MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (AP) – Colin Castleton led the Florida part at the time, in attack and defense.
Castleton scored 15 of his 21 problems after half-time, and the Gators beat West Virginia 85-80 on Saturday in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.
Castleton also led the defensive effort on West Virginia’s Derek Culver after scoring 21 issues in the first half. Culver finished with a record 28 in his career, but was delayed in the game and made fewer trips to the single-throw line.
“I think Colin was smart defensive in the middle of the moment,” Florida coach Mike White said. “Much better. We all were. Everyone who played, I think, was a little more defensively blocked.
Noah Locke had 19 problems for Florida (10-4), which won a record 4 in a row. Tyree Applebee finished with 12.
“We let them begin. We didn’t leave them at half-time,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. They’re smart. They have very smart players. We just don’t play with much aggression. “
Culver scored 7 out of 11 goals in the area and 14 of 17 free throws and had 12 rebounds.
“Derek and I spent about an hour together after practice,” Huggins said. “Everything we did for an hour was undeniable things with their back game and loose shots.
The Gators advanced to Scottie Lewis’ three-point tiebreaker with 4:05 for playing. Castleleton went on with a three-point play, and made two shots loose to put the Gators up 83-80 with 1:36 for playing.
Castleton called for an offensive foul with 59 seconds to play, but West Virginia committed a stopwatch violation in the resulting possession.
Appleby made two shots loose with 28 seconds to play by the maximum margin.
Castleton said Florida “just comfortable in the first part. “We don’t play hard enough. (Culver) had a lot of simple cubes that I didn’t intend to have. I just stopped at that in the part of the moment and didn’t give him as many simple looks as he did in the first part. “
Sean McNeil added 21 issues and Taz Sherman scored 11 for the Mountaineers. Top scorer Miles McBride, who had 24 problems in the 88-87 win over No. 11 Texas Tech on Monday night, remained at nine.
“We give up too many subjects in painting. We’re too foolish,” Culver said. “We have to go back to the drawing table. “
Florida has advanced to 7-3 since Southeast Conference pre-season player Keyontae Johnson collapsed in a game in early December against Florida State. Johnson’s back on the bench but in a supporting role.
“We’ve reorganized everything we do on the offensive. So it took a long time,” White said. “When we first got here, we were betting on Keyontae. We play with both emotion and everything. We’re back on Earth a little bit. They gave us the paintings and we improved. We have a long way to go, but we are much bigger than we were a few weeks ago. “
BIG PICTURE
Florida: Gators fired 25 out of 30 (83%) from the loose firing line. The genuine difference in the transition, where Florida beat West Virginia 26-5 at fast break points.
“Defense is largely a matter of center and competence,” Huggins said. “When you don’t compete, you’re exposed. They’re just not as competitive as boys in the past. How to not do it”. throw yourself to the ground by a loose ball in a game like this?»
West Virginia: Mountaineers have vanished directly and are now turning to their toughest streak of the season with eight games in three weeks, five on the road. Six of these clashes are opposed to classified opponents.
NICHOLS COME BACK
Florida assistant coach Darris Nichols faced Huggins for the third time. The Gators beat West Virginia at the 2016 Big 12/SEC Challenge in Gainesville, Florida, and the 2018 Jimmy V Classic. Nichols was a leader in West Virginia Huggins’ first season in 2007-08.
IMPLICATIONS OF THE SURVEY
Despite his 10th Texas Tech victory last Monday, Saturday’s defeat can save him from West Virginia being in the 10 most sensitive in the AP poll.
Following
Florida welcomes South Carolina on Wednesday.
West Virginia Tuesday in the state of Iowa.
___
More AP College Basketball: http://apnews. com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter. com/AP_Top25