Florida basketball score, takeaways: No. 7 Gators eviscerate North Florida for largest win in 17 years

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Image Credit: UAA

Spending two weeks playing away from home can grind on a team, but the No. 7 Florida Gators were no worse for wear Saturday back inside the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Florida led by 37 points at halftime and kept its foot on the gas late in the game for a dominant 99-45 win over the North Florida Ospreys in Gainesville, Florida. The 54-point victory was the largest for UF since Nov. 14, 2007.

The Gators improved to 12-0 for the first time since 2005-06 and now sit one game away from finishing the nonconference slate undefeated. Florida has won 11 of those 12 games by double digits for the first time in program history as head coach Todd Golden’s squad continues to surge with SEC play ahead.

Let’s take a look at what went down Saturday in the O’Dome.

It was over when … the Gators erupted on a 14-1 run to take a 37-point lead at the break. Florida scored the first 10 points of the game with other runs of 10-0 and 13-0 in the opening period. UF used a 12-3 stretch to open a 44-point lead early in the second half and used a 12-2 run to go up as many as 57 points in the waining seconds.

Exceptional efforts: Senior guard Will Richard was dominant in the first half ultimately finishing with a career- and game-high 26 points on 9 of 12 shooting hitting 6 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc; he added five rebounds and two assists for good measure. Junior forward Sam Alexis, sophomore center Alex Condon and sophomore F Thomas Haugh all posted double-doubles. Alexis led the way with 14 points and 12 boards, while Condon (12 points) and Haugh (10 points) each grabbed 10 rebounds and went 4 of 4 from the charity stripe.

Odds & ends: Florida improved to 11-0 all time against North Florida … the Gators dominated in all phases with scoring edges in the paint (48-10), off turnovers (16-2), on second chances (22-3), on fast breaks (19-3) and from their bench (39-12) … UF outrebounded UNF by 40 (65-25) and posted 20 assists on 34 baskets … Florida improved to 42-9 under Golden when leading at halftime, 48-5 when leading with 5 minutes left, 47-6 when shooting the same or better than an opponent from the field, 41-8 when outshooting an opponent from 3-point range, 17-4 when shooting better than 40% from downtown, 35-7 when winning the rebounding battle, 31-12 when attempting more free throws, 32-14 when winning the bench scoring battle and 34-14 when 4+ players score in double figures

What it means: The Gators took care of business and covered as 26.5-point favorites. They did not rest on their laurels or treat the Ospreys as an inferior opponent from an effort standpoint, which is really all you can ask in a game like this.

What’s next? Florida will wrap up its nonconference slate next weekend when it hosts Stetson on Sunday, Dec. 29 at 1 p.m. ET. The game will air live on ESPN+. It will be the only game UF plays across a 13-day span as it prepares to begin its SEC schedule.