Walker, Gators Look to Build Off Arkansas Performance
Monday, February 20, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The numbers, even a year later, are beyond ugly. They're downright disturbing.
15-for-53 from the floor -- 28.3 percent
5-for-26 from the 3-point line -- 19.2 percent
Yet, somehow the Florida Gators managed to beat Auburn on the road 45-40 in a game that set offense in the Southeastern Conference back about 70 years.
“I just recall them sitting in the zone and just letting us shoot,” senior point guard Erving Walker said Monday in reviewing/previewing Tuesday's home date against another offensively challenge version of the Tigers. “We couldn't throw a rock in the ocean.”
Billy Donovan bypassed the metaphor.
“It was a disaster,” he said.
Now, contrast that display with what UF did Saturday at Arkansas in handing the Razorbacks their worst loss in the 18-year history of Bud Walton Arena, a venue where the home team was 17-0 this season, In one of the most devastating offensive displays of Donovan's 16 seasons, the Gators shot 61.5 percent in the first half and 54.5 percent from 3-point range on the way to a 26-point halftime lead, made 16 straight field goals at one point and 7 consecutive 3-pointers, winning 98-68. It was the third-most lopsided road win against a Southeastern Conference opponent in UF's 80-year history in the league.
Now, what does Auburn last year have to do with Auburn this year? About as much as what Tuesday night's game at the O'Connell Center has to do with Saturday's game in Fayetteville, Ark.
Nothing.
But one element of that weekend wonder that the 12th-ranked Gators (21-6, 9-3) hope equates to the game against the Tigers (14-12, 4-8) -- not to mention the rest of the season -- is the play of Walker and the way he shook off his recent shooting slump like wet dog shakes water out of his fur.
Walker made his first four 3-pointers, finished 9-for-12 overall, plus 8-for-8 from the free throw line, carded five assists, no turnovers and finished with a career-high 31 points.
“When he's hitting, it helps everything,” junior guard Kenny Boynton said.
Walker hit just two of 18 shots from beyond the arc over the previous four games, and the Gators pretty much followed suit. But as Walker found his stroke Saturday, he got a noticeable bounce to his step and the Florida team, en masse, responded.
It's only natural. Shoot better, feel better.
“The biggest thing with Erv, when you've scored 1,600 points and you're the all-time assist leader in school history you have an expectation that when you step across the line you're going to play well every night,” Donovan said, referencing a pair of milestones achieved by Walker in the previous week. “When you're going through adversity, as an older guy, you need to understand how to manage it.”
Walker did not do that very well and his body language said so in a 20-point loss at Kentucky (his first scoreless game since his freshman year). It was more of the same in an ensuing loss at Tennessee (1-for-6 from the arc, just two assists), UF's first home loss since January 2011.
First came a 90-minute one-on-one meeting with Donovan, complete with lots of soul-searching. And video. The message focused on not just running the team, but taking control of the team by being an extension of the coach on the floor. Walker, by nature, is a quiet leader. There's not a rah-rah bone in his body. But, Donovan told him, you can still direct your teammates during dead balls and be the kind of leader the lone senior on the team should be. It was nothing Donovan hadn't told him before. Just this time, there was a little emphasis on the fact that there's only so much time left.
On that front, there's only so much Donovan can say. And he'll continue to say. More on that later.
As for the shooting stuff, Walker took matters into his own hands.
“I spent a lot of time in the gym,” he said.
For seven straight days, he showed up for practice early and worked on off-the-dribble and spot-up 3-point shots. One hundred and fifty makes each day.
On Sunday, he raised the number to 200.
“It was frustrating,” Walker said of the pre-Hogs slump. “It was bound to change.”
The extra work hastened the process.
“If he keeps that up, that'll help us out,” said Boynton, who alongside Walker scored 25 of his own Saturday.
