No. 1 Florida Leads No. 14 Miami Late in Tampa, After a 46-36 Halftime Lead and a Haugh-Led First Half
The Gators turned Miami over and ran - 15-3 in first-half points off turnovers, 21-5 by the late second half - and held a 74-65 lead with 1:13 left in the Orion180 Tipoff Classic on opening night.
TAMPA - The nation's No. 1 team spent its opening night doing the thing its ranking is built on: turning defense into distance. Florida led Miami 46-36 at halftime at Benchmark International Arena and still held the Hurricanes off deep into the second half, leading 66-58 with 7:38 left and 74-65 with 1:13 left in the Orion180 Tipoff Classic, the Gainesville Sun's live blog and the Sportradar live listing reported. The Gators started Boogie Fland, Denzel Aberdeen, Thomas Haugh, Alex Condon and Rueben Chinyelu; Miami started Acaden Lewis, Malik Reneau, Shelton Henderson, Caleb Gaskins and Somto Cyril.
Haugh set the first-half tone. He had 13 points, three rebounds and three assists, with three 3-pointers, as Florida pushed its lead to 41-30 late in the half, and the Gators outscored Miami 15-3 in points off turnovers before the break. 'They have a lot of talent across the board,' Florida coach Todd Golden said of Miami before the game, in the Sun's account. 'They're pretty big, and they picked up some good pieces. I think they have a little more depth than they had last year.' Miami, which went 26-9 in Jai Lucas's first season and reached the NCAA Tournament's second round, played like it: the Hurricanes opened the second half with a 10-2 run.
Florida's answer was the same as its first-half formula, plus a flaw it will hear about in practice. The Gators rebuilt the lead to 53-46 by the 15:53 mark, led 60-53 with 11:37 left on 10-of-24 shooting from three, and pushed their points-off-turnovers margin to 21-5 - all while shooting just 9-for-17, then 10-of-19, from the free-throw line. Miami's late drought - nearly five minutes with one make in 10 attempts as Florida led 66-58 - left the Hurricanes chasing the game into its final minute, down nine with 1:13 to play. Florida beat Miami 82-68 in Jacksonville last season; the final from Tampa, and the FAU and Panthers finals, file in the Sports Desk's game-night roundup in the next cycle.
