Florida Gators
Miami
Two big road wins, John Pelphrey, Erv, reader tweets and other
Sunday, February 19, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Women's Swimming & Diving, Chris Harry
Some leftovers from Florida's week of road rage, following huge wins at Alabama and Arkansas. “Blog Bits,” though, still looking to find its voice.
* All John Pelphrey would do was shake my hand. Then, it was off for some very low-profile greetings with some old friends. By the look on his face, it was almost as if the UF assistant was just glad this week -- and the return to the place and program he coached the previous four seasons -- was over. “I really hope the people here at Arkansas treat him as one of their own, because even though things didn't go as people would have liked or even how John would have liked, he's a great guy,” Gators coach Billy Donovan said of Pelphrey, one of his closest friends, after their team's blistering, record-setting 98-68 demolition of the Razorbacks at sold-out Bud Walton Arena Saturday night. “He's a tremendous human being, great husband, great father.” And apparently now a beloved assistant in the UF locker room. On Thursday, Donovan called a private meeting with his players; a meeting that Pelphrey knew nothing about. The coach explained just what this trip back to Fayetteville meant for Pelphrey, who went 69-59 in four season before being terminated last spring and rejoining the Gators staff. “Coach Donovan did not want Coach Pell to know he was talking to us, but he wanted us to know what he was going through,” junior guard Kenny Boynton said. “[Arkansas] was going to come out and play hard, and we had to come out and match that intensity.” In the locker room after the game, Donovan praised his players profusely for playing easily their best game of the season, adding, “And thank you for taking care of that guy in the back of the room,” motioning to his friend. Said point guard Erving Walker, who scored a career-high 31 points: “We did that for him.”
* One more thing about Pelphrey's return: the Arkansas fans were nothing but gracious to their former coach, cheering Pelphrey when he walked onto the floor. I checked with members of UF's traveling party and no one heard a single ugly comment coming from the stands (unlike, for example, Rutgers, where former Scarlet Knights guard Mike Rosario, who transferred to Florida, was serenaded upon his return in December with chants of, “JER-SEY HATES YOU!”). “These are by far some of the classiest fans,” Donovan said. “They've got very, very good basketball knowledge and really cheer for their team. They love the Hogs.”
* The Gators made -- get this -- 16 straight field-goal attempts against the Hogs, beginning at the 11:23 mark in the first half through the 15:43 mark of the second. Paging Elias Sports Bureau! Has that ever been done? If so, last time please?
* Like UF, the Arkansas baseball team opened its season Friday. Unlike the Gators, the Razorbacks won in snow flurries.
* Back to Walker. After that near-flawless performance Saturday (4-for-5 from 3-point range, five assists and no turnovers), in two career games at Walton Arena, he has 58 points. His previous career-high game was 27 at Fayetteville as a sophomore, so maybe he went to the wrong school. What he average playing in Walton every game? “At least 27, I guess,” Walker joked. At one point, as the Gators were blowing the game open in the first, Walker hit three straight 3-pointers and scored 11 consecutive points, helping UF to a 26-point halftime lead. Here are Walker's aggregate numbers playing at Walton. 
Year FGs (pct) 3pt (pct) FTs (pct) ASTs TOs
2010 7-12 (58.3) 5-6 (83.3) 8-8 (100) 4 0
2012 9-12 (75.) 5-6 (83.3) 8-8 (100) 5 0
Totals 16-24 (66.6) 10-12 (83.3) 16-16 (100) 9 0
* About that last item, any questions?
* With that victory, Florida clinched a winning record in SEC play for the 13th time in the last 14 seasons.
* Gators freshman guard Bradley Beal and Hogs freshman guard BJ Young were fierce rivals as high school stars back in St. Louis. A bus caravan of more than 500 made the trip to Northwest Arkansas, as well as a writer from the hometown St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While they didn't see a very competitive game, they saw spectacular play from their locals. Beal scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Young equaled Walker with a game-high 31 points (10-for-19 from the floor), showing an array of offensive moves. During dead-ball stoppages (particularly on free throws), Beal made a point to stand close to Young and remind him of the score. “Just some stuff to jerk him around a little bit,” Beal said. “Just trying to get in his head.” Said Young: “I didn't want him to win this one. Hopefully, I'll see him again.” In the stands, one fan (obviously a Young backer) held up a sign that said, “McCluer North 57, Chaminade 56.” That was the score of the Missouri Class 5A quarterfinal playoff game last year when Young's team beat Beal's.
* More on Beal. He got the first technical foul of his young career earlier in the week at Alabama -- but it turned out to be worth it. It came late in the game after he split a Crimson Tide trap just inside halfcourt, took the ball all the way to the rim and flushed in the face of 7-footer Moussa Gueye. Beal didn't react much after the play, other than give Gueye a glance, but teammate Patric Young encouraged him to put his hands together and bow. He did. Tech! “I think Pat should have got it,” Beal smiled. “He egged me on.” Young agreed. “It was kind of my fault,” he said. “Of course, I love it when he dunks on guys. It gets our team fired up. Got me fired up, as well ... though staring down the guy, that was a little much.” Donovan thought so, too. He had a few choice and loud words for Beal from the sidelines. As it turned, the play gave UF a 12-point lead with 1:16 to go and Bama guard Trevor Releford missed the two technical free throws. #worthit 
Some decent Tweets send my way during the Arkansas game:
--Did Nolan Richardson get his sweater from Carnesecca's closet?
@timetechandphoto
--Mississippi State was our best played game as a whole. This is just good shooting.
@obi_ugochukwu
--Live by 3, die by 3. Tonight, they are living large!
@seancarp
--sometimes it looks like Walker could score with his eyes closed
@NWARobbie
--It appears “40 Minutes of Hell” has been reduced to “A Few Seconds Here and There of Semi-Uncomfortableness.
@ufchomp
* Paging perspective! Paging perspective! The reader who penned the below letter-to-the-editor could use some. It ran in the op-ed second of Wednesday's Gainesville Sun.
Over the hill?
Is Billy Donovan over the hill? He had the all-time best recruiting teams in history and was successful beyond belief. Since then he has directed what seems to be a third rate, in the SEC, program at best.
I lived in State Collge [sic], Pa., for 24 years and was an outcast because I complained that Joe Paterno had lost the ability to recruit excellent athletes. Baskeball is more dependent on individual player skill than football or baseball.
Is Billy Donovan living on his laurels? UF is the school I bleed for now, and I do not want to see the Paterno syndrome get established.
Jim Shepherd
Hobe Sound
Note to Mr. Shepherd: The Gators won the SEC championship less than a year ago and came within an overtime loss of the Final Four. Now, they've just won their 20th game for the 14th straight season and are on pace to make the NCAA Tournament for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons. "Over the hill?" Seriously? That's what I mean by perspective.
* Speaking of those 20-win seasons, only two coaches have a longer streak of 20-win seasons than Donovan, who reached the mark with the win at Alabama. They would be icons Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) and Jim Boeheim (Syracuse). The 14-season run is the fifth-longest among the nation's programs, behind only Kansas (23), Duke (16), Syracuse and Gonzaga (15). “There are a lot of people who contributed to it; players, coaches, administration,” said Donovan, who took over a program that had won 20 games in a season only five times since first rolling out a ball in 1915. “To be able to build that kind of tradition and history is something that is meaningful.”
