Florida got off to a slow start in the first round NIT matchup against Iona, as the Gators trailed by 7 at halftime. But a flurry of scoring in the second half pulled them out of the hole.

The Gators didn’t claim their first lead until 9:21 left in the second half, and by that point, they were 9-for-9 from the foul line. Florida grabbed the lead at the start of an 8-0 run that helped it build its largest lead of the game, 7 points, midway through the second half.

Florida gave up the lead, but ultimately did enough to prevail, 79-74, over Iona and Rick Pitino. Colin Castleton led 4 Gators in double figures with 18 points. Florida advances to play Xavier in the next round.

The Gators helped seal the win by holding Iona to a scoring drought of more than 2 minutes that went to less than a minute remaining.

Perhaps the Gators got off to a slow start because of the events of recent days that included coach Mike White’s departure to take the Georgia job, and Athletics Director Scott Stricklin naming associate head coach Al Pinkins to take over on an interim basis, duties that officially began when White exited the room Sunday night.

“I thought our players took the news pretty hard Sunday, but I thought Monday they came in and we probably had one of our best practices of the year,” Pinkins said. “For your kids to put what happened behind them and in 24 hours come back and practice the way they did just shows what we’ve been saying all year; that this is a really good group of guys.”