against North Florida, he liked it.

What coach wouldn't like basically 5-on-1.

That's kind of how things went in the 24th-ranked Gators' 91-60 roundhouse punch of the Ospreys on Monday night in front 4,113 at UNF Arena. UF played all 11 of its scholarship players and they all scored, with four guys hitting double-figures and seven with at least seven points, as the Florida reserves combined for 51 points. Meanwhile, Ospreys point guard Dallas Moore accounted for more than half of his team's points, finishing with 31. He also had one of UNF's two assists, compared to 20 turnovers the home team committed against UF's defensive pressure.

"When a team plays good versus one player, that team is going to win — most of the time," said UF junior guard Chris Chiozza. "There are only a few guys, like Lebron [who can change that]. Lucky he wasn't playing tonight."

There was a lot to cheer about on the Florida bench Thursday night. Every scholarship player that suited up scored, as the Gators got a season-high 51 points of their bench. (Photo by MacKenzie Meyer)

Chiozza came off the bench for 16 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, four rebounds and tied his career-high with nine assists. Senior forward Justin Leon also had a trio of 3-balls on his way to 13 points. Reserve senior forward Canyon Barry had 12 points and four rebounds, with junior forward Devin Robinson good for 10 points and six boards. The Gators (7-1), playing their first game as a ranked team in nearly two years, shot 58.5 percent from the floor, 47.4 from the 3-point arc and 71.4 from the free-throw line.

"I didn't think we were that great offensively, but then you look down at the numbers and we shot a really good percentage," White said of his team's performance against a UNF defense that played zone the entire game. "I thought tonight we had seven or eight [players] in a pretty good rhythm, maybe eight or nine, but you can't hang your hat on shooting 59 and 47 every night. I'm not falling into that trap."

He might fall in it if the Gators played all their games at UNF Arena. Florida was sent here in March for the NIT because it was unable to host after the O'Connell Center renovation began. In that one, the Gators annihilated the Ospreys from the start, jumping to a 32-point halftime lead, on the way to hitting a season-high 16 shots from the arc in a 97-68 massacre. That was then.

This one was a little more competitive — for a little while — thanks to Moore. He scored 15 of his team's first 17 points and had the Ospreys (3-6) down just 23-17 inside eight minutes to go in the first half.

That's when a stick-back by redshirt freshman Keith Stone started a UF run of 12-2 that included a couple field goals from Barry, who nailed a 3-pointer and made a nice cuffing-the-ball drive to the rim. The spurt helped push the visitors to a 20-point halftime lead.

"We have depth that can come in and do the same things the first group can do," Leon said of the UF bench.

Moore started the second half with back-to-back 3s, with White calling timeout and subbing in an entire different unit as UNF was within 12.

"If you have or haven't seen him play, welcome to tonight," UNF coach Matt Driscoll said. "He's a special talent."

The Gators had seen Moore play. He got 23 against them in the NIT game last year, but it was a quiet 23. Moore took advantage of his quickness and ability to drive the ball, especially to his left, going 12-for-21 from the floor and raining in six of his 12 shots from the arc. The rest of the Ospreys, though, were a combined 8-for-32 overall (25 percent) and 0-for-10 from the 3-point line.

A 23-5 second-half run by the Gators was highlighted by a Chiozza 3, a couple nice transition plays by senior point guard Kasey Hill, one ending in a slam from Robinson and the other in a 3-point play. And the Florida lead was 20 midway through the half when Leon hit a 3, Barry split a double-team for a two-handed dunk, Leon hit another 3 and center John Egbunu (7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 blocks) threw down a dunk.

Quickly, the margin was 30.

Not long after, little-used freshman center Gorjok Gak was throwing down a couple dunks in the final minute, both on post feeds from Chiozza. It was that kind of night for the Gators.

"I like this gym a lot," Chiozza said after going 5-for-8 from the floor, 3-for-5 from deep and converting all three of his free throws. "It's kind of like playing in a high school gym — and we were all pretty good shooters in high school."