By: Brandon
admin@gatorsportsnation.com
Gator Sports Nation

With just 11 seconds on the clock, sophomore Nick Calathes put up a floater which fell in and gave Florida the win against North Carolina State on Saturday.

Florida started the second half down by 10 points. The defense was a key factor in tonight’s win. Some key traps forced turnovers and allowed Florida to turn them into points at the end when it really mattered. Calathes put up 24 points in the second half, after sinking the floater it put the Gators up 67-66. Calathes then sunk one out of the two free throws at the end with seconds left which gave the Gators the 68-66 victory. This was the sixth victory in a row for Florida who also improved to (12-2).

Calathes scored a career high of 32 points and five rebounds and five assists. Dan Werner put up 10 points while Chandler Parsons leading behind with eight. Freshman guard Erving Walker impressed alot of faces tonight as he had a couple big steals late in the second half. Walker finished with 8 points. Here are the next couple games for Florida. The Gators will face Longwood on Tuesday in Gainesville at 7:00pm and then will tip off against Ole Miss on Saturday January 10th at 6:00pm at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Gator Sports Nation has learned that offensive lineman Xavier Nixon will declare to the University of Florida. 

Nixon is a 6-foot, 6-inch, 263 pound offensive tackle from Fayetteville, N.C.

He played in the Army All-American game Saturday

We all are excited for the big game against the Oklahoma Sooners on January 8th. The BCS Title game!!! So we are launching a neat contest. All you have to do is guess the winner and score of the game and who ever is the closest will win an authentic Florida Gators decal sticker which can be put on your car window or walls or anywhere you may like to put it. You will be required to place your name, email, guess where it says add comment on this blog post so we will have your info if you are the selected winner. Either leave your name, email, guess in the empty box or send an email to admin@gatorsportsnation.com either way is fine.

Tiebreaker question. How many yards will Tim Tebow throw for? So include that guess with your name, email, winning/score. Example:

Bob
myname@yahoo.com
Florida over Oklahoma. 42-21
Tebow throws for 275 yards

* GUESSES NEED TO BE TURNED IN BEFORE 6:00PM ON JANUARY 8TH.

Winner will be announced after the game and will be notified and we will need your shipping address for the sticker. Good luck everyone!

Florida VS Oklahoma- January 8th, 2009- 8:00pm

Use Vivid Seats to view this season’s NCAA sports schedule. They’re a trustworthy source for Florida Gators Football Tickets and sports tickets online

State Farm Classic Most Valuable Player Marshae Dotson (Columbus, Ohio)

notched her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds
as the No. 18/20 Florida women’s basketball team extended its winning streak
to a school-record 13 games with a 75-56 win against Miami (Ohio) on Tuesday
in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The Gators (13-1), who have now won the State Farm Classic in 15 of the 17
years it has been contested, broke the school record for most consecutive
victories, besting the 1993-94 team’s stretch of 12 consecutive wins.
Florida also tied for the best 14-game start in program history.

“This is a great day for our program,” Florida head coach Amanda Butler
said. “Whenever we have the opportunity to set a record and win a
championship and have the pleasure of doing so on your home court in front
of your home fans, it’s a great day. We pushed our win total up, made some
corrections from yesterday which is hard to do playing back-to-back days,
and we won the rebounding war. I’m especially proud of our rebounding today
because it’s something we’ve been dwelling on in practice for the past
couple of weeks.”

ESPN

By: Brandon
admin@gatorsportsnation.com
Gator Sports Nation

Gainesville- The Gator mens basketball has improved to an 11-2 record after topping off the Stetson Hatters 78-57. Florida has now won 15 straight games vs Stetson. Florida is now on a 5 game win streak and has won the last eight out of nine games.

Nick Calathes took control and led the way with 23 points and five assists and was a perfect six of six from the free throw line. Alex Tyus grabbed ten rebounds which led the team in boards and tacked on 16 points. Senior guard Walter Hodge followed in the foot steps of Tyus with 13 points and knocking a three pointer at the buzzer at half-time. Florida took on a 15-0 run lead in the second half which gave them some momentum.

Junior forward Dan Werner put on a show with 12 points and seen rebounds while Sophomore Chandler Parsons added 8 points and six rebounds. Florida will take on North Carolina State on Jan 3 which is this Saturday and will be played at O’Connell Center. Tip off at 4pm.

