Florida Gators

WHAT HAPPENED: Guard Aaron Thompson scored a season-high 16 points and forward Sean McDermott threw in 16 more, including a trio of 3-pointers, and the unbeaten and host Bulldogs rode a late first-half blitz Saturday afternoon to rout the Gators at sold-out Hinkle Fieldhouse. In extending its NCAA-best home winning streak against non-conference opponents to 56 straight, Butler shot 52 percent for the game (with 19 assists on 25 field goals) while defending UF at 44 percent, as the Gators went just six of 26 from the arc (23 percent) in losing for the first time in five games. Florida led 19-3 inside eight minutes to go in the first half when Butler went on a red-hot tear that lasted the rest of the period. How hot? How 'bout 6-for-6 from the floor, including a trio of 3-balls, plus 6-for-7 from the free-throw line. The Gators, meanwhile, were missing six of their nine shots (including three of four from deep) and all four free-throw attempts. The Bulldogs finished the half on a 22-6 run and went to the locker room up 35-26 after McDermott buried a 3 at the buzzer. Eight minutes into the second half, UF was shooting 50 percent from the floor for the period, but still trailed by 14 because Butler was shooting 60 percent. The lead swelled to as many as 19 and got to as few as nine before the Bulldogs put things away. Florida was led by graduate-transfer forward Kerry Blackshear's 17 points and five rebounds, with guards Andrew Nembhard and Noah Locke adding 11 each. 
 
WHAT IT MEANS: This was an opportunity to claim what figures to hold up as a so-called "Quad-1" win, but instead UF became the 56th consecutive non-league victim at Hinkle, a run that dates to the start of the 2012-13 season. Along the way, the Bulldogs also claimed high-major wins over the likes of Minnesota, Ole Miss, Utah, Northwestern, Cincinnati, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Butler remains one of the few unbeaten teams remaining in the country. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Thompson came in as the only Bulldog starter not averaging in double figures. With leading scorer and Big East Player of the Year candidate Kamar Baldwin (12 points, 6 assists) the focus of the Florida defense, Thompson took advantage and stepped up by making six of seven shots and easily surpassed his previous season high of 12 points. He also had four rebounds, seven assists and did not turn the ball over in taking over while Baldwin was in early foul trouble.

STAGGERING STATISTIC: The Gators went just two of eight from the free-throw line in the first half. In a game decided by 14 points that may not sound so significant, but four of those six misses (one of them on the front end of one-and-one) came during the Bulldogs' run of 11 straight points on the way to taking over the game in those final seven-plus minutes of the period. Any one of those free throws could have stemmed the spree. As it turned out, UF went 12-for-13 from the line after halftime.

UP NEXT: Florida (6-3) has another lull in the schedule, this one for exams next week, and won't be in action again until facing Providence (5-5) in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational on Dec. 17 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. The event is part of a tripleheader, with Gators-Friars game, set for 7 p.m., sandwiched between Princeton vs. Iona at 4:30 and Miami vs. Temple at 9:30. Providence was a preseason favorite to contend for the Big East title, but is off to a rocky start. The Friars lost Friday night to state rival Rhode Island, 75-61, and have one game (home next Saturday against Stony Brook) before facing the Gators.