THE COMEBACK KIDS

It is 7:39 a.m. and very white outside at 6.7 degrees F. Patrick is under his afghan on the recliner.

Gators proved two things last night in hoops in the O-Center against Alabama: They can be beaten badly, and they can sure come back!

The Red Elephants jumped to an 11-0 point lead right off the bat. The Gators were scoreless for the first four minutes of the game. They were behind by 18 at 22-4 when Humphrey scored Florida's second field goal, a three pointer after over seven minutes of play. These are our Gators? At that point the Tide was 10-12 in shooting, the Gators 3-11. The Gators feebly battled back to as close as eight , but the half ended with 'Bama ahead 42-31.

Looked to be a long night for the green lizards.

Gators shot at 41% in the first period, and were one for ten on three point shots.

Taurean Green was zero for six in shooting, missing five three pointers.

Corey Brewer led the Gators with ten points, and second was Marrese Speights with eight. What's wrong with this picture? Were the Gators playing their worst and the Tide their best?

The second half of this thriller was a totally different game.

First of all, Green comes alive, and when the dust settled, led the Gators with 20, count them ,20 points!

At nine minutes into the second half the Gators gained the lead for the first time--then the lead see-sawed hellishly for about a dozen times.

Finally the Gators pulled ahead for good to end up with a nine point victory, 76-67. What a heartbreaker for 'Bama!!

UF ended up shooting 51% to Alabama's 45%.

Gators outscored Tide 45-25 in the second half.

OH MY! So Number One Gators move to 23-2 (11-0)