Starkville, MS (Sports Network) - Kenny Boynton led four Florida players in
double figures with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and Erik
Murphy netted 18 points and six rebounds, as No. 8 Florida rolled to its
eighth straight victory Saturday taking down Mississippi State, 82-47.
Patric Young posted 13 points and six rebounds while shooting a perfect 6-
of-6 from the field, and Scottie Wilbekin donated 13 points and nine assists
for the Gators (16-2, 6-0 SEC), who remained unbeaten in conference play.
"I think they're playing better than anybody else in the nation," Mississippi
State coach Rick Ray said. "They have the best players in the SEC, the most
talent in the SEC, but their willingness to share the basketball is by far
their best attribute."
Fred Thomas tallied 19 points and seven steals and Colin Borchert added 10
points for the Bulldogs (7-11, 2-4), who have lost four straight, all by
double figures.
The Gators jumped out to an early 20-6 advantage less than eight minutes in
after Boynton and Michael Frazier nailed back-to-back 3-pointers. Wilbekin's
lay-in with 8 1/2 left before the break made it 31-8, before the visitors led
comfortably at halftime, 41-19.
"We wanted to get a lead and keep it," Boynton said.
The Gators' onslaught continued into the second half. They led by as many as
36 and were never threatened by the struggling Bulldogs. Murphy's trey with
7:38 left in the contest made it 70-40 before Florida's substitutes finished
out the game.
Florida connected on a season-high 14 3-pointers, while Boynton and Murphy
each had four and Wilbekin had three.
Game Notes
The Gators finished with 44 rebounds, compared to 20 for MSU ... Florida shot
55.4 percent, including 14-of-31 from behind the arc ... Mississippi State
shot 32.7 percent and a mere 3-of-15 from 3-point range ... Craig Sword and
Gavin Ware added eight and 10 points, respectively, in the loss and were the
only other Bulldogs to register at least one point ... MSU is the 10th
opponent that UF has held to under 50 points this season.
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