03/21/26 12:03:00
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03/21 00:01 CDT Florida begins title defense with 59-point rout of Prairie
View, 2nd-biggest margin in NCAA tourney
Florida begins title defense with 59-point rout of Prairie View, 2nd-biggest
margin in NCAA tourney
By FRED GOODALL
Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) --- Florida began its national title defense with the
second-largest victory margin in NCAA Tournament history, pounding Prairie View
A&M 114-55 on Friday night.
Boogie Fland scored 16 points to lead seven players in double figures for the
top-seeded Gators (27-7), whose 59-point margin fell short of only Loyola
Chicago's 111-42 win over Tennessee Tech in 1963. Florida advanced to face the
South Region's No. 9 seed, Iowa, in the second round on Sunday.
Florida went on runs of 18-0 and 17-0 in the first half to turn a 15-all tie
into a 60-21 lead at the break. The Gators shot 75% before halftime and 64.3%
for the game against the 16th-seeded Panthers (19-18).
After top overall seed Duke struggled in the first round against Siena and
fellow No. 1 Michigan let Howard hang around for the entire first half, Florida
had no trouble whatsoever.
"I thought we made a big (statement)," Fland said. "We saw a couple of games
before us, 1-16. So to set that record, I felt like it was big, and a big
statement for the world for sure."
Late in the second half, 7-foot-9 freshman Olivier Rioux --- the world's
tallest teenager before he turned 20 last month --- got in on the action with a
putback dunk.
Fland made all six of his shots. Rueben Chinyelu had 14 points and 13 rebounds,
while the other two members of a dominant frontcourt --- Thomas Haugh and Alex
Condon --- finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Prairie View, a 35 1/2-point underdog according to BetMGM Sportsbook, didn't
have a 2-point basket through the first nine minutes, but kept pace early by
converting five of its first seven 3-point attempts to pull even at 15-all.
Chinyelu scored nine points during the ensuing 18-0 run, and the rout was on
before a sellout crowd in what essentially was a home game with coach Todd
Golden's squad playing only a two-hour drive south of its campus in Gainesville.
"I think we had a 38-0 paint advantage in the first half, scoring-wise," Golden
said. "So we weren't settling. We were getting good shots. I thought we played
with great purpose all night."
Condon, Haugh, Chinyelu and Fland all reached double-figure scoring in the
first half.
Prairie View, a historically Black school located outside of Houston, made it
to March Madness after going 5-27 a season earlier. The Panthers defeated
Lehigh in the First Four and weren't strangers to facing teams from major
conferences after having lost on the road to Texas A&M, Missouri, LSU and
Oklahoma State early this season.
Donate Horne scored 12 points for the Southwestern Athletic Conference
champions.
"Tough game," Prairie View A&M coach Byron Smith said, adding the Gators were
simply a "bigger, faster, quicker team."
"Obviously Florida's size really caused some problems for us. They shot the
ball at a really high percentage," Smith said. "We got down a little bit early
and were playing catch-up from behind most of the night. That's a tough way to
go."
Golden makes an early tweak
After Prairie View made five of its first seven 3-point attempts, Golden
adjusted Florida's defense. The Panthers went 1 of 15 behind the arc from
there, finishing 6 of 22.
"We didn't do a job in the first couple of minutes of guarding the 3-point
line, and once we righted that we accomplished what we needed to," Golden said.
___
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and
coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
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