Florida Building Quite a Following

Florida fans were ready for No. 5-ranked Kentucky--with some of them camping outside of O’Donnell Center in Gainesville, Fla., 24 hours before Thursday’s Southeastern Conference game.

Kentucky didn’t seem to be ready for an up-and-coming Florida team, even though both coaches--the Wildcats’ Tubby Smith and Gators’ Billy Donovan--were once assistants to Rick Pitino.

Florida used full-court pressure and effective three-point shooting--both trademarks of Pitino’s highly successful teams at Providence and Kentucky--in a 75-68 victory before a raucous record crowd of 12,443.

The Gators, 16-4 overall and 7-3 in the SEC, forced 16 turnovers and made nine of 20 three-point shots. Freshman Mike Miller had 21 points, four coming with three minutes left when he made a free throw after being fouled on a three-point basket to give Florida a 13-point lead.

The Wildcats (19-5, 8-2) appeared uneasy with the Florida pressure and crowd, shooting 41% and missing 16 of 18 three-point shots. Scott Padgett, a key player on last season’s NCAA championship team, was one for nine and didn’t score until 30 seconds remained.

When the game was over, security guards kept fans in the student section from flooding the court. But freshman Teddy Dupay dove into the crowd, then danced atop the press tables while sharing high-fives.

“Those people did something special,” said Dupay, who didn’t stop his celebration until Athletic Director Jeremy Foley ordered him off the tables and to the locker room. “They were camping out all night, and it rained. They did something special, so I figured I could do something different back for them.”

Florida, 12-0 at home this season, moved closer to its first NCAA tournament berth since 1994, when the Gators reached the Final Four under Lon Kruger, now at Illinois.

“Florida is for real,” said Smith, whose team beat Florida, 95-58, on Jan. 2 at Lexington, Ky. “They played awfully well. They’re going to be tough to beat down the road.”

Clemson 78, No. 12 North Carolina 63--Terrell McIntyre scored 25 points as the Tigers (13-9, 2-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) ended their longest losing streak in 11 seasons at six games with a rare victory over the Tar Heels (18-6, 6-4) at Clemson, S.C. North Carolina leads the series, 106-16.

With point guard Ed Cota still slowed by a calf injury, North Carolina had 17 turnovers.

No. 18 Purdue 90, No. 14 Iowa 75--The Boilermakers, who scored only 50 points in a loss to Northwestern on Wednesday, made 17 of their first 23 shots en route to a 52-38 lead at halftime at West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue (16-6, 4-4 in the Big Ten) led by as many as 23 points before Iowa (15-5, 6-4) pulled within seven points twice. Jaraan Cornell scored 12 of his 22 points in the final 10 minutes to allow the Boilermakers to maintain double-digit leads.

OTHER GAMES

Michigan (9-14, 3-7 in the Big Ten) shot 22% in its lowest scoring game in 48 years--a 58-34 loss to Northwestern (13-6, 5-4) at Evansville, Ill. Northwestern’s Evan Eschmeyer scored 29 points, making 15 of 19 free throws. . . . Louisville (11-7, 6-3 in Conference USA) took advantage of 29 turnovers by Memphis (10-10, 3-6) in an 89-76 home-court victory. The NCAA will have an announcement today on Louisville’s appeal of sanctions handed down before the season.