Sophomore guard Isaiah Brown slams two of his nine points, part of a UF bench that scored a season-high 42 points.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Before the opening media timeout, Florida strung together a quick run of five straight makes, with each starter contributing a basket.
It turned into that kind of (stat) evening for the 18th-ranked Gators, who rolled past Saint Francis 102-61 on Wednesday at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
Senior guard
Xaivian Lee continued his climb out of a shooting slump, pacing six UF players in double figures with 18 points. He connected on seven of nine attempts, including two of four from beyond the arc. That marked the fourth time in the last five outings that Lee has led the team in scoring. Junior forward
Alex Condon added 14 points, seven rebounds, and five assists, while junior center
Rueben Chinyelu recorded his fifth double-double of the year with 12 points—perfect on all five of his shots—and pulled down 11 rebounds.
UF guard Xaivian Lee (11) drives to the bucket for a finish on his way to a team-high 18 points.
UF (7-4) finished the night shooting 61%, converting 26 of 31 attempts inside the arc (an 81.3% clip, the program’s best single-game mark since 2003). The Gators also knocked down six of 16 from long range (a season-high 37.5%), controlled the boards 44-19, and poured in 42 points from the bench en route to a 41-point win — the second-largest margin in Coach Todd Golden’s four-year tenure.
That outcome was very much anticipated. Even better, no Florida player was on the floor for more than 25 minutes, a welcome breather considering the grueling pre-Southeastern Conference slate that ranked among the toughest in the nation.
"Obviously, a game we expected to win," Golden said of his team’s first home appearance in 26 days – since the victory over Merrimack on Nov. 21 – after a stretch of five contests that took the squad to California, North Carolina, New York, and South Florida. "The message to the guys before the game was to take advantage of the opportunity to compete back in our home gym. We haven't been here in while. We didn't play perfectly, but systematically did pretty well."
No shock there. The Red Flash, representing the Northeast League, entered ranked 361st out of 365 Division I programs, making them the lowest-rated UF opponent in the KenPom.com advanced metrics era, which dates back to 1996-97.
Florida wasted no time, racing to an 11-2 advantage that forced an SFU timeout less than four minutes in. By then, Lee, Condon, Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh, and Boogie Fland — the starting five — had each scored once. Just a minute later, reserve guard Isaiah Brown added his own basket, making it six different Gators with points.
That trend continued throughout, as the home team built a 47-23 halftime cushion and extended it after the break.
"It was great being back home," Condon said.
By the final buzzer, 11 of the 12 scholarship players had registered at least one field goal. Walk-on 7-foot-9 redshirt freshman center
Olivier Rioux capped the night with a two-handed dunk (set up by a smooth drop-off from freshman wing
CJ Ingram) with 42 seconds left. It marked the first career basket for the tallest player in college basketball history.
As for Lee, he has averaged 20.3 points across the last three outings, shooting 54.5% overall and 38.8% from beyond the arc. That’s a sharp turnaround from his early-season struggles. The timing couldn’t be better, with SEC play less than two weeks away.
"Shots are just starting to fall, so it looks a lot better, honestly," Lee said. "I feel the same out there, [with] a little pressure off now that the numbers are a little bit better. I've been sticking to the same process, and things are starting to go."
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.
