Florida did not look ready for prime time following theirperformance in the SEC Championship game loss against Ole Miss. Though they may not be an elite team, they certainly turned inan impressive performance against Northwestern State, defeating theDemons 79-47.
AfterNorthwestern State kept it close in the first half, and Florida heldonly an 8 point 40-32 lead, the Gators flipped a switch and outscoredthe Demons 39-15 in the second half, looking outright dominant.
Starbig man Erik Murphy led the way for Florida, scoring 18 points whiletop Senior guards Mike Rosario and Kenny Boynton contributed 8 and 11points respectively after sitting out much of the first half.
Perhapsthe best news for the Gators’ title hopes came with the defeat ofGeorgetown at the hands of Florida Gulf Coast. The bottom half of theSouth bracket got even weaker as the Gators will now play eitherunderperforming Minnesota or Jordan Adams-less UCLA to move on to theSweet Sixteen. Once they get there, only underwhelming FloridaGulf-Coast or either Oklahoma or San Diego State await.