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Florida uses early surge to take down Kansas

Dec 11, 2013 - 3:51 AM Gainesville, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Scottie Wilbekin netted a team-high 18 points, including nine in a 21-0 Florida flurry midway through the first half that propelled the 19th-ranked Gators to a 67-61 triumph over No. 13 Kansas on Tuesday at O'Connell Center.

The Jayhawks jumped out to a 10-3 lead just over four minutes into the game, but Florida tallied the next 21 points to build a double-digit advantage from which Kansas could not recover.

"We actually made a couple of shots and played pretty well the first four or five minutes, but we were awful after that," Kansas head coach Bill Self admitted. "They played great, but we were awful."

Dorian Finney-Smith drained four 3-pointers en route to 15 points, while Casey Prather supplied 12 points and eight rebounds for Florida (7-2), which bounced back from a 65-64 setback to Connecticut its last time out.

Andrew Wiggins led Kansas (6-3) with 26 points and 11 boards, while Frank Mason added nine points for the Jayhawks, who dropped their second straight game thanks in large part to 24 turnovers.

"I think that the difference in the game was that we forced a lot of turnovers tonight," Florida head coach Billy Donovan said. "I would have liked to have seen us shoot better from the free-throw line, but overall I think our guys gave a really good effort and played pretty well."

Sixteen of Kansas' turnovers occurred in the first half, as the Jayhawks went nearly nine minutes without a point to watch a seven-point lead transform into a 24-10 deficit following Finney-Smith's triple with 7:41 left in the half.

The Gators carried a 36-21 cushion into the break before Wiggins supplied seven points in an 11-3 Kansas swing that brought the Jayhawks within 41-32 just under five minutes into the second half.

Florida kept the Jayhawks at arm's length from there until Wiggins caught fire down the stretch, pouring in nine straight Kansas points on three 3-pointers to get the visitors within 60-55 with 55.8 seconds to play.

However, the Gators went 7-of-10 from the charity stripe down the stretch to hang on for the victory.

Game Notes

Florida extended its home winning streak to 21 games ... Kansas leads the all- time series, 3-2 ... Florida went 20-of-34 from the foul line ... Wiggins' double-double was his first with Kansas.