Donovan loves great shooting; specifically, he loves what it does to his offense as far as spacing the floor and giving the Gators drive-and-shoot options. Walker's hot hand -- at one point, he made three straight 3-pointers as UF built a 26-point halftime lead -- will open up a lot of things, but the coach demands even more.
No technical fouls, for example.
Walker got slapped with one Saturday after he was fouled by Devonta Abron and slapped back after the play by the 6-foot-8, 255-pound Hogs power forward.
“I felt the guy on my neck,” Walker said. “I shrugged him off. That was pretty much it.”
But, as Donovan asked, what if Walker had three fouls at the time? [The tech would have been his fourth and he'd have come out of the game] What if the game had been close? [Now, the Gators are on the road minus their point guard]
“You have to show a sign of maturity. Abron bumped him, but you've got to move past that,” Donovan said. “He has to have an understanding and awareness maturity-wise. I mean, what's he going to do, fight the guy in the middle of the court? Abron would have ate him.
“I don't want him being this cheerleader pounding his chest. That's not his personality. I don't want to make him into somebody he's not. There is a balance in all that stuff with him, but certainly getting him to play well and freeing him up mentally is a good thing.”
It would be great thing if Walker could find and sustain that balance going forward -- in the final weeks of a spectacular college career.
“I know he has my best interests at heart,” Walker said. “And the team's.”
But he has beating Auburn on his mind.
"It's not like we get two wins for the game in Arkansas. We get one," Donovan said. "Now we've got another challenge. It's all about what's in front of us right now."
GATORS GAMEBOX
Auburn at No. 12 Florida
Tip-off: 7 p.m. (O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.)
Records: Florida 21-6, 9-3; Auburn 14-12, 4-8
TV: ESPNU (w/Dari Nowkhah and Dino Gaudio)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (w/Mick Hubert and Mark Wise) -- Click here for affiliates) / Sirius 220/XM 199
Game notes: Florida notes
Need to know: This will mark the 159th meeting between the two programs, with the Tigers holding the edge in the all-time series 87-71. UF, however, is 44-29 at home and 16-4 under Coach Billy Donovan, including a 7-0 mark at home. ... Florida has won three straight in the series and 13 of the last 14. ... The Gators are coming off back-to-back road wins, having defeated Alabama and Arkansas, the latter with a devastating shooting display (58.3 percent from the floor, 56.5 from 3-point range and 85.3 from the free-throw line). The Tigers upset Mississippi State 65-55 at home Saturday to snap a three-game losing streak. ... Florida can clinch a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament by winning two of its final four games or with one win and one loss by Tennessee ... UF is led by its three-man backcourt, which scored 77 of the team's points in a 98-68 roadkill rout of the Razorbacks. Broken down, senior PG Erving Walker (12.4 ppg, 4.9 apg) scored a career-high 31, junior G Kenny Boynton (17.5 ppg, 43.2 percent from 3-pt range) added 25 and freshman Bradley Beal (14.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg) had 21 and nine rebounds. ... UF could have the services of reserve G Mike Rosario (7.8 ppg), who has missed the last four games due to a hip pointer and returned to practice Sunday. The Gators got a big boost from the return of backup F/C Will Yeguete, who missed most of two games with a concussion, but returned to grab 11 rebounds vs. the Hogs. ... UF ranks first in the SEC in scoring (78.9 ppg), third in field-goal percentage (46.7) and second in shooting 3s (39.6 percent). ... Auburn, in the second season under Coach Tony Barbee, is led by 6-1 G Frankie Sullivan (12.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and 6-8 F Kenny Gabriel (12.3 ppg, 7.8 rpg), but also has 6-10 C Rob Chubb (8.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg) floating in the middle. ... The Tigers, who scored just 40 in a home loss to the Gators last season, struggle to score this year, too. In SEC play, they're last in scoring offense (just 58 ppg) and next-to-last in field-goal percentage (38.6) and 3-point percentage (28.7). Auburn's defense, though, has allowed conference foes to shoot just 40.3 percent, which is fifth in the league.