By: Brandon
admin@gatorsportsnation.com
Gator Sports Nation

Coach Urban Meyer announced on Saturday that assistant Steve Addazio has been moved to offensive coordinator. The position has been opened ever since Dan Mullen took the Mississippi State head coaching job in early December.

Addazio coached Florida’s offensive line this season and if Tim Tebow leaves for the NFL draft, he might be facing some difficulties. But it will not stop him from coaching.

USA Today

By: Brandon
admin@gatorsportsnation.com
Gator Sports Nation

Junior receiver Percy Harvin will most likely not be opening up any Christmas presents this year. The whole Florida team left to go home and visit their families for Christmas while Percy Harvin chose to stay in Gainesville to get healthy for the BCS game. Harvin missed the SEC championship game with a high ankle sprain and has continued his rehab. Harvin is expected to be 100 percent healthy going into the BCS title game against Oklahoma on January 8th.

Harvin chose to get better and not spend time with Santa Clause or worry about digging in his presents. He would rather be doing rehab.

Hopefully Percy Harvin get’s completely healthy as he is suppose to and Florida comes out with another championship. Feel free to leave comments on the blog.

By: Brandon
admin@gatorsportsnation.com
Gator Sports Nation

The Gators found their 19 point lead slipping away in the second half against the Eagles on Monday but still managed to edge right by with an 88-81 victory in Gainesville. Sophomore guard Nick Calathes stepped up with several seconds left and capitalized with a 3 pointer to expand the Gator lead. Calathes led Florida with 21 points.

Alex Tyus tacked on 20 points for the Gators and also went 9 for 12 from the field. Georgia Southern made a nice run after coach Donovan received a technical foul. “I’ve been in this league now for 18 years,” Donovan said. “I’m going to find out, because certainly I was very, very disappointed with how I got it and in the matter of a guy asking me a question and then giving me a technical foul.

The Eagles shot 45.8 from the floor. Florida will need to improve alot more if they even want to think about the NCAA tournament. “We have a lot to improve on after Christmas break,” Calathes said. (Ocala-Starbanner)

Florida will face Winthrop on December 28th in Sunrise, Florida. Tip off will be at 6:30pm.

ESPN

By: Brandon
admin@gatorsportsnation.com
Gator Sports Nation

In Jacksonville, the Gators took care of the Knights 89-61 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. Sophomore Alex Tyus put up his first career double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Don’t that remind you of a Joakim Noah a little bit? Nick Calathes tacked on 16 points with a career high of 11 assists. Freshman Erving Walker sprung off the bench with 14 points and went 4 for 6 beyond the arc. Kenny Kadji had 15 points along with 7 rebounds. The best game of his Gator career so far.

Florida’s rebounding was terrific. The Gators outrebounded the Knights 38 to 29. Alex Tyus had some words to say after the game. “It feels pretty good just to come out and get the win. We played really well. Coach said it was one of our best games of the year. Every day I just try to do three things, that’s play hard, rebound and play good defense.”

The Gators shooting was on the money. After taking a long break, they still managed to shoot 52.4 percent from the floor and they shot 38.5 from behind the arc.

Florida (8-2) is back in action against Georgia Southern (3-5) at the O’connell center. Game time is 7pm.

By: Brandon
admin@gatorsportsnation.com

Tim Tebow said in the next few days he is planning to put together the right paperwork to send to the NFL to see where he would stand at in the NFL draft. That is if he chooses to leave after this year.

Along with Tebow, Junior middle linebacker Brandon Spikes is also suppose to be submitting his NFL paperwork to the NFL soon. Receiver Percy Harvin has already sent his part in to the NFL earlier. Tebow said that he will not make a decision about the NFL until after the BCS Championship. I don’t see why he would even think about it anyways. That’s all we would need is for a distraction going into the Championship game.

Tebow said he has no clue what way he is leaning towards. Before the Heisman Trophy presentation, he said he was most likely coming back to Florida. Now it is half and half. Tebow also said the outcome of the Oklahoma game will not have any impact whether he will return or not. I think Tebow should return for his senior year. That is my opinion. So let’s hear yours! Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.