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Rodriguez, Hurricanes upset No. 8 Florida

Nov 18, 2014 - 5:23 AM Gainesville, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Angel Rodriguez was unstoppable down the stretch, scoring Miami-Florida's final 11 points in a 69-67 upset of the eighth-ranked Florida Gators.

Rodriguez made one of his five 3-pointers with 16 seconds left to give the Hurricanes a 68-67 lead. After taking a charge at the other end of the court, he made 1-of-2 free throws with 2.3 seconds remaining. Michael Frazier II missed a jumper at the buzzer.

Rodriguez ended with 24 points and Miami snapped Florida's 33-game home winning streak.

"I thought the environment was tremendous," said Miami coach Jim Larranaga. "I love the college atmosphere and the enthusiasm from the crowd. It gets you excited. For your freshmen, you don't know how they will respond, on TV, on the road, the hostile environment, so I was very proud how our team handled everything."

James Palmer added 10 points for the Hurricanes (2-0), who trailed by 15 early in the second half.

Eli Carter tallied 21 points for the Gators (1-1), who were without forward Dorian Finney-Smith due to a hairline fracture in his non-shooting left hand. Jon Horford and Frazier added 17 and 13 points, respectively.

"As painful as it is for me -- not that I want to see our guys lose -- but they need to learn what really goes into winning," said Florida coach Billy Donovan. "As hard as that is to say, they just don't have a clue."

Horford and Carter made 3-pointers to give Florida a 41-26 lead with 17:05 to play.

And the score was 54-40 when Miami went on an 18-1 run. Rodriguez made a trio of 3-pointers during the surge that Tonye Jekiri capped with two free throws for a 58-55 margin.

After Horford stopped the bleeding with a three, Rodriguez made three free throws to spark his team's late charge.

Horford made two free throws and added a 3-pointer to give Florida a 63-61 edge with 2:18 to play. Rodriguez answered with a three, but Jacob Kurtz made a layup for the Gators.

Rodriguez made 1-of-2 from the line and Carter responded with a layup to give Florida a 67-65 lead.

On the next Miami possession, Sheldon McClellan pulled down a big offensive rebound when Rodriguez was off the mark from 3-point range. Following a timeout, the former Kansas State guard redeemed himself by connecting from the top of the arc. Carter was called for a charge at the other end.

Florida led 33-21 at the half.

Game Notes

These two teams met for the first time since Florida's 74-60 home win in the 2009 NIT ... Finney-Smith suffered the injury in Florida's season opener against William & Mary ... The Gators will play the back end of the home-and- home series in Miami next year.