Tyus Leads the Gators

Florida Gators center Alex Tyus had a career afternoon, scoring 25 points to lead the No. 17 ranked Gators over Missouri-Kansas City, 86-65. Florida used an 18-0 run that spanned over halftime to take control of a game that was close throughout the first half.

Chandler Parsons played well in front of his hometown crowd at the Amway Center in Orlando, scoring 17 points and going 7-of-9 from the floor. Nick Calathes scored nine points in just 23 minutes of action. Freshman Erving Walker scored 13 minutes and dished out nine assists as he got the opportunity to run the point for a good portion of the game.

Florida got off to a slow start and the UMKC Kangaroos stuck with the Gators for most of the first half. The Gators trailed three different times after UMKC senior guard Dane Brumagin had a solid first half. Brumagin scored 14 in the first 20 minutes, but managed just two points in the second half.

Florida’s biggest lead of the first half came with 6:55 left after Walter Hodge knocked down a 15-footer from the free throw line to give Florida a 27-23 lead. But UMKC answered with a 9-2 run, getting seven points from Brumagin during the stretch. But with the Kangaroos leading 32-29 with 4:50 to play in the opening half, they would go scoreless over the next seven minutes, allowing the Gators to pull away.

Florida dominated the second half, outscoring UMKC 46-33 and holding the Kangaroos to just 34.2 percent shooting. Meanwhile the Gators were red-hot, making better than 62 percent of their shots in the second half.

Florida outrebounded UMKC 35-31 and dished out 12 more assists. The only real negative for Florida was that they committed 22 turnovers.

Tyus made 10-of-13 shots and also made 5-of-7 from the free throw line. The Gators made 12-of-15 from the charity stripe, but struggled again from long range, making just 6-of-20 from 3-point range.

Florida returns to the O’Connell Center on Tuesday to face Florida A&M at 7 p.m. before heading to Tallahassee to face FSU next weekend.