TAMPA — Florida opened its national title defense looking like a team capable of repeating.
The top-seeded Gators coasted past Prairie View 114-55 Friday night, putting last weekend’s SEC Tournament no-show behind them while making a statement on the sport’s biggest stage at the expense of an exhausted, outmanned opponent.
Playing their sixth game in 11 days, the No. 16 Panthers (19-18) put up an early fight as 33.5-point underdog, the largest point spread in the past 27 NCAA Tournaments. Prairie View hit five 3-pointers to tie the game 15-15.
But Todd Golden’s Gators clamped down on defense to hold the Panthers without a field goal for nearly six minutes while Florida (27-7) went on an 18-0 run, featuring nine points by 6-foot-10, 265-pound center Rueben Chinyelu, en route to the highest point total in an NCAA Tournament game by the Gators.