Osprey's Dominating Defense Deals Defeat to Kennesaw State in ASUN Opener

Thursday, January 2

Kennesaw, Ga.

7:00 p.m.

University of North Florida

8-8,1-0ASUN

Kennesaw State

1-13,0-1ASUN

North Florida

Kennesaw State

Photo by: Chris Leduc

Osprey's Dominating Defense Deals Defeat to Kennesaw State in ASUN Opener

1/2/2020 10:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: North Florida Athletics

OPENING TIP
Score: North Florida 76, Kennesaw State 57
Records: North Florida (8-8, 1-0 ASUN) | Kennesaw State (1-13, 0-1 ASUN)
Location: KSU Convocation Center (Kennesaw, Ga.)
The Short Story: North Florida opened up 2020 and ASUN play with a dominating 76-57 victory at Kennesaw State on Thursday night. Ospreys forced 17 turnovers and limited the Owls to 38 percent shooting from the floor.

GAMEDAY MEDIA CENTER
Final Boxscore

STAT LEADERS
- Ivan Gandia-Rosa led the way for the Opseys finishing with 18 points and seven assists
- Garrett Sams (16 pts) and JT Escobar (14 pts) also reached double digits
- KSU had a pair of double figure scorers paced by Bryson Lockley's 23-point, 11-rebound double double effort
- Wajid Aminu swatted three shots while Escobar collected three steals
- North Florida made a season low 7 three-pointers but also matched season low with six turnovers
- Osprey defense held Owls without a field goal for 12:19 (Final 7:11 of first half and first 5:08 of second half)

NOTABLE MOMENTS
- North Florida jumped out quickly with a 12-2 run featuring eight points from JT Escobar (2 3PM)
- Kennesaw State responded with a 12-2 spurt of their own to eventually knot the score at 14-14
- After several minutes of trading baskets, UNF closed the half on a 15-1 run over the final 4:15 to build a 37-23 halftime lead
- Three straight baskets from Garrett Sams, Carter Hendricksen and Ivan-Gandia Rosa helped UNF widen the margin before KSU answered with nine consecutive points to trim the deficit to single digits (43-39)
- Ospreys posted their own 9-0 spurt to regain the momentum and eventually grew the lead to as much as 25 points

INSIDE THE BOXSCORE
- North Florida upped its nation-leading 3PM total to 198 for the season
- Snapped a four-game losing skid at Kennesaw State and improved to 25-20 all-time against KSU
- 57 points is the second lowest total surrendered by UNF this season (fewest points against a Division I foe)
- Ospreys improve to 9-6 all-time in ASUN season debuts with wins in 9 of last 10 | Team improved to 9-2 in league openers under Coach Driscoll

LAST WORD
"Really proud of our fight tonight. I was impressed with how we defended consistently. We had a couple slip ups but were able to weather them and then build our lead. I don't like to think our threes are going to go in, but on night's like tonight we demonstrated that we have the ability to score in other ways. We proved it tonight by not making as many threes and free throws as we have been, It was good to see the guys sustain their effort despite the threes not going in because in the end it was all about stops. The biggest stat may have been that we only had six turnovers. When we get shots, good things happen and it also helps set our defense because we didn't have to defend live ball turnovers. Proud of the effort but now we have to move on, travel through the night and be ready to play Saturday afternoon at North Alabama." -- Head coach Matthew Driscoll

NEXT UP
North Florida concludes its month-long road trek Saturday (Jan, 4) at North Alabama