In a much closer game than I anticipated, the #18 Florida Gators defeated the UAB Blazers 56-47 tonight. The game was mostly a back-and-forth dogfight until the Gators went on an 9-0 run with less than four minutes in the contest.
Two Florida players hit double digits tonight in scoring. They were Michael Frazier II and Chris Chiozza.
Michael Frazier II had a game-high 14 points on 4 of 10 shooting. From three-point land, he went three of seven. He also recorded a block and brought down eight rebounds to tie for the game-high. He played significantly better this game and is slowly but surely returning to the sharp shooting form he had just a year ago.
Similar to Frazier II, true freshman Chris Chiozza had the deep ball working tonight as he went three of six from downtown. In total, he had a career-high 13 points and looked good on the court as he set up the offense. He tallied three assists and on defense he was a beast with five steals! If ChiChi keeps this up, he will be a viable candidate to steal Kasey Hill's starting point guard position.
That being said, Kasey Hill actually had another decent game tonight. He scored eight points and dished out a game-high five assists. It will be interesting to watch the point guard battle between him and ChiChi as the season progresses and the games become more meaningful.
Also scoring eight points was the big graduate center Jon Horford. He put his size to good use today as he brought down eight rebounds to tie Frazier II for the game-high. He also recorded one block and hit all four of his free throw attempts in the game.
Once again closing out my player highlights is Chris Walker. In 11 minutes, the sophomore had seven points, a block, and six rebounds. Not too shabby for playing the second-lowest amount of minutes in the game.
Now that the Gators (3-2) have won at least one game in Atlantis, they should enter tomorrow's final game against the #5 North Carolina Tarheels (4-1) feeling loose and relaxed. They should still be focused, however, since North Carolina is definitely a high-caliber team. This is a very compelling matchup between two great college basketball programs. Tipoff for this game is at 8 p.m. It should be a good one!
After nearly pulling the upset, UAB (2-4) will also finish out its time in Atlantis with its last game against the #22 UCLA Bruins (4-2). Tipoff is set for 10:30 p.m.
*All stats accredited to ESPN.com
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