FINAL: West Virginia 84, Florida 55
Sunday, November 27, 2022 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
AT THE BUZZER
WEST VIRGINIA 84, FLORIDA 55
WEST VIRGINIA 84, FLORIDA 55
WHAT HAPPENED: Forward Tre Mitchell scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, guard Erik Stevenson threw in 15 points, including his first three 3-point attempts, and the Mountaineers blew past the Gators in their final game of the Phil Knight Legacy at Chiles Center Sunday night in Portland, Ore. Florida fell behind by 16 points in the first half, managed to cut the margin in half by the break, but West Virginia came out of the locker room on fire. The Mountaineers opened the period by hitting five of their first seven shots (including all three 3s) and eight of the first 10 (all four 3s) to take a 27-point lead, at 64-37, after barely six minutes. WVU went on to shoot 50.0 percent in the second half from both the floor and 3-point line, while limiting the Gators to 34.5 percent for the game, but 29.0 after halftime (9 of 31) and just 11.8 percent from deep (2 of 17). The Mountaineers also worked the Gators on the glass, winning the rebounding battle 49-28 (15-6 on the offensive end). It didn't help that both of UF's "bigs," 6-foot-11 standout Colin Castleton and 6-11 backup Jason Jitoboh, were called for three and four fouls, respectively, in a first half that had WVU in the seven-foul bonus at the 13:18 mark, then in the double-bonus with 11:19 before halftime. Florida was led by fifth-year point guard Kyle Lofton's season-high 17 points. Castleton, who arrived at the tournament as the nation's No. 3 scorer at 25.3 points per game, was held to just three points (1-for-6 floor) and five rebounds over 18 foul-plagued minutes. Junior guard Trey Bonham, who averaged 21.0 points over the first two tournament games, finished with three points and struggled against the Mountaineers physicality in going 0-for-9 from the floor.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: WVU coach Bob Huggins, the second-winningest active coach in Division I basketball, who got his 921st career victory but first over the Gators in four tries and improved to 6-1 on the season. The three previous losses all came with one his former players, former UF assistant and Mountaineers point guard Darris Nichols, preparing the scout and providing some valuable "Huggy Bear" intel. Nichols is now head coach at Radford.
STAGGERING STATISTIC: The 29-point margin of defeat was the largest by a Florida team since a 91-56 loss (and 35-point difference) at Tennessee on Feb. 10, 1999. That was Coach Billy Donovan's first NCAA Tournament team. Castleton's three points equaled his fewest as a Gator. He scored three against Boston College in a win at "Bubbleland" on Dec. 3, 2020 at Uncasville, Conn., his second game in a UF uniform.
UP NEXT: Florida (4-3) will do a red-eye return to Gainesville, arriving around sun-up. The Gators will have Monday off, per NCAA rules, but will be back at practice Tuesday and prepping for a Wednesday night home game against Florida A&M, out of the Southwest Athletic Conference. UF's first date against FAMU won't do much for the Gators' NET. The Rattlers (1-4) currently sit No. 359 in the KenPom rankings (out of 363), with losses by 35 at Oregon, 37 at Portland, 17 at Oregon State and 26 at Miami. FAMU's lone victory was a 70-65 overtime defeat of Division II Albany (Ga.) last Monday.
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