{"id":126121,"date":"2026-01-21T08:11:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126121\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T08:11:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T08:11:17","slug":"florida-vs-lsu-score-takeaways-no-16-gators-roll-tigers-ruben-chinyelus-breakout-fully-underway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126121\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida vs. LSU score, takeaways: No. 16 Gators roll Tigers, Ruben Chinyelu\u2019s breakout fully underway"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image Credit: UAA<\/a><\/p>\n

One of three Florida Gators to test NBA Draft waters before ultimately returning to the program, junior center Rueben Chinyelu knew he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to play professional basketball. A terrific defender and rebounder yet an inconsistent scorer, Chinyelu did appear to improve early in the 2025-26 season, but if his last three games are any indication, he may be playing himself into being one of the hottest frontcourt prospects in the country.<\/p>\n

Chinyelu matched a career-high and Stephen C. O\u2019Connell Center-high with 21 rebounds on Tuesday night while posting a fourth straight double-double for the first time in his career. His 15 points marked the first time in his career that he had scored that many in four straight games; he had never previously done it in consecutive contests.<\/p>\n

This after \u201cThe Ruler\u201d bested a career-high 19 points on Jan. 13 with a career-high 20 points on Jan. 17. <\/p>\n

His dominance has led No. 16 Florida to five straight wins, including three over ranked teams. The Gators dominated the visiting LSU Tigers, 79-61, on Tuesday in Gainesville, Florida.<\/p>\n

The reigning SEC Player of the Week appears poised to repeat the honor, and his performance would have been even more astounding had he not gone 5 of 10 from the free-throw line. (Chinyelu had made 12 straight gimmies entering the game.)<\/p>\n

Florida has not only won five straight SEC games but four of those five by 15+ points. It remains first in the SEC standings with a 5-1 mark. The Gators have also won nine of their last 10 games since Dec. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

It was over when \u2026 Chinyelu and sophomore guard Urban Klav\u017ear combined for 15 points over a stretch of 3:55 to push Florida ahead by 22 points with 8:42 to play. The Gators led by 12 at halftime but were unable to pull away after the break until the extended scoring stretch and dominance from the game\u2019s leaders.<\/p>\n

Exceptional efforts: Aside from Chinyelu\u2019s dominance, Klav\u017ear caught fire from beyond the arc, draining 5 of 9 attempts from long range for a game-high 18 points with two assists and three rebounds. It was an important two-man effort considering junior forward Thomas Haugh and sophomore G Boogie Fland combined to go 6 of 22 from the field and 2 of 8 from long range, though they did manage to post 12 points.<\/p>\n

Odds & ends: Florida improved to 55-66 all-time against LSU as head coach Todd Golden moved to 5-0 over the Tigers \u2026 the Gators have now won 16 straight games in the O\u2019Dome, 10 against SEC opponents \u2026 Florida improved to 12-1 this season when leading at halftime, 14-1 when leading with 5 minutes to play, 14-3 when outrebounding an opponent, 6-1 when outshooting an opponent from 3-point land, 11-1 when attempting more free throws, 8-1 when winning the bench scoring battle and 13-2 when 4+ players score in double figures<\/p>\n

What it means: Finishing 9 of 27 from 3-point range, Florida posted a 33.3% efficiency in consecutive games for just the second time this season. Its dominance in the paint (edges of 50-30 rebounding, 21-10 on second chances) carried it once again, but UF must figure out ways to put the ball through the hoop from mid- and long-range. The NCAA Tournament is carried by guard play, and the Gators are not getting what they need on a game-to-game basis at this juncture.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? Florida concludes its two-game homestand on Saturday when it hosts Auburn at 4 p.m. ET. The game will air live nationally on ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image Credit: UAA One of three Florida Gators to test NBA Draft waters before ultimately returning to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126122,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3109,28,30,29,4657,25404,62,29832,3115,3116,20054],"class_list":{"0":"post-126121","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida","8":"tag-boogie-fland","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-florida-headlines","11":"tag-florida-news","12":"tag-lsu-tigers","13":"tag-rueben-chinyelu","14":"tag-sec","15":"tag-stephen-c-oconnell-center","16":"tag-thomas-haugh","17":"tag-todd-golden","18":"tag-urban-klavzar"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126121","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126121"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126121\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}