A mistake-riddled first half left UF only 9 points ahead of Stetson as they walked into the locker room.
When the Gators took the floor in the second, Nick Calathes put the ball in his hand and the team on his back.
The sophomore scored 23 points as UF (11-2) pulled away to beat Stetson (5-5) 78-57 Tuesday in the O'Connell Center.
"I don't think we pushed the ball enough in the first half," Calathes said. "Once they started to get tired, we started to score a lot of points. That was the difference."
The Gators went on a 15-0 run to start the second half and had four players finish in double figures.
Alex Tyus once again turned in a strong performance scoring 16 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. It was the sophomore's second double-double of the season.
But it wasn't all sunshine for the Gators. UF gave up 20 offensive rebounds to the Hatters.
"They just outworked us," Dan Werner said. "Thank God we haven't played any games (in the SEC) yet. We have a lot of areas to improve in before we can compete with SEC caliber teams."
Eloy Vargas saw action for only the second time this season.
The freshman, who has been hampered by recovery from summer ankle surgery, played the games final two minutes and scored 1 point.
Allen likely done for the year
UF Coach Billy Donovan informed the media that sophomore Adam Allen did not attend Tuesday's game because he was having surgery to repair an injury to the patella tendon in his left knee.
"I would say that he is probably done for the year," Donovan said. "He has another four weeks (of recovery) after today.
Allen has not played all season because of the injury and will likely take a medical redshirt.
The sophomore averaged 4 points a game as freshman.
