Florida basketball dominates Prairie View A&M: Observations from UF's March Madness opener
Florida basketball had no problems against Prairie View A&M. Here are three keys to the Gators' historic win.
TAMPA — For about seven minutes, Prairie View A&M enjoyed its March Madness matchup against Florida basketball. The No. 16 seeded Panthers (19-18) knocked five straight 3-pointers to open the game and tied the Gators early on at 15-15.
The fun didn't last long as Florida erupted for a 43-6 run to close out the half and build its largest halftime lead in the program's history of the NCAA tournament. The Gators closed out the game with a 114-55 win, the largest in tournament history, to advance to the Round of 32. Florida basketball owns the paint vs Prairie View A&M Florida had full control of the paint against the Prairie View A&M as the Panthers didn’t score their first 2-pointer until seven minutes were left in the first half.
The Gators outscored Prairie View A&M 38-0 inside the paint by halftime and easily claimed an edge in the rebound battle at 25-7. By the end of the game those numbers stood at 64-10 the paint and 54-20 on the boards. Florida basketball values the ball, cuts down on turnovers It was a point of emphasis for Florida to cut down on turnovers following an early exit in the SEC tournament.
In that brief two-game span, Florida committed 32 turnovers. Vanderbilt and Kentucky combined to score 42 points from those mistakes. Against Prairie View A&M, the Gators gave up just seven turnovers and recorded a season-high of 29 assists in the victory.