It was a night Florida Gulf Coast guard Reed Baker will always remember, and one UF will try and forget.
Baker, who knocked down five straight threes in the first half, made the Gators (7-2) fight for every basket in a opening 20 minutes that could have easily gone the wrong way for UF. FGCU (2-6) went in the locker room down only 8 points.
But the Gators held on and fired their way to a 94-60 win with dominant second half performance.
"Going into the half, I was very, very happy to be up eight," UF coach Billy Donovan said.
While the rest of the Gators came out of the gate lethargic, Alex Tyus played with the same passion as the scrappy Eagles.
Tyus almost single handedly kept UF afloat in the first half with his aggressive post play.
"It was a wake up call knowing that they were kind of hanging around," Tyus said. "We wanted to blow the game open (in the second half)."
The sophomore finished the night with 19 points and 8 boards.
Walter Hodge finally had the breakout game he had been looking for. The senior scored 19 points and drained five threes on the hottest shooting night he's had all season.
"I came out and tried to gives some energy," Hodge said.
For the first time all year point guard Nick Calathes was replaced in the starting lineup.
Donovan said Calathes did not meet the level of preparation that he expects of his players.
"It wasn't really a benching. It wasn't anything that Nick did wrong. But there is a level of accountability to the things we do preparing. That's what it came down to," Donovan said.
Calathes (7 points and 9 assists) said it was the first time he did not start a game since he was 7 years old.
Freshman Kenny Kadji made is first appearance in the starting rotation, but struggled in the expanded role scoring 6 points and turning the ball over several times in the paint.
