Florida used a 31-6 run spanning both halves to break a 19-19 tie and coast to a 74-52 win against LSU in the PMAC on Saturday.
Junior guard Kenny Boynton paced the No. 11 Gators with 20 points and seven rebounds, while junior center Patric Young bullied his way to 14 points and seven rebounds.
“I think we played not only one of the top basketball teams in our conference, but one of the best teams in the country,” said LSU coach Johnny Jones. “The experience that they have showed throughout the game. I thought our guys gave a tremendous effort and played every second and every play.”
Sophomore guard Anthony Hickey led LSU (9-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) with 15 points and four steals, igniting a mini-run in the second half where he stole three consecutive inbound passes that he converted to six points to cut the Gator lead to 13.
But as it seemed to do all afternoon, Florida (12-2, 2-0 SEC) answered right back with a three-pointer from senior center Erik Murphy and six points from Young to stretch the lead back to 20 and seal the Tigers’ fate.
“They have good size, but we were just missing shots,” said LSU junior forward Shavon Coleman, who had 11 points on the afternoon. “We had wide open shots. They contested some shots, but we just missed some shots.”
Playing for most of the second half without junior forward Johnny O’Bryant III, LSU was assaulted on the inside to the tune of 38 Florida points in the paint.
O’Bryant took a fall in the first half that re-aggravated an injury, according to Jones, who added he did not expect the injury to be debilitating.
In O’Bryant’s absence, senior center Andrew Del Piero logged a team-leading and career-high 33 minutes, chipping in seven points and five rebounds with no turnovers.
Jones lauded Del Piero and the rest of the Tigers for committing just eight turnovers against what Jones called one of the best defensive teams in the country.
“I thought we did an excellent job of spacing the floor and getting the ball up,” Jones said. “[Florida] actually backed out of their press. They usually thrive on turning people over and getting easy scoring opportunities, and they weren’t albeit to do that to us.”
