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Florida vs. Ole Miss basketball final score: Gators roll in Oxford, 80-71

Don't let that score fool you. This was never close.

By Jeff Gray
Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports

Five minutes into this game, Florida led by 11 points, was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and had Stefan Moody watching from the bench with two early fouls.

It didn't get much better from there.

Ole Miss was routed from whistle to whistle on Saturday night, falling 81-70 in its first loss in The Pavilion. Don't let that nine-point difference fool you -- the Rebs trailed by 15 or more for just about the entire game but got an 11-4 run in the final three minutes of garbage time. The offensive output was decent: Moody extended his streak of 20-point games with a 22-point outing while Sebastian Saiz and Rashad Brooks put up 17 and 14, respectively.

The four position continues to be a problem, though. Tomasz Gielo went 3-for-10 with just three rebounds and Anthony Perez, who started for some damn reason, went 0-for-2 and didn't score a single point.

But this game was more about the Rebs' complete inability to rebound or play defense. Ole Miss was out-rebounded by 12 and just kinda stood around while Dorian Finney-Smith shoved them around in the paint for 11 boards. The Gators were frequently left wide open under the basket, a major reason why a team that came in shooting 41.5 percent from the field (worst in the SEC) managed to hit 58 percent of its shots in the first half.

Florida was working it from deep as well. Freshman KeVaughn Allen, who came in shooting 23 percent from three, drilled six of his seven treys and put up 27 points. The Gators as a team shot 52.5 percent and scored 33 of their points from behind the arc.

This was me reacting to just about every defensive possession:

The only real redeeming moment of the game came before the ball was tipped. Former Ole Miss point guard Mike White, who took over as the head coach for the Gators after Billy Donovan skipped town for the NBA, got a fantastic standing O from The Pavilion crowd as he was announced pregame.