The Florida Gators entered Tuesday night with five wins by double digits and four losses on the young season.
The Mercer Bears made sure that this would be a new experience for the Gators.
A gritty, exhausting performance by the Bears cut Florida lead after Florida lead to shorter margins, and it took a fairly good job — by Gators standards, anyway — for Florida to survive for a 71-63 win, its first by single digits this season.
Freshman Noah Locke led the Gators with 18 points, and his five threes were almost all timely ones that stabilized a Florida team that struggled to sustain success.