Parsons' Versatility His Greatest Asset
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Chandler Parsons was pumped for this one. He said so on his Twitter account as the Gators headed to Amway Arena in Orlando last month to face UCF.
Parsons grew up in nearby Casselberry and wanted to put on a good show for a large contingent of family and friends at the first college basketball game in the sparkling new home of the NBA's Orlando Magic. A win and a good performance would mean a perfect homecoming for Parsons.
By the end of Florida's 57-54 loss, Parsons looked ready to get out of town. He made 1 of 9 shots from the field and missed all six of his free throws. The performance wasn't just ill-timed, it was one of those that can stick in a player's head and that can get fans talking.
Parsons bounced back with 13 points in a win at American four days later, but he entered Monday night's home game against Rhode Island with five consecutive games of scoring in single figures.
Not that Gators coach Billy Donovan was overly concerned.
“Guys are looked at playing the game well or poorly based on the ball going into the basket,'' Donovan said. “It's such a small part of how guys can impact the game. I do think that Chandler is one of those players that can impact the game in a lot of different ways.''
In UF's 84-59 win over the Rams on Monday, Parsons looked more like the player selected as a first-team All-SEC pick by league coaches in the preseason. He scored a season-high 18 points. He grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds. He recorded five assists. He played good defense and handled the ball when needed in a team-high 34 minutes.
In other words, Parsons did as Donovan preaches: he impacted the game in all the ways the Gators expect the senior forward to when he's at his best.
“He is a match-up problem all over the court at 6-10,'' said junior guard Erving Walker. “He can dribble, pass and shoot, so that's huge when he can play like that.''
As the Gators prepare to open the SEC portion of the schedule at home against Ole Miss on Saturday night, Parsons is staying steady following his best game of the season. The game in Orlando helped reinforce that approach.
Parsons opened the season by scoring 13 or more points in four consecutive games. However, his production soon began to drop off, highlighted by the Orlando nightmare and his 50-percent shooting (19-for-38) from the free-throw line.
Still, Parsons is shooting 50 percent from the floor (55 of 110) and has embraced Donovan's urging to do all the other stuff and let the points follow.
“I'm just going to shoot the ball and play my game,'' Parsons said. “They went in [Monday]. They may not go in against Ole Miss. They haven't been going in all year, but I'm going to continue to shoot the ball with confidence and play like I know how to play.''
Parsons made 7 of 12 shots from the floor against Rhode Island, including 3 of 4 of his three-pointers. He also climbed past three players on the school's all-time scoring list – Eddie Shannon, Taurean Green and Nick Calathes, his former high school teammate – with his 18 points. Parsons now has 1,184 career points, good for 30th all-time in UF's record book.
The numbers are impressive, but the way he accumulated them Monday was more important to Donovan.
Other than for a turnover Parsons committed in the second half after passing up a three-pointer, Donovan saw a confident player using all of his versatile skill-set to make an impact.
“The thing I appreciated as a coach was that there was no hesitation,'' Donovan said. “He took his shots when he had it, he moved the ball, and he had a couple of great follow-up tip dunks. He was out in transition. He just did a lot of good things besides the ball going into the basket.''
While so much of the attention surrounding Parsons is based on his offensive production – he is fourth on the team in scoring at 9.9 points a game – Parsons is leading the Gators in rebounding (6.7 per game) and assists (3.5).
In the Gators' win at Xavier on New Year's Eve, Parsons scored five points – taking only four shots – his lowest output since the loss to UCF. However, he led the Gators with 11 rebounds and seven assists.
Parsons has spent extra time in the gym recently working on his game and his shooting touch. If the points come, fine. If they don't, Parsons said he is content with fewer points if that's what it takes for Florida to do something it hasn't done during his time here – win an NCAA Tournament game.
“I'm not even worried about [shooting],'' he said. “I'm just going to shoot the ball and play my game. I'm going to keep playing aggressive and help my team at any way I can. If I hit shots, it's great, but I'm worried about the other things – playing defense, rebounding, making my teammates better.''
He did that against Rhode Island as well as any time this season.
“Overall, I thought Chandler played a really complete game,'' Donovan said. “He shot it well. He rebounded well. He made some good decisions, he defended well. He really had a good complete game.
“It was good to see for him.''
