Basketball Notebook: Discipline/Consistency, Eddie Shannon, Shannon Spake, etc..
Monday, January 26, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Football, Chris Harry
Junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith fouls guard Jarvis Summers on a drive to the basket in the final seconds of Saturday night's crushing 72-71 loss at Ole Miss. (Photo: Tim Casey)
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- His team would not have been in position to win the game Saturday at Ole Miss were it not for The junior forward had 14 first-half points, going 4-for-4 from the 3-point line, and grabbed five rebounds to help settle the Gators and set a good pace on the road.
But even Finney-Smith shook his head in reliving his role in the final 2-plus minutes of what turned out to be a 72-71 victory for the Rebels and a third straight loss for the Gators.
The UF coaches have talked till their orange and blue in the face about consistency and discipline. Finney-Smith is the team's best player, so you can imagine how he felt after these sequence of events transpired with the game in the balance.
>>> Finney-Smith missing two free throws with 2:17 to play and the Gators leading by three points, with a chance to extend the lead. “I've been in that situation before,” he said. “They just didn't fall.”
>>> In the final minute, with UF up by one point, Coach Billy Donovan wanted to spread the floor and get something going to the basket. Finney-Smith held the ball at the top of the key, with 6-foot-9, 236-pound backup center Dwight Colby defending him. Instead of using his quickness and speed to drive the ball -- and maybe force the defense to collapse and find a teammate for an open shot -- Finney-Smith shot a challenged 3-pointer over Colby that banged off the iron. “I shouldn't have shot it,” he said. “I should have attacked the goal.” The Rebels took the lead at their end on a jumper by guard Jarvis Summers.
>>> Then, after UF guard Michael Frazier hit two free throws with 9.8 seconds to go to retake the lead, Summers worked around a screen and crashed hard down the lane. Finney-Smith was on the paint, defending Colby, and could have slid over and parked himself in position to take a charge, as Summers left the floor outside the halo. Instead, Finney-Smith jumped for the block, fouled Summers -- his fifth foul, disqualifying from the game -- and Summers, a 78-percent shooter from the line, hit both free throws with 3.5 seconds to play.
For the win.
Finney-Smith finished with 15 points, six rebounds, two assists. He also was 1-for-4 from the free-throw line to go with five turnovers and some mental mistakes. After that really good first half, came a tough second one. That's the consistency Donovan talks about. And having the wherewithal to either take the charge or keep your feet on defense rather than foul in that late-game instance, that's the discipline Donovan talks about.
Those were points of emphasis again at practice Sunday. Not just for Finney-Smith, but the Gators.
They will continue to be.
That's where this team is right now. That's where it's been all season.
BACKING FROM THE TOP
UF athletic director Jeremy Foley took his office to the people last week with an #askjeremy Twitter session, then sat down with GatorZone's Scott Carter for a Q&A in his occassional "For the Athletic Director's Desk" series. This question came up from my colleague.
The men's basketball team is struggling compared to recent years and some fans appear restless because they are so accustomed to success under Billy Donovan. What's your message to them?
Here was Foley's answer.
“When I was growing up, my mother used to tell me that her father would go to the horse races and he always bet on the jockey, not the horse,” Foley said. “I'll bet on our jockey every single day. He'll get this thing exactly the way he wants it, the way the university wants it, to what our fans expect. I don't worry one second about that. He's the best in the business and obviously we're fortunate to have him."
TRIVIA QUESTION
When's the last time the Gators lost four straight? Answer in “Free Throws” section below.
FORMER GATOR UPDATE
He was one of the most inspiring stories of my first go-round covering the Gators back in the 1990s.
Now, Eddie Shannon is officially a “legend.” As in UF's designated “SEC Legend” to be recognized at the league tournament in March at Nashville, Tenn. The conference announce its 14 honorees last week. Shannon is an excellent choice for the Gators. 
He was a 5-foot-11 (maybe), 167-pound point guard who bridged the tenures of Lon Kruger and Billy Donovan. He came in when the program was floundering in SEC irrelevance, survived a brutal transition period between a laid-back coach and fiery new demanding one and left as a starter on Donovan's first NCAA Tournament, the 1998-99 squad that advanced to the Sweet 16.
And he did it -- get this -- with one eye.
