A Tale Of Two Halves; Gators Survive Faried To Beat Morehead State
Monday, November 22, 2010 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators walked off the court at halftime Sunday appearing well on their way to a second consecutive blowout win. Morehead State's Kenneth Faried went to the locker room with a disgusted look on his face.
Florida coach Billy Donovan was the one with the exasperated look much of the second half, and Faried was the primary reason why in Florida's 61-55 victory at the O'Connell Center.
“That guy wants to be a pro,'' Donovan said. “That's Dennis Rodman all over again. If I was an NBA general manager, I'd be taking him right now with my pick.''
A possible first-round NBA draft pick according to some scouts, the 6-foot-8 Faried quickly scored on a pair of dunks in the game's first 24 seconds to introduce himself to the announced crowd of 8,342. But for the rest of the half, Faried was quiet, scoring only two more points as Florida built a 34-17 halftime lead.
At one point in the first half, Gators junior guard Erving Walker had more points (13) than Morehead State, hitting a 3-pointer with 2:29 remaining before halftime that gave the Gators a their biggest lead of the game, 32-12. Walker finished with a team-high 16, all but two coming before the half.
After halftime, Donovan's worst fear became reality as the Eagles started chipping away at the lead.
“We really did a terrific job in the first half,'' Donovan said. “If you give them a glimmer of hope that they can get back into the game in the first four of five minutes of the half, you are going to create a level of energy for that team that you are going to have to deal with the rest of the half.
“We did that. I don't know what the reason is. I would correct it as soon as I could [if I did].''
Behind 14 points and 14 rebounds from Faried in the second half – he finished with a game-high 20 points and 18 rebounds – Morehead State climbed back into the game with a 22-11 run. Faried's dunk with 10:50 remaining trimmed the Gators' lead to 45-39.
Morehead State closed to within six on four more occasions, but that was as close as would get. Chandler Parsons was one reason the Gators held on, recording his first double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Parsons added three assists and two steals.
Kenny Boynton, who had only one point at the break on 0-for-5 shooting, hit a pair of key 3-pointers in the final six minutes to help the No. 9-ranked Gators (3-1) hold off a hard-charging Morehead State squad.
“It wasn't pretty,'' Parsons said.
While Faried caused the Gators' frontcourt of Parsons, Alex Tyus, Vernon Macklin and Patric Young a headache, the Gators also shot just 38.9 percent (21 of 54) after shooting a collective 55 percent in the first three games.
Walker's first-half performance helped out as he made all three of his 3-point shots in the first 20 minutes.
“We always want to get a look at the hoop,'' Walker said. “I think we got good looks at the rim almost throughout the whole game, but basically the shots weren't falling.''
And of course there was the Faried issue. Faried consistently beat the Gators to loose balls and for much of the second half appeared to almost dictate the tempo of the game single-handedly at times.
Much the way he did after a season-opening win over UNC-Wilmington in which the Gators opened the second half with a big lead and failed to maintain their intensity, Donovan challenged his team to make sure not to let up, especially in the first stages of the second half.
“I thought the difference in the second half was Faried totally dominated our frontcourt by himself,'' Donovan said. “That's what a next-level guy looks like in my opinion, and we've got four guys that did a terrific job for 20 minutes – he had four rebounds – he ended up with 18 for the game.
“He just totally destroyed our frontcourt.''
Still, the Gators walked off the court at the end with their second consecutive win since losing to fourth-ranked Ohio State. Florida hosts Florida Atlantic on Tuesday.
The Owls may not feature a player of Faried's caliber, but Donovan hopes what the Morehead State big man did in the second half Sunday sticks with his team for a while.
“That was definitely an incredible performance by just a terrific player,'' Donovan said. “He's not a talented player – there's absolutely no offensive skill. He's not a great post player. He's not a great scorer. He is a relentless – and I use that with all capitals – a relentless effort guy in terms of going after every single rebound.
“I'm not disappointed in those guys. I look at it the other way. I think Faried is a great example for our frontcourt on the way they need to go after rebounds. Playing against a guy like that can be a valuable lesson.''
NOTES:
--Tyus returned to the starting lineup after missing Thursday's game with a mild concussion suffered against Ohio State. Tyus, who scored five points and grabbed four rebounds, saved his best for last when he blocked a shot and altered another in the final two minutes.
“He was up on the glass really trying,'' Donovan said. “I thought he did some very, very good things the last couple of minutes. He gave us a presence at the rim.''
--Donovan said freshmen Scottie Wilbekin and Casey Prather arrived a little late for the shoot-around, forcing him to use walk-on guard Kyle McClanahan early in the game. Wilbekin played 14 minutes.
“It probably hurt our rotation,'' Donovan said. “Our guys learned a valuable lesson about the importance of being on time and trying to do the right things. They are great kids. It's not going to linger any more than today.''
