FINAL: Florida 114, Prairie View 55

What Happened

TAMPA, Fla. – The top-seeded Florida Gators blasted 16-seed Prairie View A&M 114-55 in opening-round play Friday night of the NCAA Tournament Southeast Region at Benchmark International Arena, shattering a bevy of single-game tournament records in the process.

Point guard Boogie Fland led seven UF players into double-figure scoring with 16 points, center Rueben Chinyelu set a program record with his 19th double-double of the season and the Gators, more importantly, got right following the humbling and lopsided loss to Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference Tournament six days earlier.

Chinyelu finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds, with All-America forward Thomas Haugh at 14 points and forward Alex Condon with 13. Guard Xaivian Lee had 10 points and five assists without a turnover, while backup guard Urban Klavzar added 10 points. With just under six minutes to go, the UF bench was emptied and, eventually, all 12 scholarship players who checked in got in the scoring column, as did 7-foot-9 walk-on Olivier Rioux, who had a late slam-dunk, much to the delight of the partisan home crowd.

UF shot 64% for the game and totaled 29 assists (only seven turnovers), both program tournament records, as was the final team point total and 59-point victory margin. Each bested numbers from UF's 112-69 defeat of Jackson State that opened the 2007 tournament.

Prairie View buried five 3-pointers through the game's first six-plus minutes, the last one tying the score at 15-all at the 13:37 mark. The next field goal the Panthers hit came nearly eight minutes later, as the Gators tore away for a run of 18 consecutive points, then finished the half with a 27-2 blitz, including the last 17 of the period to go into the locker room with a 60-21 lead.

The 39-point margin was the largest for the Gators at halftime of their 72 all-time tournament games.

UF point guard **Boogie Fland** with one of many layups for the Gators Friday night.

Turning Point

The instant after the Panthers' last 3-pointer of the first half.

Staggering Statistic

UF outscored Prairie View 38-0 in the paint through the first 20 minutes and 64-10 for the game.

Up Next

Florida (27-7) will play 9-seed Iowa (22-12) in Sunday's round of 32 at a time to be determined. The Hawkeyes defeated 8-seed Clemson 67-61 in Friday night's early game. UF and Iowa have never played in men's basketball.

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.

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