OPENING TIP
Score: #6 Florida 74, North Florida 59
Records: North Florida (0-1) | Florida (1-0)
Location: Exactech Arena at O'Connell Center (Gainesville, Fla.)
The Short Story: The North Florida men's basketball squad opened the 2019-20 season with a hard fought 74-59 loss at No. 6-ranked Florida on Tuesday night.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore

NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Senior JT Escobar led the way with 15 points including three 3PM
- Fellow senior Garrett Sams also finished in double digits, scoring 14 points while also pulling down six boards
- Sophomore Carter Hendricksen grabbed a team best 7 rebounds to go along with 8 points
- Senior Ivan Gandia-Rosa dished out 8 assists while also tallying 6 points, 6 rebounds
- Florida had three players in double digits paced by Kerry Blackshear's double-double of 20 points/10 rebounds
- For the game, UNF made 11 three-pointers on 32% shooting while holding Florida to just 3 treys (20%)
- Gators claimed a 45-36 edge in rebounding
- Ospreys had 19 turnovers that resulted in 26 points for UF

HOW IT HAPPENED
First Half Notes
- The two squads both demonstrated stingy defenses to open the game as the score was 6-3 in favor of the Ospreys through the first four minutes of action
- Gators struggled from the floor making just 1 of their first 9 shots
- Wajid Aminu and Carter Hendricksen both drilled treys to give UNF the early advantage
- UF would rally with an 8-2 spurt to regain the lead
- North Florida went scoreless from the floor for an eight minute span midway through the first period as the Gators rattled off 16 consecutive points for a 28-10 lead
- A driving layup for JT Escobar ended the Osprey drought and was quickly followed by a trey from Garrett Sams | Escobar added a triple of his own a few possessions later and Sams closed the scoring for the half with a pair of free throws
- Florida led 39-22 at the break bolsted by 17 points on 12 Osprey miscues
 
Second Half Notes
- After Florida mustered the first six points of the second half, Aminu scored the first five points for the Ospreys in response
- North Florida surged over the next several minutes, outscoring the Gators 12-3 capped by eight consecutive points to cut the deficit to 52-37 
- Ospreys had a stretch with four consecutive three-pointers made including back-to-back treys by Ivan Gandia-Rosa to keep the margin in the teens
- UNF got as close as 13 several times in the closing minutes but Florida held on for the double-figure win
- North Florida outscored Florida, 37-35, in the second half
- Ospreys were 7 of 15 (47%) from the 3-point arc in the final 20 minutes

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- Gandia-Rosa pushed his career total of assists to 405, becoming just second player in program history to surpass 400
- This marked the fifth consecutive season that UNF and UF have battled on the hardwood
- Emmanuel Adedoyin (1 assist) and Dorian James (2 pts/4 rebs) both made their collegiate debuts | Josh Endicott (6 pts/3 rebs) made is UNF debut
- Despite falling to 0-9 all-time versus Florida, the Osprey defense held the Gators to their lowest scoring output in the series history

LAST WORD
"Proud of our competitiveness and ability to fight and not give in. It was a great sign for us and the way our guys are. However, I'm not a moral victory guy. I've never been and I'm not going to be one now. We had too many turnover, too many missed assignments. We let them have way too many second, third and fourth shots which against these types of teams are errors you can't make. They come back ten-fold and are extremely costly. To our guys credit, they never gave up, but we have to get better and understand that the littlest things make the biggest difference." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida makes its home debut for 2019-20 on Thursday as the Ospreys welcome Florida National to UNF Arena at 7 p.m. The game tips off a four-game home stand for UNF.