RALEIGH, NC — The final score will show that the Florida Gators dominated the HBCU Norfolk State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
But the game was one of those occasions in college basketball where the 95-69 win only told part of the story.
The Florida Gators came out on fire in the game’s first 15 minutes, leading by as many as 32 points with 4:17 remaining thanks to a dominant rebounding performance and a sizzling start from the 3-point line.
“I think we played exceptionally well for the first 15 minutes and kind of exhaled and — Norfolk’s good,” Florida head coach Tom Golden said after the game. “They’re quick. They’re really hard to keep in front. And I thought we our defensive intensity for the first 15 minutes of the game was elite. We did a great job of staying in front, guarding physicality.”
But the HBCU squad wouldn’t go away, managing to keep Florida on its toes for the rest of the game.
And then when we took a little bit of a breath, we actually had some bad turnovers that led to transition run outs and gave them a little juice, little confidence,” Golden said. “Coach Jones does a great job continuing to motivate and keeping them engaged in the game. And they got a little life, an 11-0 run. And you know, I thought, they did a good job taking advantage of that.”
Jones acknowledged that the slow start hampered his team, which never managed to get the lead below 18 points.
“We didn’t take the punch well, but, I think that we showed after that punch that the team that we were — that we really are — that we really should have been the whole game,” Jones said.
Walter Clayton Jr. led the Florida Gators with 23 points, hitting four of his nine 3-point attempts. Alijah Martin added 17 points for Florida.
Grad student Christian Ings led Norfolk State with 16 points, hitting six of his 13 attempts in his final game.
“We knew that we didn’t start the game the way we wanted to,”Ings said. “But we knew we damn sure we’re gonna finish the way we wanted.”
Norfolk State finishes its season 24-11 overall.
