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  Saturday, Dec. 9 1:00pm ET
Florida surges past Rutgers
 
  RECAP

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Udonis Haslem had 20 points and 12 rebounds to help Florida bully its way to a 79-65 victory Saturday over Rutgers.

Udonis Haslem
Florida's Udonis Haslem looks to the basket while being defended by Rashod Kent Saturday.
This was a plodding, physical contest with the aesthetics of a gray, winter day in New Jersey -- a game that seemed more suited to Rutgers (5-2) and the Big East than Florida (No. 9 ESPN/USA Today, No. 8 AP) and its run-'n-gun style.

The Gators (4-1) persevered, and advanced their school-record streak to 51 games without back-to-back losses. Florida fell 99-83 to defending champ Michigan State last Wednesday in a rematch of last season's NCAA title game.

Like the Gators, the Scarlet Knights were coming off their first loss of the season. Still, this is their best start in 10 seasons, which also marks the last time they went to the NCAA tournament.

They played like a contender throughout, even though their leading scorer this season, Todd Billet, missed his first 12 shots and didn't score until 3:51 remained and the game was practically out of reach.

Jeff Greer scored a career-high 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting to keep the Knights in it. He hit three 3-pointers and made a three-point play to pull Rutgers within 56-54 with 8:30 remaining.

Soon after that, Haslem took over, scoring six straight points to give the Gators their first double-figures lead, 67-55 with 5 minutes left.

Rutgers got the deficit down to eight again, but never seriously challenged.

As usual, Florida had a balanced scoring day.

Coming off the bench for the first time, Brett Nelson hit four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points. Inserted back into the starting lineup for the first time since his one-game suspension, Teddy Dupay had 16 points and six rebounds. Brent Wright also scored 16 points for the Gators.

Rashod Kent had 12 points for the Knights, but Billet's lack of touch made a huge difference. A 20-points-per-game player, the sophomore shot 1-for-13 en route to his career low scoring game.

 


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AUDIO/VIDEO
video
 Udonis Haslem takes control under the basket.
avi: 657 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1

 Rashod Kent gets the ball in the key and slams it down for Rutgers.
avi: 699 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1