NORMAN, Okla. – If the one-sided score caused the home fans to leave, no one would have noticed. That’s how stunningly sparse the crowd was at Tuesday night’s Southeastern Conference game at Noble Center, where there were far and away more empty seats than fans in the house. 
 
The other strikingly disproportionate element to Florida’s road date at Oklahoma – the Gators’ grossly imbalanced advantage inside – played out between the lines. The Sooners, even on their home floor, had absolutely no chance at matching UF’s height, length and physicality and apparently had an idea they were in for a long night coming in. 
 
“There’s no way to replicate their size and physicality in practice,” OU coach Porter Moser said after the 18^th-ranked Gators did a 96-79 hammer-to-nail job on his Sooners. 
 
Five UF players had at least five rebounds. Florida outscored Oklahoma by an astounding 60-22 in the paint. UF won the battle of the boards 43-21, including 17-11 on the offensive glass and scored 22 second-chance points. 
 
It was big on not big. 
 
“That’s an area we strive to win every night, but this game, specifically, yes, absolutely,” Gators coach Todd Golden said. “We [felt] like we had a little more depth on the front line – that’s where are better players are – and they would have to produce for us to have a good game.”
 
They did. 

Junior center Rueben Chinyelu again was at his beast-mode best in scoring a season-high 19 points and clearing 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season. Thomas Haugh, the junior wing and team scoring leader, added a team-best 21 points and seven rebounds. Forward Alex Condon had 10 points and six rebounds, with backup center Micah Handlogten coming off the bench for six points and eight boards, five on the offensive end. 
 
Even the surging point guard got in the mix, as sophomore Boogie Fland, coming off his finest all-around game of the season in Saturday’s rout of Tennessee, scored 15 points, dished seven assists (to one turnover), snatched five rebounds and also had two steals. 
 
“What I’m doing on the floor, I’m just being me,” Fland said. “I’m very comfortable right now.”

The same, perhaps, could be said for the Gators (12-5, 3-1), who have clearly locked in on their identity in winning three straight since opening the SEC season with a disappointing two-point loss at Missouri. Besides claiming a trio of Quadrant 1 victories (over No. 18 Georgia, No. 21 Tennessee and now at Oklahoma) by 15, 24 and 19 points, respectively, UF has leaned into its physical and defensive strengths while putting a huge emphasis on blasting opponents on the boards. 
 
The 6-foot-10, 260-pound Chinyelu was in the middle of it all from the jump. 
 
“I’m just taking advantage of opportunities,” he said. 
 
Actually, he’s creating them. 
 
“He’s playing at such a high level right now, and with so much confidence,” the 7-1 Handlogten said.  “Just give him the ball. And if you don’t give him the ball, go ahead and shoot the ball, ’cause he’s going to go get it.”
 
UF went on a 15-1 inside the 10-minute mark of the opening period to go from a six-point lead to up 20. The Gators did so by brutalizing the over-matched Sooners (11-6, 1-3) in the paint, where they scored 30 points to OU’s eight, while shooting 54% through the first 20 minutes to the Sooners’ 29% to go to the locker room up 46-24. 
 
Perspective: Oklahoma buried eight of its first nine 3-point attempts of the second half (seldom-used guard Kirill Elatontsev went 4-for-4 on his way to 17 points) and never threatened. That’s because Florida built a lead that swelled to as high as 29 early in the second half, maintained its plus-50% shooting and saw its lead drop to as low as 15 inside the final minute. 
 
That UF surrendered 55 points in the second half was not lost on Golden, who raved about his team’s defense “the first 25 minutes.” He may have been a little irritated by the Sooners’ late shot-making, but his team was never threatened. 
 
More perspective: 17-point road wins in the SEC are to be savored. 
 
“It’s hard to do,” Golden said. “And as I’ve talked about with our team over this past week, I really feel like we’re making a jump and we’re getting better at the right time.”
 
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.