TALLAHASSEE – Florida has shown how stifling its defense is this season. While the Gators have won every game by double digits, it's the defense that has led to a 7-0 start.
And on Wednesday, the No. 6 Gators frustrated and overwhelmed an athletic Florida State team – routing their rival on the road by 25 points.
Mike Rosario and Kenny Boynton had 14 points, and Patric Young had 10 points and eight rebounds as Florida routed cold-shooting Florida State 72-47 before 10,593 fans at the Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center.
Florida (7-0) had been impressive in allowing opponents to score just 48.5 points this season. The Gators held Florida State to just 34 percent shooting and nine points below the Seminoles' season low.
"I thought the zone was effective for us in both halves," Florida coach Billy Donovan said. "And our press was effective for us. Them not shooting a high percentage – at least in the first half – what it enabled us to do was get out on the break … The steals enabled us to get to the free-throw line. And we stole some baskets, so to speak."
The Gators won their fourth straight game in the rivalry, and three of them have been double-digit wins. So seniors like Boynton, Rosario and Erik Murphy have never lost to Florida State.
And Florida State senior Michael Snaer, won of the top players in the Atlantic Coast Conference, has never beaten Florida. He went scoreless in the first half and finished with 10 points.
It was the second biggest margin of victory over Florida State in the 17-year Donovan Era, and most since a 96-61 win over the Seminoles in 1999.
Florida pulled away early on Wednesday. The Gators shot 48.1 percent in the first half, grabbing a 35-15 lead after the first 20 minutes as Rosario led the way with nine points.
"I was happy for him," Donovan said. "The one thing with Mike is he can be streaky sometimes. This just happened to be one of those games where he shot the ball well. I thought he gave us a very good lift offensively in the first half."
The Seminoles (4-4) were sloppy from the start, turning the ball over 13 times and shooting just 5 of 20 from the floor in the first half. Beyond a doubt it was the worst half of basketball for Florida State this season and it didn't get much better the rest of the way.
Snaer, didn't score his first points until a driving layup with 12:33 left in the game. He finished with 10 points and five rebounds, and Okaro White added nine points and six rebounds.
The Seminoles finished with a season-high 22 turnovers and had just seven assists. Florida State has now lost three straight games, all of them at home.
"Tonight I thought we ran into one of the better teams that we've played since I've been at Florida State," said coach Leonard Hamilton, who has been in Tallahassee since 2002. "… Late in the game, I turned to my assistants and said, ‘Can we really be this bad?' "
Florida State likely isn't as bad as it showed on Wednesday. But Florida gave indications of how good it is.
The Gators have battled through injuries and lineup changes. But yet they recorded their seventh straight win – all by double digits – and are off to their best start since opening 9-0 in 2009.
"The one thing that hopefully our guys are able to see is that our sum – our total – is maybe bigger than one or two individuals," Donovan said. "And that's a good sign of a team. As a group we all complement each other very, very well. I still think we can get better. I still think we can improve."
Florida State was hoping to put on a good show in front of a full house on what was a carefully orchestrated visit for the nation's No. 1 basketball recruit, forward Andrew Wiggins.
A senior attending a prep school in Huntington, W.Va., Wiggins appears to have narrowed his college choices to Kentucky and Florida State. He took an official visit to Tallahassee with his parents for Wednesday's game, and a few times – with Florida State trailing by more than 20 points – was serenaded to chants of "We want Wiggins."
While Florida State was not allowed to name Andrew Wiggins, his parents, both of which are former Florida State student-athletes, were honored at halftime with a lengthy video tribute and received a standing ovation. Marita Payne Wiggins was a sprinter who won a silver medal as part of Canada's 4x400 relay in the 1984 Olympics, and Mitchell Wiggins was a guard who was a first-round draft pick by the Indiana Pacers in 1983 and enjoyed a 20-year pro career both in the U.S. and overseas.
In the end, Florida State showed it still has a long way to go. And that it could use the services of a player like Wiggins.
