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GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Maybe Florida coach Billy Donovan will let his players back in their practice facility now.

Marreese Speights scored 18 points, Nick Calathes added 16 points, five rebounds and five assists, and the Gators snapped a four-game losing streak with a 73-49 victory over San Diego State in the first round of the NIT on Wednesday night.

The second-seeded Gators (22-11) outrebounded the Aztecs 35-22 by making the most of their size advantage inside, hit seven 3-pointers, played solid defense throughout and won for the first time in three weeks. They advanced to play Creighton in the second round Friday.

“If they don’t gain anything from this experience, it’s really been a wasted year,” Donovan said. “And I don’t want that to happen. It’s not about the record. It’s about what did you learn and can you apply it in the right fashion to get better.”

Ryan Amoroso led the Aztecs (20-13) with 19 points and seven rebounds. Leading scorer Lorrenzo Wade added 11 points and seven assists.

Florida lost eight of its previous 11 games and missed the NCAA tournament for the first time in 10 years. Donovan responded by kicking his players out of the team’s $12 million practice facility and banning them from wearing any Florida attire.

“We don’t want to be back there, either,” forward Dan Werner said. “You earn stuff over a period of time, not over one game.”

The players got to wear their uniforms Wednesday — the first time any of them donned orange and blue in a week.

Feeling like his players had a sense of complacency and entitlement, Donovan hoped the punishment would serve as a wake-up call for a group he has criticized for not having enough dedication, passion to win and willingness to play defense.

His motivational tactic might have worked.

“We got kind of cocky a little bit,” Calathes said. “It humbled us and we’re going to stay humbled.”

Florida jumped out front early, opened up a double-digit lead before halftime and cruised to its 19th win in its last 20 postseason games.

The two-time reigning national champions had won 18 in a row before losing to Alabama in the first round the Southeastern Conference tournament.

The Gators were ahead 35-23 at the break, then used a bevy of easy baskets in the paint to stretch it to 59-36 midway through the second half.

Speights, who had several inches on the competition, had three consecutive baskets during an 8-0 run that put Florida ahead 71-46 with 2:37 remaining. That sent most of the half-capacity crowd heading to the exits.

“We don’t like to get beat up like we did tonight,” San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said. “They chewed us up too much on the inside, they shot the ball significantly better than we did and they were significantly the better team tonight.”

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, in town to meet with some of Florida’s draft-eligible players, sat next to football coach Urban Meyer for the game.

Fans in the student section tried to taunt Belichick with chants of “18 and 1” and “New York Giants.” He didn’t seem to notice.

Former Donovan assistant Donnie Jones, now the head coach at Marshall, also sat behind Florida’s bench. He sat next to former player Brett Nelson.

© 2008, The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.