– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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CHARLOTTE — Having to tough out a victory has not happened a lot, if at all, for the Florida Gators on the hardwood before Tuesday night, which makes their latest win in hostile territory all the more gratifying as they continue their undefeated run.
Will Richard scored 22 points, including a put-back layup off an offensive rebound with just under a minute remaining to give the Gators the lead for good as No. 7 Florida defeated North Carolina 90-84 inside the Spectrum Center in Charlotte as part of the Jumpman Invitational. Alijah Martin had 19 points for Florida as it moves to 11-0 on the season, continuing its best start to a campaign since the 2005-06 team, the first of back-to-back national championship squads, won its first 17 games.
Florida had lead in the final two minutes of each game this season, with the Florida State game on November 15 being the only contest in which the Gators were not leading by at least 16 points in those late stages. R.J. Davis had 29 points for the Tar Heels in leading a rousing comeback after the Gators had built a 35-17 lead in the first half, as Carolina opened up a lead as much as four, 81-77, at the under-four-minute media timeout.
Down by three, Florida tied the game at 82-82 on a long ball by Martin with 2:31 remaining, and his two free throws one possession later tied the game again at 84. After forcing a turnover on North Carolina’s next possession, Florida took the lead when Richard grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on a layup off a Martin miss from the right wing.
“I saw no disappointment. Nobody pointing fingers,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said. “I saw guys that were poised and ready to attack the last four minutes, defend, rebound and take care of the ball.”
Four free throws from sophomore forward Thomas Haugh and Richard over the final 7.9 seconds sealed the narrow victory for Florida, who had won each of their previous 10 games by double digits and were sporting a 21.5-point margin of victory before Tuesday.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with photos taken by North Carolina-based photographer William Anthony. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 30 pictures in total.
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