Florida upends No. 2 Tennessee 67-54 behind Colin Castleton

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Colin Castleton isaccustomed to being double-teamed every time he touches the ball,so he was pleasantly surprised — maybe even downright stunned —when Tennessee opted to guard him with a single defender in thesecond half.

“I’ve got to take advantage of that,” Castleton said.

He did. Castleton scored 20 points, including 16 in the secondhalf, and Florida upended the second-ranked Volunteers 67-54 onWednesday night.

Kyle Lofton added 14 points for the Gators, who delivered coachTodd Golden his most significant victory in his first season inGainesville. It was Florida’s second Quad 1 win in the last twoweeks.

The Volunteers, playing with their highest ranking in fouryears, lost for the first time in five games. They had won nine of10.

“Our guys are disappointed,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said.“We’re better than this, but tonight we weren’t.”

Tennessee (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Conference) looked like it hadtaken control midway through the second half. They outscoredFlorida by 10 points in the early going to take a six-pointlead.

But the Gators (13-9, 6-3) stormed back behind Castleton, whoscored 11 of 14 points as Florida rallied. The senior had a dunk,two free throws, a three-point play, a layup and a short jumper —essentially putting the team on his back down the stretch.

“They went small, and I felt like I had a mismatch,” Castletonsaid.

Myreon Jones and Will Richard chipped in nine points apiece forthe Gators.

Zakai Ziegler led the Vols with 15 points on 6-of-19 shooting.Olivier Nkamhoua added 11 points and nine rebounds for thevisitors, who also got 11 points and eight boards from VescoviSantiago.

The Gators were red hot to start the game, making six of theirfirst eight shots — including all three from 3-point range — whilebuilding a 17-4 advantage. But they quickly cooled against thenation’s best defense, missing nine of their next 11 as Tennesseemade cut it to 22-21.

The Vols had it going coming out of the locker room, withZiegler getting into the paint and making things happen. But it wasshort-lived — thanks mostly to Castleton.

“We gave them a chance to start believing in what they’re doing,and they took it,” Barnes said.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Tennessee surely will drop a few spots in next week’s AP Top 25college basketball poll.

BIG PICTURE

Tennessee: The Volunteers gave up 10 points in the opening fourminutes of the games, a rare sluggish start for the nation’s bestdefense. Tennessee had held four of its first eight SEC opponentsscoreless at the first media timeout, roughly the first fourminutes of games. It was a sign of things to come.

“We kept fighting uphill all night long,” Barnes said.

Florida: The Gators are two games into the toughest stretch oftheir season. Coming off a loss at Kansas State, they have roadgames against Kentucky and Alabama up next. So to say they neededthis one would be an understatement.

“It was a desperation game,” Castleton said. “We’ve got a toughschedule here and we’ve got to win games. We were able to claw andfight.”

IN THE HOUSE

Football coach Billy Napier watched the game from a few rowsbehind Florida’s bench alongside his two sons and receiver RickyPearsall. Former Florida tennis star Ben Shelton, the NCAA singleschampion in 2022, also was in attendance. So was former Gators andNFL quarterback Doug Johnson.

UP NEXT

Tennessee hosts No. 25 Auburn and former coach Bruce Pearl onSaturday.

Florida plays at Kentucky on Saturday. The Gators have lostseven of eight in the series.

NO. 1 PURDUE 80, PENN STATE 60

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Mason Gillis broke the Mackey Arenarecord by making nine 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 29points as Purdue beat Penn State.

Gillis went 10 of 14 from the field and 9 of 12 from beyond thearc. Zach Edey added his 18th double-double of the season with 18points and 13 rebounds.

The Big Ten-leading Boilermakers (22-1, 11-1) have won ninestraight overall, six straight in the series and are the only PowerFive team with fewer than two losses this season.

Seth Lundy had 18 points to lead the Nittany Lions (14-8,5-6).

NO. 14 MARQUETTE 73, VILLANOVA 64

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) — Tyler Kolek scored 20 points andMarquette rallied down the stretch to beat Villanova and maintain ashare of the Big East lead.

Kam Jones added 18 points for Marquette (18-5, 10-2), which haswon four straight games and nine of 10.

Eric Dixon and Caleb Daniels scored 14 each for Villanova(10-12, 4-7), which committed a season-high 19 turnovers. BrendanHausen added 12 points.

In a game neither team led by more than six until the finalminute, Kolek put Marquette ahead for good at 63-62 by sinking twofree throws with 4:32 remaining, starting a 10-0 spurt.

NO. 16 XAVIER 85, NO. 17 PROVIDENCE 83, OT

CINCINNATI (AP) — Jack Nunge had 23 points and 14 rebounds asXavier held off Providence in overtime.

Colby Jones and Souley Boum each scored 20 for the Musketeers,who won a first-place showdown in the Big East without injuredforward Zach Freemantle.

Noah Locke had 22 points and Ed Croswell added 21 for Providence(17-6, 9-3), which had beaten Xavier three straight times.

A layup by Boum put the Musketeers (18-5, 10-2) ahead 82-79 with51 seconds remaining in overtime. A layup by Devin Carter cutXavier’s lead to one with 24 seconds left. Boum hit one of two freethrows, and Jared Bynum’s 3-point attempt from the left cornerrimmed out at the buzzer.

NO. 25 AUBURN 94, GEORGIA 73

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Johni Broome scored 19 points and matched acareer high with 18 rebounds, Allen Flanigan scored a season-high22 points, and Auburn beat Georgia.

Wendell Green Jr. added 18 points and six assists and made two3-pointers during a 17-0 first-half run for the Tigers (17-5, 7-2Southeastern Conference).

Broome secured his seventh double-double of the season with 2:54remaining in the first half, then added six points and six reboundsin the second half.

Mardrez McBride led the Bulldogs (14-8, 4-5) with 20 points.