ChompTalk.com

Florida followed country roads to West Virginia Saturday in a battle against the No. 11 Mountaineers in search of their fourth straight victory and second ranked win, and Colin Castleton once again played hero in the final minutes of an 85-80 win after a great duel against West Virginia big Derek Culver.

The biggest story of the first half was the play of Culver, who felt about as unstoppable as a freight train going downhill. Florida’s big men had no answer for Culver physically, who measures in at 6 feet, 10 inches tall and 255 pounds, 25 pounds heavier than either of Florida’s starting forwards.

Culver was a perfect on six shots from the field before the half, indestructible in the paint regardless of which Florida forward matched up on him, but his biggest strength was getting to the free throw line. In a first half flooded with personal fouls, Culver went nine for 11 from the stripe to head to the locker room with 21 points.

West Virginia’s offense was lopsided the entire day. Out of 42 first-half Mountaineer points, 41 came from a trio of players (21 from Culver, 11 from sharpshooter Sam McNeil and nine from Miles McBride). Meanwhile, the Gators had the exact opposite approach, with 10 players contributing to a first-half 37 points, only one player, Noah Locke, had 10 points.

The second half looked to be much of the same story early, with West Virginia keeping the lead steady for the first four minutes out of the break. However, slowly but surely, Culver began to draw more fouls and WVU was completely different without his presence.

He drew his second foul on a Colin Castleton post-up and sat for two minutes. Florida went on a 8-0 run to take the lead. The Mountaineers offense looked rudderless and Florida looked inspired, like a weight had been lifted, beginning to control the game in transition. Florida scored 26 points off fast breaks for the game.

Culver had to sit one more time and drew four fouls total on the day, three after halftime.

In a game which the opposing big man stole much of the praise and attention early, Colin Castleton put his head down and stayed physical the entire game. After being pulled after a few minutes for not chasing a loose ball and fighting for a rebound, Castleton fought Culver the entire game and, towards the end of the game, began to win.

Castleton drew multiple fouls on Culver in the final frame, sending the Mountaineers’ engine to the bench several times, and Castleton outscored his opponent 15 to seven in the final twenty minutes. The Michigan transfer finished with 21 points, his fourth game with more than this season, on the strength of a perfect nine-for-nine day from the free throw line as well as five blocks.

Castleton may have stolen the show late, but Florida’s second-half shooting deserves praise too, specifically from beyond the three-point line. The Gators went 7-11 from range in the second half, including three each from Tre Mann and sharpshooter Noah Locke, the latter of which finished with 19 points, as well as a huge bucket from Scottie Lewis that broke a tie with four minutes to play.

The Gators outshot the Mountaineers in all three areas of the court in the final twenty minutes, finishing the day 48.1% (26-54) from the floor and 47.1% (8-17) from three. Florida also made all nine second-half free throws, seven of those from Castleton.

UF moves to 10-4 for the season, remaining 6-3 in conference and will play again Wednesday against South Carolina trying to gain a stronger hold on second in the SEC.