Texas Southern forward Joirdon Karl Nicholas celebrates on the bench against Florida during the second half of an NCAA basketball game Monday in Gainesville, Fla.
AP photo
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Texas Southern forwards John Walker III, left, and forward Joirdon Karl Nicholas celebrate after an NCAA basketball game against Florida on Monday in Gainesville, Fla.
AP photo
Texas Southern head coach Johnny Jones, left, talks with forward Joirdon Karl Nicholas during the second half of an NCAA basketball game against Florida on Monday in Gainesville, Fla.
AP photo
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Johnny Jones got a wet welcome in the visiting locker room at the O’Connell Center. It was a celebration decades in the making.
Previously winless Texas Southern stunned No. 20 Florida 69-54 on Monday night behind PJ Henry’s 16 points and Joirdon Karl Nicholas’ perfect shooting performance.
Texas Southern (1-7) became the first Southwestern Athletic Conference team to beat a ranked Southeastern Conference program in The Associated Press poll era dating to 1936, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Ranked SEC teams had been 51-0 against SWAC opponents.
“We were thoroughly outplayed, outcoached, out-everything,” Florida coach Mike White said.
Jones got all the accolades. The former LSU coach who took Texas Southern to the NCAA Tournament last season was doused as he stepped into the locker room to celebrate with his team. His shirt and pants were still soaking wet during postgame interviews.
“Water bottles, everything we could throw at him,” Nicholas said.
Texas Southern had lost six straight against ranked opponents. The program’s last win against a Top 25 team came against then-No. 18 Oregon on Nov. 26, 2018.
The Tigers were 23 1/2-point underdogs in Gainesville. That was no surprise given they were coming off a 27-point loss at Louisiana Tech and catching a Florida team trying to rebound from its first setback of the season.
But the Gators (6-2), who had been ranked as high as 14th a week ago, had no answer for Texas Southern’s talent, tenacity and athleticism.
“We just did a terrible job in every aspect,” Florida big man Colin Castleton said. “Rebounding, backdoor cuts, loose balls. Everything we did bad the coaches told us to focus on.”
The Tigers continuously beat Florida’s press despite 22 turnovers and got open looks everywhere. They made most of the them, shooting 54.4% from the field and 45.5% from 3-point range. They also outrebounded Florida 46-23 and outscored the Gators 42-26 in the paint.
“It’s huge for the program and our school at the end of the day because we know how difficult it is,” Jones said. “When you have setbacks like we’ve had, you have an opportunity to either splinter or come together. These guys have done a tremendous job of staying the course and coming together.”
It was the Gators’ first loss in 27 games against teams from the SWAC.
Nicholas finished with 14 points on 7-for-7 shooting. John Walker chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Tigers, who opened the season with seven straight losses during a cross-country road trip that included stops at Oregon, Washington and North Carolina State
It was a damning loss for White, who revamped his roster with four defensive-minded transfers and was off to his best start in seven seasons. The Gators ended that with a loss at Oklahoma last Wednesday.
Florida struggled all night, shooting 38.2% from the field and hitting 5 of 24 from 3-point range.
Brandon McKissic led the Gators with 15 points.
“We got to find our roots again,” McKissic said. “We’ve been letting offense dictate. We’ve got to get back to letting defense dictate. We’ve got to get back to being us.”
WOMEN
Indiana 70, Penn State 40
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Nicole Cardaño-Hillary’s 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and five steals led No. 10 Indiana to a victory over Penn State in its opening Big Ten game.
Mackenzie Holmes scored 16 points and Ali Patberg added 15 for the Hoosiers (6-2), who shot over 50% from the field and were 6 for 14 from 3-point range, while the Lady Lions shot 33.9% from the field and made just two of 16 3-point attempts.
Cardaño-Hillary, who missed all 10 of her shots against No. 2 N.C. State on Dec. 2, made three 3s on Monday.
Makenna Marisa led Penn State (4-5) with 21 points.
Indiana outscored Penn State 23-9 in the third quarter, including a 21-0 run lasting 7:40, to put the game out of reach.
After a slow first quarter that saw Indiana turn the ball over seven times, the Hoosiers settled in for the remainder of the game and finished with 16 turnovers.
Penn State had 22 turnovers, including nine forced on steals by Indiana. Three came from Cardaño-Hillaryin the first half.