No. 8 Florida 77, North Florida 69: Casey Prather scored a career-high 28 points and the host Gators withstood an unexpected tough test from their intrastate rival.

Michael Frazier II scored 19 points off the bench and freshman point guard Kasey Hill added 15 for Florida (1-0), which won its 23rd consecutive season opener despite letting huge leads dwindle at the end of each half.

Beau Beech hit five 3-pointers and scored a team-high 16 points for the Ospreys, who connected on 9-of-24 from behind the arc and outrebounded the Gators 37-35. Travis Wallace added 13 points and nine rebounds for North Florida despite battling foul trouble throughout.

Prather scored 15 of his 17 first-half points to help Florida a 33-15 lead with 6:02 remaining, but the Ospreys closed with an 11-0 run that was capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Beech to pull within 37-31 at the break.

Hill hit a pair of jumpers sandwiched around a basket by Prather to push Florida's lead back to double digits and the Gators extended it to 58-39 midway through the half when Eli Carter and Frazier knocked down 3-pointers. A four-point play by Beech and 3-pointer each by Jalen Nesbitt and Chris Davenport cut the deficit to eight with 3:55 left but North Florida could get no closer than seven points.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Florida hit its first 17 free throws of the contest, tying the second-longest streak without a miss in school history. ... Freshman C Romelo Banks had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Ospreys, who fell to 0-8 all time against SEC opponents. ... Gators C Patric Young, who had only two points and two rebounds, was named a first-team selection to the coaches preseason All-SEC teams on Friday while G Scottie Wilbekin, who sat out the game while serving a suspension, was a second-team pick.