In the days before reporting for his senior season, Shannon underwent surgery to have his right eye replaced with a prosthesis. The eye had grown increasingly bloody and irritated by clots and cataracts since he was accidentally struck with a rock in the seventh grade. He still grew into a South Florida star -- the two-time Palm Beach Player of the Year at Cardinal Newman High -- and was part of UF's 1995 freshman class.
In September of his senior year, Shannon had the surgery and was fitted with a brown lens over the prosthesis. He held a news conference, along with his surgeon, to explain the procedure. Shannon said he no longer wanted to discuss discuss his sight -- or lack of it -- and wanted to concentrate on basketball. He promptly helped the Gators go 22-9 and advance to the West Regional semifinal, before falling to Gonzaga 73-72 in the final seconds.
Shannon's desperation 3-point attempt at the buzzer in that game was the final shot of that season. And his career.
Playing with the likes of Dametri Hill, LeRon Williams, Jason Williams and Mike Miller, Shannon amassed 1,168 career points (38th on the all-time scoring list), 333 rebounds and 493 assists, which is third in Gators history.
After his UF career, Shannon played 10 years of pro basketball overseas, mostly in Europe, and now is an assistant coach at Division II Palm Beach Atlantic University.
Nice player, even better kid.
Here's a story I wrote about Shannon's plight for The Orlando Sentinel nearly 17 years ago.
TWITTER PATTER
Note: Clearly, I paid attention to the scouting report (see last tweet)
"@SSpakeESPN: Hey @GatorZoneNews Great job with the photobomb! pic.twitter.com/FHR3eFAUBL" One of the many skills listed on my resume
— Albert (@GatorZoneAlbert) January 22, 2015
Me yelling to make Perez miss late in game. Hoped it'd be diff. #Gators #Rebels @GatorZoneChris @GatorZoneMBK http://t.co/m8NFOst6Bb
— Michael Mills (@Gatorguy) January 25, 2015
@GatorZoneChris I feel like the game was a step in the right direction despite the result. Showed flashes of what this team is capable of.
— Tommy Hart (@ThomasJHart) January 25, 2015
Jarvis Summers has been a #Gators-killer before and he's still around. If he plays well, Rebs likely gonna win.
— Chris Harry (@GatorZoneChris) January 24, 2015
CHARTING THE GATORS
Michael Frazier needs one free throw to hit the minimum 140 attempts to qualify for the top 10 percentages from the line in UF history. Frazier's inevitable debut on the list -- perhaps as soon as Tuesday night -- will put him somewhere in the Top 5, but not high enough to jump guard Anthony Roberson (pictured). Here's the chart looks right now. 
PLAYER YEARS FTs-ATT PCT.
Anthony Roberson 2003-05 210-243 .864
Taurean Green 2005-07 350-409 .856
Joe Hobbs 1956-59 241-286 .838
Bruno Caldwell 1973-75 172-205 .839
Brooks Henderson 1963-65 337-406 .830
Scott Stewart 1990-93 212-146 .829
Brett Nelson 2000-03 189-229 .825
Andy Owens 1968-70 345-426 .804
Teddy Dupay 1999-01 238-296 .804
Greg Stolt 1996-99 196-244 .803
COMING SOON
Michael Frazier 2012-present 117-139 .842
IRREVERENT PHOTO OF A GATOR 
FREE THROWS
Before Saturday night, the last time Florida hit at least 12 shots from the 3-point line in an SEC game was against Missouri in opening-round play of the SEC Tournament last season at Atlanta, where the Gators bombed 12 of 21 attempts and turned a tie game at halftime into a 72-49 route. Scottie Wilbekin went 5-for-6 in that game, Frazier 5-for-7.... Walk-on forward Jake Kurtz is averaging 5.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 20.8 minutes in SEC play. Those are better numbers than senior center Jon Horford (2.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 11 mpg) and mostly better than sophomore center Chris Walker (3.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 15.7 mpg). Kurtz is also shooting 60 percent from the floor. ... The Gators are 2-5 in games decided by five points or less this season. The wins came against Louisiana-Monroe and at South Carolina. ... Trivia answer: The Gators lost the final three regular-season games of the 2007-08 season (at home against Mississippi State and Tennessee, then on the road at Kentucky) and then were eliminated in the first round of the SEC Tournament by Alabama.
