Florida basketball won big on Friday afternoon inside the O’Connell Center with a 39-point victory over the visiting Grambling State Tigers, 96-57. It gave the Gators their fifth-straight win and kept the team’s perfect record in December intact.
Todd Golden’s gang came into the game ranked No. 32 in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index but the win gave his team a boost, pushing them up to No. 26 as of the Sunday after the triumph. Florida’s BPI rating — a measurement of a team’s true strength moving forward — moved up to 9.8, with the offense earning a 6.4 and the defense a 3.3 rating.
ESPN projects the Gators to finish the season with a 20.7-10.3 record overall and 10.8-7.2 in Southeastern Conference play. It gives the Gators an 8.0% chance of winning the conference while facing the 54th toughest remaining schedule.
Next up for the Orange and Blue are the Quinnipiac Bobcats, who travel to Gainesville on Saturday, Dec. 30, for Florida’s final non-conference game before the SEC slate. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET and the game can be watched on ESPNU.
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