Florida 70, Florida Gulf Coast 50

“We found a little rhythm playing through Doe-Doe [Finney-Smith’s nickname] there”, White said. A positive sign for the Gators was the play of 6-11 sophomore center John Egbunu, who had his best offensive game with 19 points and seven rebounds against a Purdue frontcourt that includes two 7-footers.

“Defensively they were really good, especially the first 20 minutes”, White said. “They played with a “we’re not going to lose” mentality despite us having our struggles….”

White couldn’t say the same about his guards.

Allen finished just 3-of-12 shooting, though, as Florida backcourt shot 6 of 29 and finished with just 16 points.

In fact, White said he knew little about the Eagles outside of a few players he recruited while at Louisiana Tech. “We all need to look at ourselves in the mirror and figure out we can help, each guy on the roster and each guy on the staff….” They dominated the paint, using their size advantage to get easy baskets around the rim. Finney-Smith made a pair of 3-pointers during the flurry, while Hill and redshirt freshman guard Brandone Francis-Ramirez also knocked down 3-point shots.

The Gators seized control of a close game with a 22-4 run to open the second half, with 14 Finney-Smith and Egbunu combining for 14 points.

After the Florida’s run to open the second half, the Eagles (3-3) could not keep pace. The Gators extended their lead to 20 on Robinson’s second 3 and coasted from there.

But Florida’s defense played well after intermission, dropping the Eagles’ shooting percentage to under 35 percent from the floor.

Finney-Smith and Egbunu scored 14 points in the second-half surge, giving the front-court tandem 32 of the team’s 40 points during the middle 20 minutes of the game. “I think we tried to attack them and hit them first”. After committing 10 fouls pressing in the first half, the Gators had just six second-half fouls.

FGCU set a season-low in points and field-goal percentage. Hill finished with four assists and no turnovers. The four-point play cut Florida’s lead to 31-26. The last time these teams met, Florida beat FGCU, 62-50, in an NCAA tournament Sweet 16 matchup in Arlington, Texas. “They had had us searching offensively”. FGCU’s previous low point total this season was 73.

Florida bounced back from a lackluster performance with a lopsided victory.

The Gators (4-1) made six of their final 11 3-point attempts after starting the game 2 of 12 from beyond the arc.

Florida Gulf Coast plays at Texas A&M on Wednesday.