After exiting the SEC Tournament just one step away from the championship game, the Gators were seeking redemption with March Madness officially upon them.
In front of a home crowd, playing just a few hours away from Gainesville, Florida got it —and not by a slim margin.
No. 1 Florida (27-7) demolished No. 16 Prairie View A&M (19-18) 114-55 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida. With the win, the Gators keep their season alive and advance to the Round of 32 to play the No. 9 seed Iowa Hawkeyes.
The victory marked the Gators largest win of the season, topping a 41-point blowout against Saint Francis on Dec. 17, and they now boast the second-largest margin of victory in NCAA Tournament history, trailing a 111-42 final between Loyola and Tennessee Tech in 1963.
"Really, really pleased with the way our players performed tonight," head coach Todd Golden said. "They did a really good job of just executing and playing with great intent from start to finish."
The Panthers entered Friday’s contest on an eight-game win streak, a hot streak the Gators looked to curb. Florida got out to a 7-0 start, but Prairie View quickly responded from deep. It drained five consecutive 3-pointers to tie the score at 15, and it seemed the No. 1 seed would already be tested in the first round.
But that was the only time the two teams were tied, as the Gators responded with an 18-2 run. To end the half, the Gators went on a 45-6 run to lead 60-21 entering halftime.
After going 5 for 7 from deep to open the game, the Panthers splashed just one 3-pointer the remainder of the game. Additionally, they failed to generate anything in the paint, scoring their first paint-points four minutes into the second half.
Florida did not run into the same problem. It scored 64 of its 114 points in the paint. Sophomore guard Boogie Fland got off to the hottest start. He led all scorers with 13 first-half points, but he, or the rest of the Gators squad, did not slow down in the second half.
Once again, the Gators also dominated the rebound battle. Florida grabbed 54 boards to the Panthers’ 20 and more than doubled up on them in second-chance points with 23 to their nine.
Leading the charge was Rueben Chinyelu, who not only grabbed 13 boards, but broke a UF record in the process. With his 14 points and 13 rebounds, he posted his 19th double-double of the season, breaking Florida’s single-season record previously held by Bob Smyth who put up 18 in the 1975-76 season.
"Fantastic player, a relentless worker and has just improved so much since he's got here to where he is now," Golden said.
On the offensive front, the Gators posted one of their most efficient all-around efforts of the season. They shot 64% from the field and 45% from deep.
The Panthers found far less success, shooting just 27% across the board.
Panthers senior guard Dontae Horne came into Friday’s contest averaging a team-leading 20.3 points and adding 4.6 rebounds and three assists per game. When faced with the Gators, he put up just 12 points with two rebounds and one assist.
Along with Horne, Tai'Reon Joseph was the only other Panther in double figures with 16 points.
But seven Gators scored in double figures. Along with Fland and Chinyelu, Thomas Haugh contributed 14, Alex Condon had 13, Urban Klavžar had 11 and Micah Handlogten and Xaivian Lee each posted 10.
Florida’s Olivier Rioux also scored NCAA Tournament points, much to the delight of the Gator fans in Tampa, who were calling for him with nearly nine minutes left to play in the second half.
That, coupled with Florida’s performance on the glass, was more than enough for the Gators to skate by in the Round of 64.
The Gators will face No. 9 Iowa (22-12) in the Round of 32 on Sunday back at Benchmark International Arena. Tipoff is still to be determined.
Contact Ava DiCecca at adicecca@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @avadicecca24.
Ava is a sophomore sports journalism student and the Spring 2026 sports editor. Previously for The Alligator, she covered volleyball and did sports enterprise. Ava enjoys watching and playing sports in her free time and has been a Boston sports fan all her life. (Brad Marchand is still everything.)
