With A Win Under The Bright Lights, Gators Take Control Of SEC East
Sunday, February 6, 2011 | Men's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Some people say the SEC is down this year.
Don't tell that to anyone in the record crowd of 12,633 at the O'Connell Center on Saturday night.
Florida-Kentucky. ESPN College GameDay in the house. Rowdy Reptiles of all ages forming a huge wave of orange around the arena thanks to a T-shirt giveaway.
“I had goosebumps just being out there,'' Florida senior Chandler Parsons said. “The noise was crazy. You don't get any bigger lights than this. That's how it should be every night.''
This game lived up to its billing. The Wildcats raced to a quick early lead. The Gators came back and threatened to blow the game open midway into the second half. The Wildcats went to a zone defense and made a late run. A packed O'Connell Center roared for a national television audience.
Finally, following a recent trend for the Gators, Saturday night's showdown came down to the final shot.
Kentucky freshman Brandon Knight had the honors. As Knight came down the court and prepared to launch a potential game-winning three-pointer, the Gators made a defensive switch with 6-foot-8 forward Alex Tyus moving over to harass the 6-foot-3 Knight.
Knight took five three-pointers on Saturday and made four. The only one he missed was the most important one, setting off the sort of celebration the O-Dome hasn't seen in a while.
Florida 70, Kentucky 68.
The Gators have had several good wins this season, but perhaps not a signature one until knocking off the Wildcats and head coach John Calipari for the first time. Florida lost twice to tradition-rich Kentucky a season ago in Calipari's first season in the Bluegrass State.
“This is a good win for us,'' Parsons said. “I'm sure there were a lot of people watching. If we can beat them, we can beat anyone.''
Parsons was the catalyst, scoring a team-high 17 points to go along with 12 rebounds and five assists. He had a pair of highlight-reel offensive put-backs late in the second half – one a flying lay-up on which he was fouled in one motion, the other a dunk. Still, it was Parsons' work at the free-thrown line with 12.6 seconds left that made a huge difference.
Parsons made a free throw after missing the first that provided the Gators with a two-point cushion.
The Wildcats decided to go for the win rather than a tie and overtime, and the Gators are glad they did, improving to 7-2 in the SEC and opening a 2 ?-game lead over the defending SEC champion Wildcats. The win capped a memorable week for the Gators, who beat Vanderbilt at home on Tuesday.
A year ago, Florida was 0-4 against Kentucky and Vanderbilt and 3-7 against the SEC East. This season: The Gators are now 4-1 against the East with a chance on Wednesday to avenge its only loss in the division when they travel to South Carolina.
“There was a lot of hype and drama,'' Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought our guys handled it pretty well.''
The Gators had a chance to fold and didn't, which is what Donovan was most impressed by.
Florida opened a 13-point lead, 55-42, with 11:50 left when Kenny Boynton was fouled by his childhood friend, Knight, on a three-point attempt. Boynton knocked all three free throws down and a party began to break out inside the O'Connell Center.
But Kentucky is Kentucky and the Wildcats went on a 17-3 run to go ahead 59-58 on a three-pointer by Terrence Jones with 5:43 left.
“We expected it,'' Boynton said of Kentucky's late charge. “We knew they would make a run, we just had to keep playing.''
From that point on, the teams traded blows until a pair of free throws by Erving Walker gave the Gators the lead for good at 67-66.
While his biggest defensive play came on the game's final shot, Tyus also made a big defensive stop on Jones inside with 1:40 left, grabbed the rebound, and then hit a short jumper to put Florida up 69-66 with a little over a minute left.
Tyus had no points and one rebound at halftime. But he had six points early in the second half and then added his biggest basket near the end to give the Gators a boost they desperately needed.
“That's the Alex we know,'' Parsons said of Tyus' second-half performance.
The Gators showed how much Saturday's win meant at the buzzer, racing around the court in ecstasy following a win they wanted and needed.
Donovan walked across the court to shake Calipari's hand and glanced over at his team celebrating. He then made the way to the locker room to prepare for his postgame message.
It was simple: Great win, great resiliency and great effort. Now let's do it again.
Donovan didn't want to hear that the Gators have opened up some breathing room in the SEC East.
“This game in a lot of ways is a microcosm of our team,'' he said. “I was so proud that when things were not going well … and all of a sudden [Kentucky] takes the lead, we showed really, really good resiliency.''
That's when Donovan added his “but.''
“Do we have the maturity level as a team to handle going forward from here? That has been our No. 1 problem. These situations, we have not handled them well.''
We won't know until late Wednesday night how the Gators respond at South Carolina. What we learned on Saturday night is that the Gators didn't wilt under the bright lights.
