Gators Look For Sixth In A Row As South Carolina Comes To The O'Dome
Friday, January 14, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Billy Donovan has had bad teams, good teams, and a few great teams during his 15 seasons as Florida's men's basketball coach.
He's been through the ups and downs of a 30-game regular season enough to usually take a cautious approach when describing the way his team is playing. That's the stance Donovan took this week when discussing where the Gators are as they enter the second half of the season.
Florida has won a season-high five consecutive games following Tuesday's 81-75 overtime win at Tennessee, the Gators' first win in Knoxville since before Donovan stood atop a ladder in 2006 and 2007 cutting down the net after back-to-back national championships.
So have the Gators turned a corner, or are they still a team with question marks going into Saturday's SEC showdown with South Carolina at the O'Connell Center?
The answer appears to lie somewhere in the middle.
“We did some very, very good things late in the game,'' Donovan said of the win over Tennessee. “We had a lot of good things going offensively, but we had too many breakdowns on the defensive side of the floor.''
As you might expect, Donovan isn't ready to crown the Gators SEC East champs just because they are the only team in the division yet to lose a conference game.
“There is really a lot of room for improvement that our team needs to make,'' Donovan added. “We've got to get better as a team. We need to look at ourselves … I'm always very, very leery.''
Donovan is no dummy. While the Gators have played their most consistent basketball of the season since a disappointing home loss to Jacksonville on Dec. 20 -- “I definitely think it made us stronger,'' said senior forward Chandler Parsons – they still have areas of concern.
The most notable are free-throw shooting (65.8 percent) and a recent drop-off on defense that Donovan hopes to see reversed against a South Carolina team that is dangerous from the three-point line. South Carolina is averaging nearly eight 3s per game.
Florida is holding opponents to 61.1 points on the season, but held only Rhode Island (84-59) below that threshold over the past four games.
“I'm not happy about our defense the last two games,'' said Donovan. “We can't lose sight of that, because we were doing a terrific job of that for a while.''
The Gators have won their first two SEC games thanks mostly to their resurgent offense, which has scored 70 or more points in four consecutive games after going seven games without reaching that mark.
Parsons has played a key role in the offensive outburst, shooting an out-of-this-world 83.3 percent from three-point range (10 of 12) over the last three games. He has also been getting the job done in other areas, something Donovan and the coaching staff have stressed to the talented swingman.
“My shot feels good,'' Parsons said. “I'm shooting the ball with confidence. Seeing the ball go in like that is a good feeling.''
While Parsons has improved of late, the entire starting lineup played impressively at Tennessee. All five scored in double-figures, led by Alex Tyus' 18 points in one of his better all-around games.
Tyus added seven rebounds, three blocks and a key steal in overtime that gave the Gators a six-point lead and took some of the steam out of Tennessee.
Tyus' steal was one of the plays Donovan applauded the Gators for making with the game on the line. He also pointed out a late charge that point guard Erving Walker took.
It's those types of plays that get Donovan most excited about the Gators' potential.
The Gators are also doing a much better job of taking care of the basketball recently, something Donovan has harped on. Over their last four games, the Gators are averaging 18 assists and only 11.8 turnovers.
“That's been encouraging,'' Donovan said.
With a victory over South Carolina, the Gators could return to the rankings after starting out at No. 9 and later dropping out after a loss to UCF, and then the one to Jacksonville that still stings Parsons.
“We had a disgusting taste in our mouth,'' Parsons said. “We didn't want to feel that again. I think after that, we've been a more together, better team.''
Donovan is concerned about allowing any “slippage'' to enter the equation. That's a term he used more than once on Thursday.
To keep moving forward, the Gators will try to maintain their “hungry and humble'' approach according to Parsons.
If they do that on Saturday, they will likely be back in the rankings and once more on the national radar.
“I don't think our focus should change a bit if we're ranked, not ranked,'' Parsons said. “We can't look ahead.''
GATOR GAMEBOX
South Carolina at Florida
Tip-off: 1:30 p.m., O'Connell Center
Records: South Carolina 10-5 (1-1 SEC); Florida 13-3 (2-0)
Game notes: (click here)
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Gator Radio Network (click here for affiliates)/Sirius 214/XM 200
Need to know: The Gators are riding a season-high five-game win streak after winning at Tennessee for the first time since 2005 on Tuesday; Gators lead all-time series 36-21, including 20-10 under Billy Donovan … Florida senior F Chandler Parsons is 10 of 12 from three-point range in the last three games; he hit just seven 3s in the first 13 games … Parsons hit the game-winning shot at the buzzer last year when the Gamecocks visited Gainesville … Florida can start SEC play 3-0 for the seventh time in 10 years with a win … Gamecocks F Sam Muldrow posted a triple-double in a win over Vanderbilt to open SEC play, registering 16 points, 14 rebounds and 10 blocks … South Carolina is averaging 7.8 three-pointers per game, led by the trio of Bruce Ellington (36 of 87), Ramon Galloway (24 of 62) and Brian Richardson (25 of 74) … Gators sophomore F Erik Murphy is listed as questionable. Murphy (sprained foot) participated in warm-ups at Tennessee but did not play; he has missed the last three games.
