Gators Men’s Hoop Advance in overtime win 75-70 over Virgina Tech

N0. 7 seed Florida Gators Men’s Basketball tipped off the NCAA Tournament today taking on No. 10 seed Virginia Tech.

Gator Men’s Basketball

Gators Men’s basketball advance in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, taking down Virginia Tech 75-70. The Gators battled it out to end tryin to closing out the game, but with 10 seconds left on the clock in the second half  leading 64-61. A dagger from Virginia Tech, Nahiem Alleyne send the Gators into overtime.

Florida was was without their forward Omar Payne. Head coach, Mike White sat Payne because of his prior ejection and thrown elbow to the head of a player Tennessee player in the SEC Tournament.

Florida was also without guard, Tyree Appleby who played briefly in the first half, but left the rest of the game with a forehead injury catching an elbow from a Virginia Tech player.

The Gators were lead by forward Colin Castleton for this game scoring 19 points and 14 rebounds. Three other players were alongside Castleton in double- figures, Tre Mann(14), Scottie Lewis (15), Noah Locke (10).

Forward Colin Castelton had this to say about his performance today:

“I knew the past couple of games I wasn’t really rebounding to my standard. Coaches talk about it and I know what I’ve gotta bring every day and if I don’t, then it doesn’t look good on myself and the team. I realized that I had to do better on the rebounding part and that just comes with aggressiveness, playing at a high motor and just wanting it more than the other team.”

https://twitter.com/GatorsMBK/status/1372984886483509250

Next up for the Gators

Florida advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they will take on Oral Roberts University, Sunday.

Virginia Tech Basketball

Virginia tech entered the NCAA tournament with hopes of advancing with a chip on their shoulder from losing in their last NCAA Tournament appearance in 2019 as they lost to Duke 75-73.

In the match up against Florida, Nahiem Alleyne lead Virginia Tech in scoring for the game with 28 points.