CHARLESTON, S.C. — In their spare time the past week, the Florida players did a lot of hanging out, with one of their preferred activities bouncing from room to room in their downtown team hotel and making dance videos. Yes, dance videos. One of the prominent stars of these shows was sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson, whose go-to move he calls "The Mop."

"You know," Johnson said late Sunday night, placing one fist on top of the other and circling his hands while shimmying his 6-foot-5, 230-pound frame in rhythm. "Like you're mopping the floor." 

The Gators didn't mop Xavier from TD Arena floor earlier in the evening — not even close — but by building a big lead and surviving a late rally they cleaned up on the trophy and trinket front by defeating the rugged and 18th-ranked Musketeers, 70-65, in the championship game of the Charleston Classic. Johnson scored 15 points on six-for-10 shooting to go with five rebounds and was awarded a commemorative watch for being named Most Valuable Player of the four-day, eight-team tournament. 

Grad-transfer forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. scored 14 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and hit two huge free throws with 7.5 seconds left to turn a one-possession game into a five-point cushion after Xavier had nearly wiped out a 17-point second-half Florida lead. Sophomore point guard Andrew Nembhard scored 15 points and had four assists, while sophomore shooting guard Noah Locke had 13 points and a career-high four steals. Both Nembhard and Locke each hit a trio of 3s, while the Gators (5-2) shot 54.2 percent overall for the game. 

In the aftermath, though, it was Johnson in the middle of his happy teammates' scrum at midcourt, hugging the tournament title hardware, then breaking into a championship rendition of "The Mop." 

"Yeah, he's a good dancer," Locke said.  A better basketball player, as evidenced by his 16.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 61-percent shooting over a three-game run through Saint Joseph's, Miami and previously unbeaten Xavier (6-1). Johnson's numbers were something of a microcosm of his teammates, given where the Gators were upon arriving here Tuesday night. They were two days removed from their second loss in four games to start the season — a 62-59 defeat at Connecticut when they scored 20 first-half points — and were averaging 62.5 points per game, shooting 38.4 percent from the floor and 24.1 from the 3-point line. 

In the three tournament wins, those numbers shot to 72.6 points, 48.3 and 40.7 percent, respectively. 

"It's amazing where we were just a week ago and where we are now — and we still have a ways to go," UF coach Mike White said after leading the program to its first so-called holiday tournament title in 10 years. "We'll continue to get better."

Added Nembhard: "We're very young that's just learning how to play college basketball together." 

Sharpening their edge against a veteran, battled-test bunch of Musketeers figures to further their cause. Heading into the game, the UF coaches made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that Xavier was going to be relentless in its effort; as hard a playing team as the Gators might face all season. The Musketeers' energy and aggression had to be matched. 

And it was. 

"This was the hardest we've played all year," Johnson said. 

The game had a high-level feel to it, with the energy of a NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 matchup, even inside a cracker-box gym of 5,000 that was maybe three-quarters full. There were nine lead changes and four ties through the first 15 minutes. When Blackshear dropped in his first basket, a layup on a feed from Nembhard, the Gators tied the game at 21 and kicked off a 12-3 spurt, with Blackshear and Nembhard scoring all the points. The last half-dozen came on an old-fashion 3-point play from Blackshear, followed by a 3-point shot by Nembhard that put Florida up 10. That was the margin the Gators eventually took to the locker room, up 39-29 after hitting a rip-roaring 64 percent of their first-half shots against a defense that came in allowing opponents just 35.9 percent on the young season.

"Unselfishness. Coming up with a better shot. Creating for others. Controlling our tempo," Nembhard said, listing reasons why the UF offense had improved over the last few days. "That's what we have to do." 

The Gators did more of it early in the second half, but their defense was every bit as solid, particularly the 1-3-1 zone that got stops and tips and disrupted what the Musketeers were trying to do in the halfcourt. 

A dash of eight straight points, including back-to-back 3s from Nembhard and Locke, opened a 17-point lead at 52-35 with 16 minutes to go. In other words, an eternity. 

"Just inexcusable," Xavier coach Travis Steele said of his team's play through 25 minutes. "That's not who we are."   The final 15 minutes were more to his team's hard-nosed character. 

The Musketeers, who got 24 points from guard Paul Scruggs (though with six of his team's 18 turnovers) and 13 points and seven rebounds from burly forward Tyrique Jones, trimmed the lead to six with 10 minutes to go, but the Gators got it back to 13 on a 3-pointer from backup freshman point guard Ques Glover (9 points, 4-for-5 from the floor, but four turnovers in 16 minutes) at the 8:44 mark.

When Glover rocketed through the defense for a layup with 6:20 remaining, UF led 66-53. It was also the last field goal the Gators scored. Xavier hit three of its next four shots and went 4-for-4 from the free-throw, while Florida, against hawking full-court pressure, went 0-for-6 shooting, with five turnovers and 2-for-4 from the line. It all added up to a 12-2 blitz, keyed by a pair of 3s from backup guard Quentin Goodwin (11 points), the second with 1:05 remaining to cut Florida's lead to 68-65. 

"Our press attack was horrendous," White said. "Credit Xavier for continuing to play really hard and getting hands on basketballs and flying around, whether it was their full-court press or their run-and-jump stuff. We played shaky and not-to-lose." 

That fifth UF turnover — a second shot-clock violation during that final six minutes — gave Xavier the ball with 29 seconds to go and trailing by three. The Florida defense, though, was up to the challenge. Scruggs was off on a game-tying, contested 3 attempt, with the ball bouncing high cylinder, then caroming off the rim into Blackshear's hands, giving the UF standout his fifth double-double in seven games. More importantly, the ensuing foul gave him two free throws  with 7.5 seconds left. 

At the other end, he made both and a few seconds later, after the final horn, the Gators danced like they did in their hotel all week. 

Better actually.

"It's more fun dancing with trophies," Johnson said. 

Call it a much hipper version than "The Charleston."