Last year, Florida’s season changed in non-conference play when Keyontae Johnson — the program’s first prospective NBA Draft lottery selection in almost a decade — collapsed during a game against Florida State and its future lottery selection, Scottie Barnes. While the details of the rest of that game are insignificant to most Gators, Barnes rampaging in the second half — to include some celebrations that were, uh, maybe tonally dissonant given the gravity of the moment? — was a large part of why FSU won.
Fast forward a year, and Florida now counts Johnson as “Coach Key,” but also dominated an FSU roster that finally seems like it does not have an immediate lottery prospect on it for much of the second half of its own lopsided win in the rivalry.