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Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>UF forward Devin Robinson soars for a dunk during Florida's 89-42 exhibition win against Palm Beach Atlantic on Nov. 5, 2015, in the O'Connell Center.</p>

UF forward Devin Robinson soars for a dunk during Florida's 89-42 exhibition win against Palm Beach Atlantic on Nov. 5, 2015, in the O'Connell Center.

Florida started off the Mike White era with a win.

Behind Devin Robinson’s first career double-double, UF defeated Navy 59-41 on the road Friday night. The sophomore forward recorded 13 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks off the bench, including an athletic three-point play as time expired in the first half after he was fouled on a jumper.

“A lot of it is just his motor and just how hard he’s playing,” White said of Robinson. “He’s flying around the court, he’s using that God-given length and athleticism and bounce that he’s got, and he’s just scratching the surface.”

After tallying 23 turnovers in its exhibition win on Nov. 5, the Gators didn’t fare much better against the Midshipmen, tallying 11 in the first half and finishing with 19.

Florida began slowly, falling behind 9-2 after missing six of their first seven shots and committing seven early turnovers. Eventually, the Gators rallied from the six-point deficit to take a 29-19 lead into halftime.

Florida didn’t trail for the remainder of the game.

“We just knew we were better than that. We came out sluggish,” Robinson said. “We just knew we had to dig deep if we didn’t want to go home sad.”

Freshman guard KeVaughn Allen finished second on the team with nine points, followed by junior Kasey Hill with eight points, five assists and four rebounds.

Redshirt senior Dorian Finney-Smith had an inconsistent night in his season debut, finishing 1-for-6 from the field with five turnovers, but also collecting a game-high 12 rebounds.

“It really took everyone a while to get in an offensive rhythm, and we never really did,” White said.

UF next faces North Carolina A&T on Monday at 8 p.m. in its regular season home opener. The game can be seen on the SEC network+.

“We’re going to continue to emphasize transition defense, our press, our half court defense everyday,” said White, whose team shot 46.9 percent from the field and limited Navy to just 28.8 percent shooting. “Hopefully in a month we’re a lot better offensively than we are today.”

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A radio broadcast contributed to this report.

 Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @icohenb

UF forward Devin Robinson soars for a dunk during Florida's 89-42 exhibition win against Palm Beach Atlantic on Nov. 5, 2015, in the O'Connell Center.

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