SUNRISE — After seven minutes, the Gators had zero points, six turnovers and seemingly no hope.
But from there, everything changed.
Florida (8-2) picked up its defensive intensity and found ways to score in the lane as it battled its way to a 57-44 win over No. 6 Kansas State (9-2) Saturday in the BankAtlantic Center.
The Gators trailed 20-8 with 9:00 remaining in the first half, but followed with a 28-7 run to take a lead they would never relinquish.
“It took us a while to start running our offense,” senior Chandler Parsons said. “We were making silly turnovers the first ten minutes of the game, and they’re a great team.”
Florida turned the ball over 13 times and had just two assists in the first half before reeling off nine assists and only five turnovers over the final 20 minutes.
The Wildcats’ tenacious, high pressure, defense was contesting every pass the Gators tried to make on the perimeter, so UF started driving to the basket to create scoring opportunities.
“We just wanted to be strong with the ball and be aggressive,” sophomore Erving Walker said. “When a team is out there pressuring like that, we just have to attack them.”
Florida’s offensive run coincided with its defense finding its rhythm and shutting down Kansas State’s scorers.
The Wildcats connected on eight of 16 field goals on their way to that 20-8 lead, but they shot just 18 percent the rest of the game.
KSU’s scoring difficulties were highlighted by a 13:09 stretch — from 4:03 in the first half to 10:54 in the second half — over which it missed 18 consecutive field-goal attempts.
“We kept priding ourselves on defense and I think we played really good in the half court,” Parsons said. “Our press was effective and we were wearing them down.”
Kansas State’s 44 points mark the first time Florida has held a ranked opponent under 50 since January of 1968, when it recorded a 59-46 win over No. 4 Tennessee.
The Gators’ defense played extremely tough on the interior, yielding only 20 points in the paint to a Wildcats team known for its physical nature.
“Florida was the most physical team we’ve played all year,” KSU coach Frank Martin said. “They beat us at our own game, which was being physical.”
UF’s ability to force misses and get out in transition led to a number of open looks and easy lay-ups, which amounted to a 53.5 shooting percentage and 22 second-half points in the paint.
Sophomore Kenny Boynton, who filled 30 ticket requests for friends and family from his nearby hometown of Pompano Beach, was the team’s leading scorer with 15.
Eight of those points came over a span of just 1:04, when he connected on a trio of long-range jumpers — one with a toe on the line — to stretch UF’s lead to seventeen and secure MVP honors for the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic.
“It felt good, my shot felt like it used to,” Boynton said. “I hadn’t had a good shooting game like that in a while.”
