Jacksonville could have brought Artis Gilmore (circa 1970) back for this one and the Dolphins weren't going to beat the Gators for a second straight season on their home floor Friday night. Superior talent, solid execution and passionate incentive were all present and accounted for in UF's 107-62 wipeout of the Dolphins at the O'Connell Center. Unfortunately for the Gators, the all-present status didn't apply to every Gator.
By Chris Harry
GatorZone.com Contributing Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Jacksonville could have brought Artis Gilmore (circa 1970) back for this one and the Dolphins weren't going to beat the Gators for a second straight season on their home floor Friday night.
Superior talent, solid execution and passionate incentive were all present and accounted for in UF's 107-62 wipeout of the Dolphins at the O'Connell Center. Unfortunately for the Gators, the all-present status didn't apply to every Gator.
Starting forward Erik Murphy missed the game due to a knee injury suffered in Thursday practice and backup swingman Casey Prather sat out the entire second half after aggravating a sore groin. The status of both players going forward will be reevaluated over the weekend (full details here).
“We were pretty thin tonight,” Gators coach Billy Donovan said.
The Gators (3-1) were especially thin when two starters, Kenny Boynton and Will Yeguete (starting for Murphy), plus key reserve Mike Rosario, got two fouls apiece in the first half. Maybe the lesser numbers would have mattered more if Florida didn't shoot 18-of-34 in the first half, including 6-of-11 from the arc, and for 10 turnovers by the Dolphins (2-3) in rushing to a 58-38 lead to the delight of the Florida State Football Eve paid crowd of 10,333.
The 107 points were most scored by a UF team since the 2007 season (112 vs. Jackson State in the first round of NCAA Tournament) and allowed the Gators, at least for a few hours, to push aside concerns about their injured teammates.
Coming off a tepid performance Monday night in a 78-65 defeat of Wright State at Tampa, Donovan challenged his players to make the JU game a whirling dervish of pressure, defense and rapid-fire transition.
“We moved the ball and shared the ball, but I thought we were really active in our press and able to cause a lot of havoc,” Donovan said. “And even though we didn't turn them over a lot (15 times), it created a tempo and a pace for us that, offensively, we were really able to get out on the break.”
The Gators loved the pace.
The Dolphins, not so much.
“We definitely felt like they gave up tonight, and that's our goal,” said Boynton, who led all scorers with 22 points, including a 4-7 display from 3-point land that put the junior at a sizzling 19-of-37 (51.3 percent) for the season. “When a team looks like they're starting to give up, we want to keep pushing -- and kill 'em.”
Constant leads of 30 and 40 points meet the criteria.
After Boynton, four other Gators finished in double figures. Point guard Erving Walker had 21 points and six assists, while freshman swingman Brad Beal added 15 and nine rebounds, with Rosario coming off the bench for 12 points.
Power forward Patric Young, the Jacksonville native who suffered a tear to his eye earlier in the week against Wright State, scored a career-high 14 points, grabbed nine rebounds and sent the crowd into a frenzy when he super-flushed an alley-oop pass from Scottie Wilbekin late in the game.
After that play, Donovan brought the 6-foot-9, 247-pounder to the bench.
“He told me he didn't want to forfeit the game for the backboard being broken,” Young said with a smile.
There were plenty of other grins Friday night.
“I think this was our best overall game as a team this season,” Walker said.
Donovan seconded the motion.
“I thought we played the right way,” he said. “It was good to see we made a jump from last game to this game. That's what you want to see this time of year ... for your team to improve.”
The Gators coach will be looking for the exact same thing when Florida takes on Stetson Monday night in Orlando. Look for similar tactics, too.
Fast and frenetic. Chaotic and crazy.
“I keep saying this ... Can we do it against a team like Syracuse?” Donovan said. “I don't know.”
But he'll keep trying to do it until some team shows him he can't, right?
“Exactly,'' he said.
