Any hopes that the Florida Gators would run away and hide from the North Florida Ospreys in their season opener on Tuesday night were diminished by the early goings of a game that started with Florida missing its first eight shots.
And yet the Gators buckled down and built leads that stretched past 20 points — which makes Florida’s ultimate result, a 74-59 win over a pesky outfit, maybe both more and less satisfying than it could have been.
Kerry Blackshear Jr. led the Gators on this night, performing as well as could be wished for in his regular-season debut for Florida: His 20 points and 10 rebounds both led all players, and he scored Florida’s first point, basket, and three in the game.