Written by Adrian Beecher
Orlando FL- Devin Robinson and Justin Leon's double-doubles led the Gators to a dominating 65-39 victory over the Virginia Cavaliers in round two of the NCAA Tournament. Things started out back and forth, but a 12-0 run at the end of the 1st half for Florida was all they would need to put this one out of reach. Here's how it went down.
Florida won the opening tipoff. However, it was Virginia getting the first points of the game with a layup from Mamadi Diakite. Then the Gators answered with a layup of their own coming from KeVaughn Allen.
It was a very slow moving game early on and with UVA leading 6-2 with 17:53 on the clock. Other than the 4 point lead, there wasn’t any separation from the two team in the first 8 minutes. With 13:08 left in the 1st half it was all tied up at 8. Then each team traded triples to make it 11 all.
The Gators were able to get their first lead of the game with a fast-break dunk by Gorjok Gak with 9:51 left to play as they went up 15-13. Things continued with a slow pace with both teams going back and forth until there was 3:03 left on the clock and Justin Leon put in a layup to start a 10-0 run by the Gators over the next 2 and a half minutes. With 45.6 seconds left it was Gators up 29-17 as UVA called a timeout to stop the bleeding.
Out of the timeout, UVA was unable to get a bucket and then on the other side of the floor, Kevarrius Hayes slammed in a dunk at the buzzer to put UF up 31-17 as the teams went into the locker room at the half. That marked a 12-0 run to end the half for UF. Leading the way for UF was Justin Leon and Devin Robinson combining for 15 points. UVAs arsenal was not firing on all cylinders, as they didn’t have a scorer with more than 4 points.
UF started the 2nd half with the ball and immediately got to work with a layup from Hayes to push their lead to 16. They didn’t stop there, hitting a free throw and a triple to make it a 20-point deficit for the Cavaliers with 18:43 left in the game.
UVA wouldn’t get on the board in the 2nd half until the 17:15 mark as they put an end to the 21-0 UF run dating back to the 1st half. It was an and-one that was drained by Diakite to make it 40-20 with UF on top.
The demolition continued and with 8:24 left to play, Florida had extended their lead to 26 on the Cavaliers. Virginia was never able to trim the lead down, and this one got ugly. With 2:54 left to play, the Gators had extended their lead to 29 points with a 65-36 lead on UVA.
In the end, it was a 65-39 victory for the Gators as they advance to the Sweet Sixteen for a matchup with Wisconsin on Friday, March 24th in New York City.
Florida won the opening tipoff. However, it was Virginia getting the first points of the game with a layup from Mamadi Diakite. Then the Gators answered with a layup of their own coming from KeVaughn Allen.
It was a very slow moving game early on and with UVA leading 6-2 with 17:53 on the clock. Other than the 4 point lead, there wasn’t any separation from the two team in the first 8 minutes. With 13:08 left in the 1st half it was all tied up at 8. Then each team traded triples to make it 11 all.
The Gators were able to get their first lead of the game with a fast-break dunk by Gorjok Gak with 9:51 left to play as they went up 15-13. Things continued with a slow pace with both teams going back and forth until there was 3:03 left on the clock and Justin Leon put in a layup to start a 10-0 run by the Gators over the next 2 and a half minutes. With 45.6 seconds left it was Gators up 29-17 as UVA called a timeout to stop the bleeding.
Out of the timeout, UVA was unable to get a bucket and then on the other side of the floor, Kevarrius Hayes slammed in a dunk at the buzzer to put UF up 31-17 as the teams went into the locker room at the half. That marked a 12-0 run to end the half for UF. Leading the way for UF was Justin Leon and Devin Robinson combining for 15 points. UVAs arsenal was not firing on all cylinders, as they didn’t have a scorer with more than 4 points.
UF started the 2nd half with the ball and immediately got to work with a layup from Hayes to push their lead to 16. They didn’t stop there, hitting a free throw and a triple to make it a 20-point deficit for the Cavaliers with 18:43 left in the game.
UVA wouldn’t get on the board in the 2nd half until the 17:15 mark as they put an end to the 21-0 UF run dating back to the 1st half. It was an and-one that was drained by Diakite to make it 40-20 with UF on top.
The demolition continued and with 8:24 left to play, Florida had extended their lead to 26 on the Cavaliers. Virginia was never able to trim the lead down, and this one got ugly. With 2:54 left to play, the Gators had extended their lead to 29 points with a 65-36 lead on UVA.
In the end, it was a 65-39 victory for the Gators as they advance to the Sweet Sixteen for a matchup with Wisconsin on Friday, March 24th in New York City.