Rueben Chinyelu scored 14 points and made Florida history with 21 rebounds as the 10th-ranked Gators cruised to a comfortable 80-45 victory over Merrimack on Friday night in Gainesville, Fla.
Chinyelu’s rebounding total, which included on the six offensive glass, is the highest on a game by a Gators player during the shot-clock era.
Alex Condon scored a game-high 20 points and pulled down 11 rebounds for Florida (4-1), which scored the game’s first 11 points and had little trouble building a 32-4 lead with 7:54 left in the first half.
The reigning national champion Gators won their fourth game in a row after losing their opener to then-No. 13 Arizona.
Merrimack (2-4), which had a two-game winning streak snapped, missed its first five shots until a layup by KC Ugwuakazi with 14:53 left in the first half.
Kevair Kennedy led the Warriors with 14 points. Tye Dorset had 10 points and five rebounds, but he shot 1-for-10 from 3-point range.
A 21-0 run by Florida settled the outcome early.
Chinyelu started the game hot from the field and shot 5 of 8 overall.
The Gators’ frontcourt was too much for the underdogs from the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference to handle. Florida outrebounded Merrimack 53-25 overall and 19-7 on the offensive glass, which led to 22 second chance points for the Gators.
Much had been made about the Gators’ struggles with long-range shooting entering the game. Against the Warriors, Florida shot 8-for-22 (36.4%) from beyond the arch.
Merrimack was unable to match that shooting output, struggling mightily from beyond the arc. The Warriors went 4-for-25 (16%) on 3-point attempts and shot 28.6% overall.
Florida’s Thomas Haugh put up 13 points and Boogie Fland had 10 points. With the Gators emptying the bench in the closing minutes, their 7-foot-9 center Olivier Rioux — the tallest college player ever — played the final two minutes and finished with a point, his first in college, and a rebound.
