Wake Forest pulls away from Gators despite Riley Kugel's big night
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Wake Forest pulled away from Florida in the final minutes of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, handing the Gators an 82-71 loss on Wednesday night.
After a back-and-forth contest down the stretch that was tied 66-all with 4:03 left, the Demon Deacons scored five straight points and closed out the game on a 10-3 run.
The Gators did not score a field goal for the final four minutes of the game.
After a career-high 25 points by sophomore guard Riley Kugel against Baylor, he followed up that performance with a 24-point game at Wake Forest. He shot 9-for-14 from the floor, including 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
It marks the second time in his career with back-to-back 20-point games after scoring 20 at Vandy and 24 vs. Kentucky last season. He became the first UF freshman since Kenny Boynton (2009-10) to post back-to-back 20-point games.
Wake Forest had a pair of 20-point scorers Wednesday night. Junior guard Hunter Sallis led the team with 24 points and senior forward Andrew Carr finished with 22 points, a team-high six rebounds and three blocked shots.
The Gators were up 36-32 at halftime and stretched their lead to 9 points in the first five minutes after the break, but a 10-3 run by Wake Forest tied the game at 52-all midway through the second period.
The Gators fell behind in the game’s opening minutes, but a 12-2 run put them ahead 20-17 lead midway through the first period. There seven lead changes until the break but UF closed out the half on a 7-2 run.
Florida (4-3) is back home on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Merrimack College.
