Field Level Media
Jan 22, 2019
Down big at halftime, Florida bombed its way back to an important conference win Tuesday night against visiting Texas A&M in Gainesville, Fla.
Senior guard KeVaughn Allen scored a season-high 31 points as the Gators rallied from down 13 points at halftime to beat Texas A&M 81-72 at the O'Connell Center.
Freshman guard Noah Locke added a career-high 27 points for the Gators (11-7, 3-3 Southeastern Conference), who made a season-high 18 3-pointers while shooting 48.6 percent (18 of 37) from 3-point range. Allen and Locke combined for 15 of Florida's 18 3-pointers
Junior guard Wendell Mitchell led Texas A&M (7-10, 1-5) with 25 points. Sophomore guard Jay Jay Chandler added 15 points for the Aggies before fouling out. But Texas A&M was unable to sustain its hot start, shooting just 40 percent from the field and 18.2 percent from 3-point range in the second half.
Down 53-44 in the second half, Florida went on a 10-0 run, going up 54-53 on an Allen 3-pointer in transition. With the score tied at 59 later in the second half, senior guard Jalen Hudson and Locke hit back to back 3-pointers for the Gators, putting the Gators ahead to stay 65-59.
Coming off a 66-43 loss to Missouri, Texas A&M scored more points in the first half than it did the entire game against the Tigers. The Aggies shot 55.2 percent from the field and 63.6 percent (7 of 11) from 3-point range to build a 46-33 halftime lead.
Mitchell scored 17 points in the first half, going 5 for 5 from 3-point range. Mitchell's second 3-pointer of the first half put Texas A&M up 22-17.
Later in the half, Mitchell stole the ball from Allen and drove in for a breakaway layup, putting Texas A&M up 31-21. After a layup from freshman Florida center Isaiah Stokes cut Texas A&M's lead to 33-29, Mitchell answered with another 3-pointer to put Florida up 36-29.
Mitchell capped his big first half with a 22-foot 3-pointer as time expired.
--Field Level Media