West Virginia and Florida are set to face off in the fifth-place game of the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament on Sunday evening. These two teams are both coming off wins after dropping their first round games on Thursday. The Mountaineers and Gators have played three times since the 2015-2016 season, with Florida winning all three matchups. The last matchup between these two schools came on Jan. 30, 2021, with West Virginia losing, 85-80.
The Mountaineers have had a decent trip to Portland, Oregon, thus far, losing by 12 to eventual champion Purdue, and then beating Portland State 89-71 on Friday.
The Gators lost to Xavier 90-83 on Thursday, and then beat Oregon State 81-68 on Friday. The Gators are 4-2 on the year under first-year head coach Todd Golden.
Tip off is set for 8:30 EST, with the game being televised on ESPNU.
Florida Starters:
Trey Bonham
Will Richard
Kyle Lofton
CJ Felder
Colin Castleton
West Virginia Starters:
Kedrian Johnson
Erik Stevenson
Emmitt Matthews
Tre Mitchell
Jimmy Bell
Second Half:
FINAL: West Virginia 84, Florida 55
16:26- WVU on a 10-0 run and the Mountaineers lead by 20 with 16:26 to play Emmitt Matthews with 8 points so far in the second half and WVU has been turning defense into offense. West Virginia leads 55-35.
HALF: WVU 41, Florida 33
WVU led by as many as 16, but Florida went on a 12-4 run over the past 4:58 of the half WVU shot 37.8% from the field in the first half, while turning the ball over 7 times Florida shot 40.7% and had 9 turnovers Tre Mitchell leads all scorers with 11 points.
First Half:
3:59- WVU still leads 37-24. The Mountaineers have slowed down a little bit on the offensive end and have been rotating more of the guys on their team. Florida’s Colin Castleton and Jason Jitoboh have three fouls. Creates somewhat of an advantage inside for WVU.
7:56- WVU leads 30-19. Eight Mountaineers have scored so far, and WVU is 11 for 22 from the field. The Gators are shooting 41% from the field.
8:35- Emmitt Matthews throws down a dunk and WVU leads 30-17. Florida answers back with a dunk of their own.
11:37- WVU has opened a 24-13 lead over Florida within the first 10 minutes of the first half. The Mountaineers went on a 10-0 run and six points off of turnovers so far
15:49- West Virginia leads 12-10 early on. The Mountaineers defense has been causing havoc, as a steal led to an Erik Stevenson transition three-pointer.
20:00- Mountaineers win tip and on their first possession, a bad bounce pass from Kedrian Johnson leads to a layup for Florida.
