Florida Gators
Barry University (Exhibition)
Comeback Kid Carter Leads Gators, but Donovan Not Impressed
Friday, November 7, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Billy Donovan has been known to downplay the outlook of his teams. Heck, he did his share of poor-mouthing in the run-up to last season when his Florida Gators were dealing with suspensions, injuries and uncertainty.
That team, of course, won 36 times, defended its Southeastern Conference championship, won a school-record 30 in a row at one point, and reached the Final Four.
His new team, as Donovan has pointed out, is nothing like the previous one and that was strikingly obvious during seventh-ranked UF's 79-70 exhibition victory over Division II Barry University Thursday night at the O'Connell Center. The Scottie Wilbekin and Patric Young-led Gators were about ball movement and defense, neither of which were to Donovan's liking against the feisty Buccaneers of the Sunshine State Conference.
“I'm trying to figure out right now is, are we even talented enough to play defense?” Donovan asked afterward.
Junior guard Eli Carter, who transferred from Rutgers last year and took a medical redshirt recovering from a broken foot, led all scorers with 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 5-for-9 from 3-point range. His new-found impact was a positive ... or so it seemed.
“I feel a lot better, like night and day,” Carter said when asked to compare his health now to a year ago. “It's been a long process, but I feel blessed to be out there again with my teammates.”
Junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith had a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while junior guard Michael Frazier threw in 15 points, despite struggling with his normally deadly shot from distance at 3-for-12. Sophomore point guard Kasey Hill had seven points and eight assists. Senior Jon Horford, the transfer from Michigan, grabbed 10 rebounds.
Donovan, though, had little interest in talking about the good things his team did. Possessions that were too stagnant, a lack of offensive presence in the post (Barry outscored UF in the paint 22-18) a poor positioning and close-out technique on defense; those were the kinds of things in his sights.
His players reflected as much.
“We're not where we want to be right now,” Finney-Smith said.
Not even close.
“When you look down the stat sheet, we were not balanced at all on offense. I get that. I understand. Those are things we can correct,” Donovan said. “I'm much, much more concerned about Michael Frazier's defense, Eli Carter's defense, [freshman forward] Devin Robinson's defense. I don't know how many guys -- I'll go back and watch the film -- but there were some guys who really stood out.”
He didn't mean that in a good way, either.
Take Robinson, for example. The hotshot prospect from Virginia missed his first eight shots, threw up two airballs from 3-point range, and finished just 2-for-10 with five points and three rebounds. More importantly, he was out of position on defense.
And so were a bunch of Gators.
Barry, which lost 91-71 at No. 8 Louisville Saturday night, got too many easy open looks, too many chances around the block and got off far too many open 3-point shots (26).
“When you're not a very good defensive team, it's amazing just how the ball goes into the basket for the other team,” said Donovan, whose team nonetheless held the Bucs to 38.7-percent shooting for the game and just 23.1 from the 3-point line. “Last year's team, the ball rarely went into the basket for our opponent. But when you are really bad defensively, the ball just kinda finds its way in the basket all of the time. It does.”
UF stretched out to an 18-point lead in the first half, when Frazier's 3-pointer at 7:18 gave the Gators a 32-14 advantage, but Barry went on a 13-2 run to close the gap to six before Florida scored the last seven points of the period to lead 46-32 at the break.
The Gators got the lead to 18 again in the second half, but back came the Bucs, who just would not go away. Forward Yunio Barrueta, undersized at 6-foot-6, had 18 points and 14 rebounds to help Barry pull within nine, 63-54, with 6:37 to go.
Then Carter hit a trey from the corner and it was double-digits the rest of the way.
Not that the coach was impressed.
The Gators have a week to fix some things before opening the 2014-15 regular season for real Nov. 14 at home against William & Mary.
“We're not too happy about this,” said Frazier, who missed all six of his shots after intermission, four from long range. “They're a good team, so give credit to them, but we understand we have a long way to go, especially playing on the defensive end. We have to lock into that and start moving in the right direction.”
