Florida basketball score vs. Charleston Southern: Gators bounce back with rout at home

By Adam Silverstein
November 9, 2018
Florida basketball score vs. Charleston Southern: Gators bounce back with rout at home
Basketball

Image Credit: ESPN Images

Three days after being absolutely embarrassed in their season opener at No. 17 Florida State, some home cooking appeared to be just what Florida Gators basketball needed. Florida (1-1) blasted the Charleston Southern Buccaneers over the entire second half on Friday night en route to a 74-43 win during the Gators’ home opener inside the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida.

Let’s take a look at Florida’s first win of the long 2018-19 season.


It was over when … Charleston Southern hung around for much of the first half, but UF ended the period on a 6-0 run and opened the second half by scoring 12 straight points. The extended 18-0 run pushed the Gators’ lead up to 28, and there was simply no coming back or the Bucs.

Exceptional efforts: Senior guard KeVaughn Allen bounced back from an awful performance in the team’s first game to lead the way with 14 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Sophomore G Deaundrae Ballard was also impressive with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting and six boards in 18 minutes off the bench.

Odds and ends: Florida went 2-for-12 from three in the first half but improved by going 6-of-16 from deep over the final 20 minutes … the Gators had 14 assists to eight turnovers, basically flipping those categories from their first game … redshirt freshman forward Isaiah Stokes looked green once again with five fouls and one basket in 10 minutes … redshirt senior G Jalen Hudson (10 points) and freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard (seven points) each went 2-for-7 from the field and combined to go 2-for-7 from three but hit 7-of-8 free throws; Nembhard added team-highs of seven rebounds and six assists … Florida scored 24 points off 19 turnovers and doubled up CSU in the paint 28-14 … UF led for 38:17 and only spent 56 seconds down … former Gators Kasey Hill and Casey Prather were in attendance … play-by-play man Mick Hubert is celebrating his 30th season calling Florida basketball

What it means: This was a game Florida should have dominated, and it did. So it gets a golf clap for that. It was nice to see Allen look a bit like his old self, but there was not much consistency up and down the floor to say that the Gators have turned some kind of corner. The early part of this season will very much be a work in progress for head coach Mike White‘s young bunch.

Up next: Florida will host La Salle on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the O’Dome in a game that will only be available on SEC Network+. The Gators will play their following three games in the 2018 Battle 4 Atlantis tournament beginning on Nov. 21 in the Bahamas.

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