GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The talented crop of freshmen stood out for Florida (No. 7 ESPN/USA Today, No. 6 AP) on Tuesday. None made a bigger impression than point guard Brett Nelson.

Nelson finished with 19 points to help the Gators defeat VMI 113-68 for their eighth straight victory.

	Florida's Teddy Dupay hustles the ball up the floor against VMI on Tuesday.

Considered the best high school prospect to come out of West Virginia since Jerry West, Nelson shot 7-for-7 and finished with five assists and seven steals.

It was an impressive breakthrough for a player who had been slowly adjusting to the college game over his first two months at Florida (10-1).

"It's not about talent," said Florida coach Billy Donovan. "It's about mentally understanding what he can and cannot do. It's understanding when to go one-on-one, when not to go one-on-one. It's when to shoot, when not to shoot. Today, he put the whole thing together."

He was just one of three freshman to have his best game of the season.

Blue-chip center Donnell Harvey shot 10-for-12 and finished with a career-high 22 points and 10 rebounds. Matt Bonner had 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting.

They helped Florida reach 10-1 for just the third time in history. The Gators won eight straight for just the seventh time and stand two wins away from equaling the longest winning streak in team history.

It was the fifth straight loss for overmatched VMI (5-7), which seemed determined to go down fighting. Unwilling to stop running and pressing against a team that does it better, the Keydets committed 33 turnovers, 20 of them while falling behind 63-35 at halftime.

"A lot of guys say, 'Why not take the air out and try to make it as competitive as you can?,' " said VMI coach Bart Bellairs. "That's never going to be my strategy. We played the way VMI plays, and that's trapping and pressing."

Bellairs figured the game would help the Keydets as they prepare for play in the Southern Conference, where they surely won't see any team as talented as the Gators.

"It's a sad situation when you look over there and you're down 40 with three minutes to go and they're subbing in a McDonald's All-American so he can get a little playing time," Bellairs said.

Donovan stopped short of calling it a breakthrough game for Harvey or Bonner. But he has noticed all the freshmen making great strides since they arrived in Gainesville -- touted as the young coach's second straight stellar recruiting class.

"They're all trying to figure it out right now," Donovan said. "It takes time. But without question, they're much better than they were 10 days ago, two weeks ago, a month ago. I would hope that through the course of the season, they'll be better than they are today."

Nelson capped off the best day in his short college career by hitting a pair of 24-footers in the last two minutes to surpass his previous scoring high of 18 points.

A frequent target of Donovan's criticism, Nelson said the performance was satisfying.

"I knew if I kept listening to coach, he was telling me the right things and it would all come together," Nelson said. "Today I went out and played hard, my teammates got me open and I made the right plays."

Bellairs said the Nelson could be as good as Jason Williams, who spent one troubled season at Florida before leaving for the NBA, where he is becoming a star with the Sacramento Kings.

"If Brett gets the drive, if he lets Billy into his heart, he's got the potential," Bellairs said. "All he's missing right now is Billy Donovan's drive."

Richard Bruce led the Keydets with 13 points, including three 3-pointers. Nick Richardson and Aaron Demory had 12 points each for VMI.