Florida’s first NCAA tournament game of the year didn’t come with much suspense, but it did come with a spot in the record book.
The top seeded Gators began their national title defense Friday night with a 114–55 win over No. 16 seed Prairie View A&M in the South Region, a 59 point margin that stands as the second largest victory margin in NCAA tournament history. The only bigger blowout remains Loyola Chicago’s 111–42 win over Tennessee Tech in 1963.
Florida advanced to face No. 9 seed Iowa in the second round Sunday in Tampa.
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The game was effectively over before halftime, and the numbers were blunt. Florida turned a 15–15 tie into a runaway by ripping off 18–0 and 17–0 runs in the first half, then carried a 60–21 lead into the locker room. Florida shot 75% in the first half and 64.3% for the game. Prairie View A&M shot 27% and spent much of the night trying to get clean looks against Florida’s size and pressure.
Florida also dominated the glass, winning the rebound battle 54–20, and Prairie View’s struggles inside were obvious enough to get their own line in the postgame file: the Panthers did not score in the paint until more than two minutes into the second half.
The scoring was spread out, which is typically how these games get this ugly this fast. Boogie Fland led Florida with 16 points, and the Gators had seven players in double figures. Reuben Chinyelu finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds, logging his 19th double double of the season.
Florida’s 114 points also landed in a modern tournament context. It was the most points scored in an NCAA tournament game since Tennessee scored 121 against Long Beach State in 2007 in the round of 64.
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Prairie View A&M entered as the kind of No. 16 seed that can sometimes hang around if the favorite comes out flat. Florida did not come out flat. The Gators turned early possessions into quick points, ran their lead up with long spurts where Prairie View could not buy a clean basket, and built a margin that made the second half more about finishing the job than managing risk.
For Prairie View, the top individual line belonged to Tai’Reon Joseph, who scored 16 points. But the Panthers could not keep Florida off the boards or out of the lane for long, and the game’s shape never changed after Florida’s first-half separation.
The win also continued a Florida trend in the tournament when the Gators are on the top line. Florida improved to 17–1 all time as a No. 1 seed.
Now the opponent changes, and the tone changes with it. Iowa’s path into the second round sets up a matchup with a Florida team that looked locked in from the opening minutes. The Gators’ opener was about doing what favorites are supposed to do, avoid drama, avoid risk, and make sure the only storyline is the score.
On Friday, Florida did all three, and did it by a margin the tournament almost never sees.
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