Scrappy defensive play that led to 10 steals and an overall aggressive nature helped carry No. 18 Florida to a 75-58 victory over Wake Forest on Thanksgiving Day at the ESPN Events Invitational at State Farm Field House.

The Gators (7-0) remained unbeaten by pressuring the ball on defense and pushing the tempo in a game that didn’t start out particularly well for them.

Florida scored just 11 points in the first 11 minutes and the Deacons had a chance to blow this game open. But thanks to the Gators’ tenacity on defense, they were able to keep the score close.

“Credit to Wake, I thought they controlled the game the first 10 minutes,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “They were more physical and I thought they were able to control tempo and we were just struggling playing against their physicality.”

And Golden made his team aware of that during a media timeout.

“The message to the guys was to stay the course,” Golden said. “We talked about during the timeout that things may not be going our way, but we can’t let that impact the way we were competing, so once we got back to where we needed to be, I thought we did a great job.”

Wake Forest had several chances to build double-digit leads in the first 10 minutes, but after failing to do so Florida finally kicked into gear down 20-11 with 10:23 left in the first half.

The Gators started to match Wake’s physical play and also realized midway through the first half that the referees were allowing contact. Florida’s ability to adapt to the style of play was crucial.

“That’s the first game we had this year where the refs kinda let us play,” said Walter Clayton Jr., who led the Gators with 21 points and three steals. “We got used to that and kind of adjusted.”

The big burst of energy for Florida came on a dunk by Will Richard on a nice feed from Dr. Phillips product Denzel Aberdeen. Richard followed that with a 3-pointer and a nifty spin move for a layup as the Gators took a 23-22 lead. Florida ended the half with 6-0 run and never trailed again.

Clayton took over to start the second half, opening with consecutive 3. After a put back by Alex Condon and steal and dunk by Alijah Martin, UF went on a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 42-28.

“It was the first time we played with our hair on fire coming out of the half,” Golden said. “It’s also the closest game we’ve had at halftime. We’ve gotten out to these big leads and haven’t played a complete game.

“Probably our most complete game all year, especially after the way we started.”

It wasn’t the prettiest game. Neither team shot the ball well, and Wake was horrid from long distance (3-for-20 on 3s). Florida wasn’t much better at 8-for-27.

The key, however, was the Gators grabbing 15 offensive rebounds and converting many of the missed shots.

The Gators outrebounded Wake 44-30 and forced 13 turnovers. Martin had 16 points, Richard 14 and Condon 12. Rueben Chinyelu had 9 rebounds.

The Gators will face Wichita State in Friday’s tourney championship at 3:30 p.m. The Shockers were a 68-66 overtime winner over Minnesota in the event’s opener. Harlond Beverly led them with 16 points.

Up next …

Florida vs. Wichita State

When: 3:30, Friday, State Farm Field House

TV: ESPN

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