CHARLESTON, S.C. — Through nearly 25 minutes Friday, the Florida Gators had played their finest basketball of this slow-starting season, yet still were in a dogfight against cross-state foe Miami. The Hurricanes had wiped out what was once a 12-point UF lead and seemingly seized the game's momentum. 

The Gators, though, didn't panic. As it turns out, they have another gear, and eventually shifted into overdrive at the Hurricanes' expense.

Splash went Noah Locke for 3. Ques Glover worked for a couple buckets. Scottie Lewis swished one from the baseline and then tomahawk a teammate's steal in transition. Keyontae Johnson threw in a 3. So did Andrew Nembhard. And Kerry Blackshear? Well, he just did a lot of everything, the totality of which allowed UF to steamroll UM for a 78-58 trampling in second-round play of the Charleston Classic at TD Arena. 

"Our best performance, obviously," Florida coach Mike White said. 

And not close, obviously. 

Blackshear, the graduate transfer who played just five minutes and was ejected from Thursday's close win over Saint Joseph's, scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and found teammates for five assists, giving him four double-doubles through the season's first six games. Lewis, the heralded rookie and live athletic body, tallied career bests of 13 points and eight rebounds, plus three blocks and couple steals over an elite defensive 36 minutes. Johnson had 12 points and seven boards. Nembhard scored eight points, dished nine assists and had four steals. Glover, the freshman averaging just 10 minutes per game, had 11 points and made five of his six field-goal tries over 17 minutes, as classmate Tre Mann sat out a second straight game in concussion protocol. 

UF got something from just about everybody 
 
"We're still picking our spots with a bunch of new pieces — almost all new pieces, really — in terms of our tempo, and figuring out where we're best pushing or playing in the halfcourt," White said. "I thought our shot selection was good. We had to play late-clock a few times, due to their defensive ability, and converted some. We had some empty possessions I'd like back. But for the most part, we were good on both ends."

The Gators (4-2) shot nearly 54 percent, including 10-for-19 from the 3-point line (53 percent), held the Hurricanes (4-2) to 33-percent shooting after halftime and turned 14 turnovers into 21 points. For the effort, Florida earned a spot in the tournament championship Sunday night against either 18th-ranked Xavier or Connecticut, who were scheduled to play late Friday night. 

"It's one of those games that we've been talking about, one that let our defensive transition go to our offense and get us in a flow," Lewis said. "Our coaches put us in the right position."

From the start. UF came in shooting just 39.4 percent overall as a team and only 25.7 from the 3-point line. Blackshear, perhaps looking to make up for lost time, hit a 3 to start the game and scored his team's first eight points. His third 3 came at the 7:38 mark and was part of a 20-2 run that had the Gators up, 28-16, though the Canes closed the margin to five by halftime. 

By then, five different UF players had hit at least one 3, with both teams making at least 50 percent from the floor and arc. 

Barely four minutes into the second half, the score was 45-all when Locke nailed a 3-ball some 20 seconds before the next media timeout. Out of the stoppage, Lewis picked up UM junior guard Chris Lykes, who had made six of his nine shots to that point. Lykes, a lightening bug at 5-foot-7, was suffocated by Lewis' length and tenacity, and managed just two points (on only three shots, with two turnovers) the rest of the way. 

"I know Chris was working his tail off against Lewis, who is 6-5 and very athletic and very long and very quick. You just don't come down the floor and shoot on a guy like that. You have to move him and maneuver him and try to get some separation — but they have other guys who are just as long and as athletic at other positions," UM coach Jim Larranaga said. "I thought they had a very good overall team performance, and we had a sub-par second half."
 
UF led, 50-47, when the Gators took off on a 21-2 tear and hit 12 of their final 20 shots, while defending the Hurricanes at a 5-for-21 efficiency over the final 15 minutes, holding UM 18 points below its 76.2 average. Five different UF players scored during that run. Blackshear wasn't even one of them.   

"The best of us hasn't come yet," Blackshear said. 

Whether this was just a teaser for coming attractions remains to be seen, but the Gators definitely got a glimpse of what they're capable of when shots are falling and guys are defending. 

"Coming into this tournament, we knew a lot of people were questioning our offense, but we have a good offense. We just haven't been making shots like we do every day in practice," said Glover, who was 5-for-6 from the floor (and one of six teammates to hit a 3) after starting his career just three of 15 through five games. "Seeing shots go in early, then defending at a high level, causing turnovers and getting out transition, that was all big for us. That's what we want to do."  

And preferably continue to do so.

In the interim, don't bring up rankings or expectations predictions or any of that external nonsense to the UF coach. Such outside noise evidently messed with the Gators' collective heads. Maybe, just maybe, they're getting their minds right now. 

"I'm not one of these 'I told you so' guys' or 'Watch how good we're gonna be now!' Who knows?" White said. "We're still figuring out each other. I do think we're going to be a lot better than we are now in couple of months. Does that mean we're ranked 37th or 14th? I don't care."