GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Since he walked on campus four years ago, KeVaughn Allen has had a green light to shoot the basketball whenever he wanted and from wherever he wanted. For whatever reason Allen has rarely taken advantage of the rare privilege. 

But Tuesday night against Texas A&M, Allen floored the accelerator through the intersection of every green-light opportunity. 

And freshman Noah Locke was right behind him. 

Allen scored a season-high 31 points and Locke threw in a career-high 27, as the Gators erased a 13-point second-half deficit by equaling an Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center record for 3-pointers in a game on the way to a 81-72 victory over the Aggies that marked the biggest come-from-behind win of the season. Allen dropped 10 of his 16 shots, including eight of 10 from long-range, while Locke went 8-for-18 overall, knocked down seven of 13 treys and scored 20 after halftime. 

When the final horn sounded — UF (11-7, 3-3) needed a couple late defensive stops and free throws to finish the job — the Gators fell one 3-pointer shy of a single-game program record, while Allen and Locke joined Erving Walker (7) and Kenny Boynton (6) as the only duo in Florida history to hit at least six 3s in the same game. Coming in, Florida was the only Division I program in the nation (out of 353) without a player having scored 20 points in a game this season.

It was a good night to get not one, but two.

"We got it going, but what a strange game," UF coach Mike White said after watching his team get outscored by 13 in the first half, then winning the second half by a robust 22. "I haven't been a part of many like that." 
 
A&M (7-10, 1-5) came into the game ranked last in the SEC in 3-point shooting after going 4-for-21 in losing at home Saturday 66-43 to struggling Missouri, but lit up UF and its league-best defense for 55-percent from floor and 63.6-percent 3-ball shooting (7-for-11). How ridiculous was it? Aggies guard Wendell Mitchell, (team-high 25 points) started the night just 7-for-28 from deep on the season, but went 5-for-5 in the first 20 minutes, including a 27-footer at the buzzer to send his team to the locker room up 46-33. 

At that moment, the only thing more fired up than A&M's collective shooting hand was White in the UF locker room. 

"I was a little heated," White said later. 

Allen provided a little more clarity to what his coach thought of those first 20 minutes.

"He said it as the worst we played all season," Allen said. "We weren't locked in in the first half. In the second half, we turned things around."

Almost instantly. 

Though the two teams traded baskets to open the half, Locke got his team going by hitting three straight 3-pointers to force A&M coach Billy Kennedy, up just seven, to get a timeout less than three minutes in. 

"I was just shooting with confidence, shooting the way I shoot," said Locke, whose previous career-high was 18. "Everything was falling for me. I was getting out in transition, trying to run as fast as I can to get me open shots and it was just falling for me."

The Gators also were guarding better in the second half. The Aggies hit just five of their first 16 shots in the period. 

"Fortunately, we got off to a really good start defensively early in the second half, made some shots and the building really got going," White said. "It led to a very efficient, productive second half of offense."

More like deadly. 

Three more UF 3s (two by Allen, one by Locke) were the big shots during a 19-4 flurry to start the half, with Allen's second giving the Gators their first lead, at 54-53, since barely six minutes into the game. The score was tied at 59 when Jalen Hudson (8 points) and Locke hit back-to-back 3s to go up six, and after Jay Jay Chandler (15 points) scored on a lob, Allen drove and banked in an old-fashion "and-one" to make it a seven-point cushion with just over six minutes to go. 

When the Aggies cut the lead to four inside three minutes, guess what? 

Allen for 3 (banked in from the top of the key, no less), then Locke for 3 on consecutive possessions. 

"It's not like we weren't trying to guard them," Kennedy said. "They just kept making shots." 

A&M, though, hung around, even after Florida stretched the margin to as high as 10. Five straight Aggies points pulled them within five, but freshman forward Keyontae Johnson, making his second straight start, scored his only basket of the night on a huge putback that came off his ninth rebound of the game; his fifth on the offensive glass. The bucket pushed the margin to seven with just under a minute to go.

Florida shot 54.8 percent in the second half, but 11-for-15 from the 3-point line — 73.3 percent. Locke and Allen were 10 of 12 from distance after halftime on their way to 37 of their team's 48 points. 
 
Offensively, Allen was spectacular in nailing all four of his 3s after the break. He also had two assists, two blocks and three steals on a night he became the 14th player in UF history to eclipse 1,500 points in his career and moved past Anthony Roberson (1,505) into 13th place all time with 1,528.

"Two games in a row where he's been aggressive, confident and give-me-the-ball," White said. "He's playing like an all-league guy and everybody in this room knows he's capable of doing it."

The people in the room — and beyond — are finding out more and more about Locke, now with nine straight games reaching double-figure scoring. In addition to his stellar long-range marksmanship, Locke was sensational working the top of UF's 1-2-2 press, which was much better in the second half than the first. 

"He hasn't met a shot he doesn't like," White said. "And set the tone with our press and he made big shots." 

Green lights are fun.