Even a plea to above didn't help outmatched Prairie View against dominant Florida

Going into Friday night, it was pretty clear that Prairie View A&M wasn't going to have much of a chance against the Gators and that story played out in the first half after Florida decided to get serious after the Panthers pulled to a 15-15 tie.

The Gators had runs of 18-0, 17-0 and 10-0 in the half and when the smoke cleared they were up 60-21 and erased any remote chance of the most unlikely upset in tournament history. But with nowhere else to turn, Prairie View coach Byron Smith looked to a higher power.

"Yeah, we need some help from the Lord. They're very good. They're very good," Smith said.

Whether the Lord was listening or not is unknown, but he decided to stay out of it and the Gators continued to roll on to a 114-55 win, setting a school record for points in a tournament game and the second-largest margin of victory in tournament history.

The Panthers had a memorable season, bouncing back from a 9-16 start to win nine of its final ten games to win the SWAC conference tournament and earn the automatic bid. Then they went to Dayton, Ohio and beat Lehigh 67-55 in the First Four, which allowed the Panthers to advance to Tampa and play Florida. So, while the ending might've been painful, the journey is something we can all appreciate.

Meanwhile, after the first 5–6 minutes, the Gators did nearly everything right and everything you would expect a defending champion to do against an overmatched opponent. They were efficient on both sides of the floor, they were tough on defense and they dominated the glass. Fans hope this is just the beginning and the end will come with Florida cutting down the nets for a second straight year for a fourth time overall.

"We didn't do a good job the first couple minutes guarding the three-point line, and once we righted that, we accomplished what we needed to," Golden said.