Back to the Florida Gators Newsfeed

Florida 81, Oklahoma State 72: Gators rescue themselves, stage rally spurred by defense

Walking into the locker room down 45-32 to an Oklahoma State squad that was scalding from the floor for the first 20 minutes and staring down a third loss in a week, the Florida Gators — depleted and defenseless — could have been forgiven for giving up.

They and Mike White did nothing of the sort.

Fueled by defense-first substitutions that in turn turbocharged their pressure in the second half, the Gators stormed back from a double-digit deficit to down the Cowboys, 81-72, and save their season from spiraling further from the possibility of NCAA Tournament contention than it already was.