After winning 10 straight games by double digits, No. 7 Florida passed a much different sort of test in its most recent outing.Off the strength of a six-point, neutral-court win over North Carolina, the Gators will host local rival North Florida on Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, Fla.Florida (11-0) has two more tune-ups left on the nonconference schedule. If the Gators beat North Florida and Stetson, they’ll take a perfect record into their SEC opener Jan. 4 at none other than Kentucky, currently No. 4 in the nation.On Tuesday in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., Florida led by as many as 17 points in the first half before the Tar Heels surged ahead with less than eight minutes to go. But Gators coach Todd Golden rightfully was proud of how his team battled to pull out a 90-84 victory.”To be honest, we haven’t had a game like this yet,” Golden said postgame. “We’ve won every game before this by double figures, and so to be able to push through in a game where we trailed back and forth through the second half, I think is obviously great for us and will help prepare us for SEC play.”Alijah Martin tied the game at 82 with a 3-pointer and again at 84 with two free throws. Will Richard made a critical offensive rebound and scored the putback to put Florida in front in the final minute, and the Gators’ defense closed it from there.”We know the rest of the season isn’t going to be easy, but it’s definitely preparing us for conference and the rest of the games we’ve got coming up,” Richard told reporters. “Definitely good to face a little adversity.”Richard had a team-high 22 points on his best shooting night of the season (8-for-10 from the field). Martin scored 19 points as Florida found a way to win despite leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. (18.5 ppg) having an off night in which he shot 4-for-15 from the floor.Florida is 10-0 all-time against North Florida (7-5), the last meeting coming in December 2021, but that doesn’t mean the Ospreys can be slept on.