Gators rout Ohio behind first-half run, Kowacie Reeves' big night
Kowacie Reeves scored a season-high 20 points off the bench to lead the Gators to a dominant 82-48 win against Ohio on Wednesday at Amalie Arena in Tampa.
Florida built a commanding 33-10 lead late in the first half with a 17-0 run — its largest of the season — sparked by Reeves and Kyle Lofton. UF led by more than 30 for the majority of the second period and as much as 40.
“In terms of building our program and where we are, beating a team like this by 34 is not easy to do,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “That means a lot. It’s really hard against a team like Ohio to do this.”
Reeves was 7-for-11 from the floor and made a career-high four 3-pointers with six boards. Wednesday marked his second career 20-point performance, both of which have come at Amalie Arena. He scored a career-high 21 vs. Texas A&M in the 2022 SEC Tournament.
“In the beginning without even shooting, like rebounding, playing hard, that gets you going. That gets me going, as a player. That gets me in my rhythm offensively,” Reeves said. “Shots just came by my teammates doing a good job finding guys when the defense collapsed.”
Florida shot 52 percent for the game and 45 percent from downtown, hitting double-digit treys (10) for the third time in the last four games.
Reeves was one of four Gators in double figures, along with starters Lofton (15 points), Alex Fudge (13) and Trey Bonham (12). Fudge also led the team with 10 rebounds, marking his second double-double in the last four games.
During that stretch, Fudge has averaged 13.3 points and 8.3 rebounds with four blocked shots while shooting .563 from the field (18-for-32), .500 from 3 (3-for-6) and .933 from the free throw line (14-for-15).
“I thought we looked like an improved team tonight. Multiple guys played well, and I think schematically in terms of what we want to do, we defended very well,” Golden said. “We guarded in the half-court really well. We limited their transition.”
Defensively, Florida held the Bobcats to 31 percent shooting and just 21 percent from long range. Ohio only knocked down three 3-pointers, which tied Florida State for the fewest allowed by the Gators this season.
UF limited the Bobcats to a 4-for-25 start from the field (0-for-7 from 3), including 10 straight misses over an eight-minute span. Florida held an opponent under 50 points for the second time this season (45 vs. Stony Brook).
The Gators improved to 7-4 and will be back in action Tuesday against Oklahoma in the Jumpman Invitational.
“Our next step as a program, as a team, will be finishing the job against a Quad 1 opponent,” Golden said, “and Oklahoma is an opportunity to do that next week.”
