Jim McElwain is paid handsomely by Florida to coach the football team, but he loves to talk hoops whenever he gets the chance. Earlier in the week, McElwain, who played basketball in high school, asked reporters at his press conference if he could talk about the Gators basketball team making it to the Sweet Sixteen instead of taking questions about spring practice.

A reporter played along and asked McElwain about KeVaughn Allen. The Gator guard was having a rough go in the tournament, shooting only 3-of-23 in the first two games. McElwain was confident that Allen would break out of his slump at one of sports greatest venues, Madison Square Garden.

“There’s no doubt in my mind,” McElwain said Monday. “I look at it like this. Sometimes those guys that get into that, you don’t want them to get hot so the other team is going to go ahead and maintain their, ‘Here’s the shooter, you’ve got to take this away.’ In turn, I think he’s done a great job of involving the other guys.

“So when he gets out of that little bit off a shooting slump, which is going to happen in the Garden, (it’s going to be great).”

At the start of the game, McElwain’s prediction did not look like it would come true. Allen started 2-of-8 from the floor, but he kept shooting and eventually got in a groove. Allen led all scorers with 35 points on 11-of-24 shooting. The new UF record holder (most points in a tournament game) helped the Gators to an 84-83 win over Wisconsin in the early Saturday morning in the city that never sleeps.

If McElwain has another big prediction for the Florida basketball team, Gator Nation is all ears.