Nov. 15, 2007

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The good news for North Carolina Central University was that junior guard Bryan Ayala scored a game-high 23 points against the two-time defending national champion Gators of the University of Florida. The bad news for NCCU was that Ayala's offensive effort was nearly half of his team's scoring output in a 105-51 loss at Flordia on Wednesday in Gainesville, Fla.

Ayala collected 23 points, four assists and three rebounds for the Eagles, who are now 0-3 in their first season as a Division I program. NCCU senior Charles Futrell added 14 points, two steals and two blocked shots before fouling out with 8:11 left in the contest. No other Eagle provided more than three points.

Florida (3-0), hosting its third game as part of the Blue Ribbon Challenge, had four Gators to score double-figures, led by Chandler Parsons' 22 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals off of the bench. Flordia's 6-10, 245-pound center Marreese Speights contributed 19 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots, while the highly-touted rookie guard Nick Calathes recorded 16 points, eight assists and four boards.

The visiting Eagles struggled shooting from all parts of the floor, making 37.5 percent (18-48) from the field, including 18.2 percent (2-11) from three-point range, and 54.2 percent (13-24) from the free throw line. The host Gators tickled the twine to the tune of 56.2 percent (41-73) from the field, including 36.4 percent (8-22) from long range, and 71.4 percent (15-21) from the charity stripe. Helping those numbers was the fact that Florida scored 54 points inside the paint.

Florida also dominated the glass, out-rebounding the Eagles 48-22, including an offensive rebounding edge of 19-6, which led to 20 second-chance points for the Gators.

NCCU plays at North Dakota State University on Saturday (Nov. 17) in the Eagles' third game of the Blue Ribbon Challenge.

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THE HERALD-SUN: Gators growl at Eagles

By MIKE POTTER : The Herald-Sun

mpotter@heraldsun.com

Nov 14, 2007 : 11:45 pm ET

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Two-time reigning NCAA champion Florida continued N.C. Central's baptism-by-fire initiation into Division I on Wednesday night.

The Gators got 23 points from Chandler Parsons and had three others in double figures as they rolled the Eagles 105-51 in a Blue Ribbon Challenge game at the O'Connell Center.

Marreese Speights added 19 points, Nick Calathes 16 and Alex Tyus 13 for the Gators (3-0), who lost all five starters from last season's team to the NBA draft.

Bryan Ayala had a season-high 23 points for NCCU (0-3), which also got 14 points from Charles Futrell as the duo was in double figures for the third straight game.

It was the second of four games in the Challenge for the Eagles and the third of four for Florida, which has won a school record 22 straight home games.

"We knew we were playing a superior team," NCCU coach Henry Dickerson said. "It was like the Duke game [a 121-56 loss in the season opener] -- bigger, taller, stronger, more athletic, national championship, heck of a coach, great fans, you name it. It's all first class down here. I was just glad we were able to compete in certain spots.

"We coaches had talked among ourselves and thought we'd be doing a good job if we got 50 points. We were hoping we could hold them under 80, and we weren't able to do that. The guys are all playing hard, and I'm proud of them for that. But sometimes we aren't playing very smart."

The much taller Gators shot 56.2 percent for the game to 37.5 for the Eagles, NCCU's best field-goal percentage so far this season. Florida won the rebound battle 48-22 and committed 21 turnovers to 11 for NCCU.

Florida coach Billy Donovan said he was happy his team had 29 assists but wasn't happy with the defense the Gators played on Ayala and Futrell.

"This team made us work on defense by keeping the ball deep into the shot clock," Donovan said. "We would try to make some steals, overplay the passing lanes and we got burned. I'm happy by the way we responded. It was a good win, and it will help us get ready for this weekend."

"[But] we aren't able to shut other teams' top players down like we could last season. The top scorers for all three teams we've played get their average. Ayala comes in averaging [18.5], and he gets 23. There were two players averaging double figures for their team -- one gets his average and the other just below his average."

Florida led 57-25 at halftime behind 13 points from Speights and 12 each from Calathes and Parsons. Ayala had 10 at the break for NCCU.

"It was great to get 23 points against the defending national champions," Ayala said. "I wasn't expecting anything like that. I tried to be aggressive and go to the hoop to draw some fouls [hitting 6-of-9 from the line].

"We've just got to get some scoring from some other people. Coach D keeps telling everybody [Futrell] and I can't score enough to win the game. I'd rather be winning, but I'm having a great experience playing in these games against big-time teams. This is my first time playing in these kinds of games, and I'm like a kid in a candy store."

Florida shot 65.7 percent from the floor in the first half to 43.5 for the Eagles, was winning the rebound battle 20-6 and had committed seven turnovers to the Eagles' 12.

The Gators scored the first five points, then led 13-9 following Philip Branch's 3-pointer for the Eagles with 14:26 left in the half. And after that Florida steadily pulled away, with the biggest runs 14 straight points late in the first half and 12 straight midway through the second.

Florida's biggest lead was 58 on two occasions, the last time at 100-42 on a pair of Hudson Fricke free throws with 3:04 to play.

"People say B.A. and I are supposed to be the leaders of the team, and we're trying to rally the other guys around us," said Futrell, who played 30 minutes before fouling out with 8:11 left. "We're getting experience, and I think if we keep working hard pretty soon we'll be beating some teams."

NOTES -- Attendance was 10,377. ... The Eagles travel to North Dakota State on Saturday night in their third game of the Challenge. Florida finishes its part with a home game against Rutgers on Saturday in the de facto championship game. ... NCCU plays at Wake Forest on Monday night in a game that is not part of the Challenge, then finishes its participation in the event with its first Division I home game on Nov. 21 against Tennessee Tech.