It was a baptism by fire, and the Gators nearly got burned.
Often outmuscled and almost outmatched, No. 19 UF (2-0) scrapped its way to an 81-58 win against Bradley (1-1) on Sunday at the O'Connell Center during the second round of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.
The veteran team out of the Missouri Valley Conference came to Gainesville unafraid.
The Braves, who started four upperclassmen, pushed around the less-experienced Gators for most of the night in a game that played out much closer than the final score indicates.
"We're going to see (older teams) during the season," UF guard Nick Calathes said. "That's the SEC Tournament and, if we make the NCAA Tournament, that's the NCAA Tournament, too. So, we better get used to it."
Seven-foot Bradley center David Collins had his way with Alex Tyus in the first half until foul trouble forced Collins to the bench.
"We would have liked to do more inside and around the basket," UF coach Billy Donovan said.
Tyus, who finished with five rebounds, struggled to fight off Collins and forward Sam Singh on the glass.
UF tried to relieve Tyus with freshmen Allan Chaney and Kenny Kadji, but neither seemed to find a rhythm.
"I got blown by a few times," Chaney said. "Coach got on me about that."
Donovan said a lack of conditioning has limited the minutes the tandem has been able to play. The pair of freshmen was only able to grab five rebounds.
"Both of those guys fatigue a little faster than I would like," Donovan said.
Without a strong inside game, the Gators were forced to, once again, live or die by their outside shooting.
For now, that strategy worked. UF took 32 3-point attempts in the game and knocked down 14 of them.
"We won the game today because of the 3-point line," Donovan said.
The Gators' last seven field goals came from behind the arc.
It was the most threes allowed by Bradley since they gave up as many to Wichita State on March 3, 2003.
Ironically, the Braves have been one of the nation's best 3-point shooting teams over the last two years, making 695 in that span. Only Virginia Military Institute and Houston have made more.
Walter Hodge (5) and Dan Werner (4) tied their career highs from 3-point land.
After missing 94 of his 136 shots from 3-point range last year, Werner seems to have found his stride.
"I was building (brick) houses last year," he joked.
Bradley started the second half on a 10-1 run that cut UF's lead to 43-35. It looked as though the Braves might have shot their way back into the game until point guard Erving Walker started the barrage of threes that would eventually put an end to the Bradley rally with a little more than 10 minutes left in the game.
Chandler Parsons has gotten off to a slow start offensively this season. The sophomore has scored 12 points through the Gators' first two games.
"His shot obviously isn't falling, but his rebounding is a lot more important than that," Calathes said.
Parsons snatched a career-high 10 rebounds against the Braves.
