Florida began its national title defense with a dominant 114-55 victory over Prairie View A&M in Tampa, recording the second-largest victory margin in NCAA Tournament history. The top-seeded Gators (27-7) won by 59 points, falling just short of Loyola Chicago’s 111-42 win over Tennessee Tech in 1963. Boogie Fland led seven players in double figures with 16 points, making all six of his shots in the blowout victory.
The Gators turned a 15-all tie into a commanding 60-21 halftime lead with runs of 18-0 and 17-0 in the first half. Florida shot 75% before halftime and 64.3% for the game against the 16th-seeded Panthers (19-18). Rueben Chinyelu contributed 14 points and 13 rebounds, while Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon added 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Prairie View A&M, a 35 1/2-point underdog according to BetMGM Sportsbook, kept pace early by converting five of its first seven 3-point attempts. The Panthers didn’t have a 2-point basket through the first nine minutes but managed to tie the game at 15-all before Florida’s decisive runs. Chinyelu scored nine points during the ensuing 18-0 run that broke the game open.
The game featured a memorable moment when 7-foot-9 freshman Olivier Rioux, the world’s tallest teenager before turning 20 last month, contributed with a putback dunk late in the second half. The sellout crowd in Tampa witnessed what was essentially a home game for coach Todd Golden’s squad, playing only a two-hour drive south of its Gainesville campus. Condon, Haugh, Chinyelu and Fland all reached double-figure scoring in the first half alone.
Prairie View A&M, a historically Black school located outside Houston, earned its tournament berth after going 5-27 the previous season. The Panthers defeated Lehigh in the First Four and had experience against major conference teams, having lost road games to Texas A&M, Missouri, LSU and Oklahoma State earlier this season. Donate Horne led Prairie View with 12 points in the loss.
Florida advances to face the South Region’s No. 9 seed Iowa in the second round. The Gators will play their next NCAA Tournament game on Sunday as they continue their quest to repeat as national champions.