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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Freshman Devin Robinson drives into the paint during Florida's 75-50 win against Texas Southern on Friday in the O'Connell Center.</p>

Freshman Devin Robinson drives into the paint during Florida's 75-50 win against Texas Southern on Friday in the O'Connell Center.

Despite some early foul trouble, Florida (5-4) defeated Texas Southern (1-7) 75-50 at the O’Connell Center on Friday night.

Coach Billy Donovan’s second win of the week marks Florida’s first in the two teams’ first meeting in program history.

“We left some points out there but I thought we were pretty efficient in terms of moving and passing and I thought our ball movement was good,” Donovan said. “Our unselfishness was very good.”

Starters center Jon Horford, freshman forward Devin Robinson, junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith, sophomore guard Kasey Hill and junior guard Michael Frazier got the Gators off to a quick start. By the time the Tigers made their first shot four minutes in, the Gators had already notched 9 points.

Just more than five minutes into the first half on Friday, redshirt junior guard Eli Carter clocked his first playing time since logging 13 minutes against North Carolina in the Bahamas on Nov. 28. Moments later, he took his first shot and he sunk it. Carter’s three points off the bench gave Florida an 11-point lead over Texas Southern.

Carter ended the game with six points and two rebounds in 14 minutes played—a vast improvement from the one point, one rebound and one steal he made in his last game played.

“I think he needs to get his timing and his wind back,” Donovan said. “I didn’t really go into the game with a lot of expectations.”

As Florida ran into some early success, the Gators also found themselves in early foul trouble. By the end of the first half the Gators led the Tigers by 17 points and a single foul. Florida had accumulated seven and Texas Southern was right behind with six fouls.

The Gators ended the night with 16 personal fouls, two ahead of Texas Southern’s 14. Robinson owned the most with four.

Robinson broke his career record of 13 points against Kansas with a team leading 15 points.

“I think the both of those guys made the biggest jump after the first four or five games when they both admitted it was a lot harder than they thought it ever could be” Donovan said of freshmen Robinson and Chiozza. “I think when young players get to that place they become very, very coachable.”

Robinson totaled four rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes.

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“I played some tough teams in the Bahamas so you’ve got to keep playing hard and playing tough,” Robinson said of his continually improving performance. “Just calm down and stop forcing shots and listen to coach.”

Chris Walker was second on the team with 12 points, while also notching a career and team-high four blocks.

Florida was just two rebounds ahead of the Tigers’ 32.

“We were not very good defensively at all, I mean we got beat multiple times off the dribble, we gave up a lot of offensive rebounds,” Donovan said. “We were not good defensively, they missed shots, and even some shots that they missed we did not do a good job of guarding.”

Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa

Freshman Devin Robinson drives into the paint during Florida's 75-50 win against Texas Southern on Friday in the O'Connell Center.

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