FINAL: No. 10 Florida 90, Providence 78

What Happened

SAN DIEGO – Senior guard Xaivian Lee broke out of his wicked cold spell by pouring in 17 of his game-high 20 points in the second half and joining four other Florida teammates in double-figure scoring, as the 10th-ranked Gators salvaged a split of their two games in the Rady Children's Invitational with a 90-78 win over Providence in the tournament consolation game Friday at Jenny Craig Pavilion.

Lee, who came into the game at 22% shooting overall to the start the season, including just 16.7 from the 3-point line, went seven of 16 for the game and nailed four of nine from deep. The transfer from Princeton also had seven rebounds, four assists and was excellent on the defensive end.

Junior guard Urban Klavzar, who led the Gators with 20 points in their Thursday first-round loss to Texas Christian, had a second consecutive red-hot game off the bench on his way to 18 points, while both junior forward Thomas Haugh and junior center Rueben Chinyelu posted double-doubles. Haugh had 16 points, 12 rebounds, plus five assists; Chinyelu, with his fourth double-double in five games, had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore point guard Boogie Fland had 17 points and made four 3-pointers.

The Gators were without junior forward Alex Condon, the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder, who took a shot to the head during the TCU game and was held out for precautionary reasons. Condon's replacement, 7-foot-1 senior center Micah Handlogten, did not score but had six rebounds and three assists. Meanwhile, UF got plenty of help elsewhere. Though the Gators shot just 42.4% for the game, they hit a season-best 12 3s, out-rebounded the Friars 42-37, went 22 of 27 from the free-throw line (81.5%) and defended PC at 43.3%.

Sophomore guard **Isaiah Brown** (20) finishes a steal and run-out slam in Friday's first half.

Turning Point

Up The UF lead was six points, 53-47, when Fland nailed 3-pointers on each side of the under-16 media timeout to take the margin back to double digits. The two buckets turned out to be part of a 14-4 run, as the Gators began building on a lead that swelled to as many as 19 with just over seven minutes to go.

Staggering Statistic

The Gators had four turnovers in the game's first four minutes, a troubling trend that followed their whopping (and self-destructive) 19 turnovers in the loss to TCU. Over the final 36 minutes against the Friars, UF turned it over just four times.

Up Next

Florida (5-2) OR (4-3) will fly home immediately after the game and Saturday turn its attention to Tuesday night's game at No. 4 Duke (8-0), the Gators' first trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium in 27 years.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.

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