National Basketball Association
Florida 75, Mississippi 71
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 22, 2014
Where: C.M. 'Tad' Smith Coliseum, Oxford, Mississippi
Officials:
# Lee Cassell, # James Barker, # Tim Gattis
Attendance:
8140
By SportsDirect Inc.
No. 2 Florida 75, Mississippi 71: Scottie Wilbekin scored a team-high 18 points and Michael Frazier II drilled five 3-pointers as the visiting Gators extended their school-best winning streak to 19 games.
Patric Young scored eight of his 12 points in the second half for Florida (25-2, 14-0 SEC), which avenged last season's 66-63 loss to Ole Miss in the conference tournament final. Off to the best start in the program's history, the Gators also positioned themselves for their first No. 1 ranking since 2007 after top-ranked Syracuse suffered a stunning home loss to Boston College on Wednesday.
Marshall Henderson scored all 22 of his points in the first half for Ole Miss (16-11, 7-7), which has dropped four in a row for the first time since January 2011.
With the contest tied at 59-59, Wilbekin stole the ball and fed Young for a dunk. The spirited play seemed to ignite Florida, which saw Casey Prather drill a long-range jumper and Dorian Finney-Smith followed his missed 3-point attempt to set up a pair of free throws for Will Yeguete.
Young sandwiched four free throws around Aaron Jones' layup to give the Gators a 68-61 lead with 3:42 to play. Frazier made his fifth 3-pointer to extend the advantage to eight at 71-63 with 3:11 left and Florida never looked back.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Finney-Smith sank a 3-pointer to cap a 10-0 run and give his team a 34-24 lead with 6:36 left in the first half. The sophomore entered the contest having missed 18 straight attempts from 3-point range over his last six games. ... The contest was tied at 42-42 at halftime, marking the sixth straight game that the Gators failed to hold a lead entering intermission. ... Prather went 3-for-10 from the field after entering the contest having connected on 14 of his previous 17 attempts.
Top Game Performances
Florida |
|
Mississippi |
Scottie Wilbekin 18 |
Scoring |
Marshall Henderson 22 |
Scottie Wilbekin 7 |
Assists |
Dwight Coleby 4 |
Dorian Finney-Smith 5 |
Rebounds |
Aaron Jones 9 |
Patric Young 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Marshall Henderson 3 |
DeVon Walker 2 |
Steals |
Anthony Perez 3 |
Dorian Finney-Smith 1 |
Blocks |
Aaron Jones 3 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Florida
|
75 |
44.4 |
12-33 |
15-19 |
19 |
27 |
1 |
4 |
14 |
Mississippi
|
71 |
45.0 |
8-25 |
9-11 |
15 |
28 |
3 |
10 |
13 |