Haugh and Chinyelu help No. 19 Florida breeze past Oklahoma 96-79 for 3rd straight win

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NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Thomas Haugh scored 21 points, Rueben Chinyelu had 19 points and 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season, and No. 19 Florida beat Oklahoma 96-79 on Tuesday night.

Boogie Fland added 15 points for Florida (12-5, 3-1 Southeastern Conference), which has won three straight since dropping its conference opener to Missouri.

The Gators dominated in the paint, outscoring the Sooners 60-22 behind the 6-foot-10 Chinyelu, who came in averaging 10.9 points and 10.6 rebounds.

Xzayvier Brown scored 24 points and Tae Davis and Kirill Elatontsev each had 17 for Oklahoma (11-6, 1-3), which has lost three straight since beating Mississippi to open conference play.

Nijel Pack, who had 24 points in the Sooners’ loss to Texas A&M on Saturday, was limited to five points on 2-of-8 shooting. He picking up three fouls in the first half and played only 21 minutes.

The Sooners made only five of their first 19 shots (26%) but finished with 10 3-pointers in 16 attempts (63%).

The defending national champion Gators beat ranked opponents Georgia and Tennessee last week after dropping briefly out of the AP Top 25. They led all but 14 seconds against Oklahoma.

Florida shot 54% from the field (38 of 71) but converted just 6 of 22 3-pointers (27%).

Oklahoma took a 7-6 lead on a four-point play by Brown. From there, Florida outscored the Sooners 40-17 for a 46-24 halftime lead.

The Gators extended their advantage to 72-45 midway through the second half on a 3-pointer by Urban Klavzar.

Florida: Visits No. 10 Vanderbilt on Saturday.

Oklahoma: Hosts No. 18 Alabama on Saturday.

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