Basketball Notebook: Carter & Walker, free throws, Al Horford, etc.
Monday, February 16, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Men's Golf, Chris Harry
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Truth be told, the Florida Gators likely get beaten by 15 if Eli Carter doesn't break out of his shooting slump Saturday night at Texas A&M. As it turned out, Carter's 22-point night (on 9-for-17 shooting, including four 3-pointers) sparked UF's second-half rally that ended, nonetheless, in frustration with a 63-62 defeat.
“He totally kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win,” Coach Billy Donovan said afterward, but his words were not without caution.
Asked about the Carter's productive night -- a career-high for the New Jersey junior, since transferring from Rutgers -- Donovan reminded those at his post-game news conference about the rut of his combo guard. Carter entered the game 36 percent from the floor and just 30.3 from the 3-point line for the seaosn. In his previous eight games, Carter was just 12-for-47 from long distance (25.5 percent).
“Not that he needs to shoot 50 percent [from the field] and 40 from 3, but if he can just be a consistent 35- or 36-percent shooter that would help,” Donovan said. “I know there are going to be some [bad] nights, I get that. But 3-for-12, 5-for-15 ... .” 
A couple questions later, sophomore center Chris Walker came up.
Walker, the former McDonald's All-American who's impact has been mostly negligible this season in averaging 5.0 points and 3.8 rebounds per game, came off the bench against the Aggies to go 5-for-5 from the floor and score 11 points to go with four blocked shots. In the final five minutes, he had six points, a blocked shot and his only rebound, an offensive stickback that gave UF its only lead of the game at the 1:47 mark.
Yes, his only rebound of the game.
Donovan provided tepid praise for Walker -- “He did some good things tonight” -- but mentioned that lack of rebounding. The UF staff remains hesitant to go all in with Walker on his defense (in addition to being out of position, he too often is exploited for easy baskets on inbound plays beneath the opponent's basket), but to Walker's credit he has put together back-to-back games where his length and ability to run the floor have shown up.
“When he gets his motor running and playing with energy and gets his athleticism into the game, he really helps us,” Donovan said. “But when he gets fatigued and he's not really moving around, it becomes a challenge for us.”
With a 12-13 record and a roster full of inconsistency, that's about as gushing as it's going to get.
BREAKING DOWN BY HALVES 
In their 13 losses this season, the Gators have combined to outscore their opponents by two points in the first half, yet been trounced by a cumulative 63 points in the second half.
In Southeastern Conference play, the difference is even more pronounced.
UF is plus-40 in the first half against the league, yet minus-34 after intermission. Only five times this season have the Gators outscored their opponents in the second half; two of those were losses, including the one Saturday at College Station.
The Gators, indeed, made an inspired run at the Aggies late in the game, but their inability to keep A&M's front court from getting position in the low post and converting easy layups proved too much to overcome.
The discrepancy between the first- and second-half productivity speaks to the wild inconsistency -- up and down the roster; across the statistical sheets -- the team has shown throughout the season.
TRIVIA QUESTION
Florida will look to snap its four-game losing streak Wednesday night at home against Vanderbilt. The current tailspin already marks the longest since the 2007-08 season. When is the last time the Gators lost five in a row and who was the leading scorer on that team? Answer below in “Free Throws” section.
FORMER GATOR PROFILE
Using efficiency as a standard, maybe the East squad should have given Atlanta Hawks forward Al Horford more minutes in Sunday night's NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden.
Stacked against Oklahoma City point guard and game MVP Russell Westbrook's 41 points, Horford's digits may not overly impress. Horford, one of four Hawks on the East squad, finished with eight points, seven rebounds and two assists in just 14 minutes in his team's 163-158 defeat.
But Horford's plus/minus ratio showed a plus-14, which was far and away the best of anyone on the East squad -- LeBron James had a team-high 30 points and was at plus-1 -- and second-best in the game to the West's LaMarcus Aldridge (plus-17).
And, yes, we did have Horford in this space earlier in the season, but when you're the only former Gator in the NBA All-Star Game, you deserve a repeat, right?
TWITTER PATTER
@GatorZoneChris Been a season like I've never seen before.. Would love seeing Kasey continue to play like tonight.. Ran offense very well
— Tommy Hart (@ThomasJHart) February 15, 2015
“@GatorZoneChris: Final: Texas A&M 63, Florida 62. #Gators fall to 12-13 overall, 5-7 in league.” pic.twitter.com/L0TdaG3pMx
— Morgan Reagle (@MorganReagle) February 15, 2015
This year's #Gators basketball team has to be one of the unluckiest teams I've seen in a long time. It's almost unbelievable.
— Micah Fries ن (@micahfries) February 15, 2015
CHARTING THE GATORS
That Florida does not have a guy who can go get a shot when the Gators need one (ala Scottie Wilbekin last year) is something that's becoming obvious as the season plays out -- especially without Michael Frazier II roaming the 3-point line to stretch the defense. It's a big reason why the Gators rank last in free throws attempted (270) in SEC play and next-to-last in free throws made (133). Through 12 conference games, UF has attempted 46 fewer free throws than its opponents -- the Gators shot just seven at A&M -- and converted 51 fewer. Those add up over the long haul, especially with five of the last seven losses coming by seven points or less (and three of them by a single point).
Opponent Gators FTs Opponent FTs Difference in makes
@South Carolina 25-30 23-27 plus-2
Mississippi State 7-12 8-13 minus-1
Auburn 12-18 17-26 minus-5
at Georgia 8-14 19-29 minus-11
LSU 12-17 17-18 minus-1
@Ole Miss 15-24 16-19 plus-4
@Alabama 7-9 8-12 minus-1
Arkansas 17-25 5-7 plus-12
@Vanderbilt 13-16 29-42 minus-16
Kentucky 7-14 21-22 minus-14
Ole Miss 6-9 10-13 minus-4
@Texas A&M 4-7 11-13 minus-7
FREE THROWS
Frazier, out the last 2 1/2 games with an ankle injury suffered against Kentucky, still is 7-10 days away from returning to action, according to Donovan. That's tough. ... The up-and-down odyssey of freshman forward Devin Robinson showed up in a striking way last week. Forced back into the starting lineup due to Frazier's injury, Robinson had his finest game as a Gator in the loss to Ole Miss, scoring 14 points, grabbing a career-best seven rebounds and blocking three shots without a turnover. At A&M, again in the startling line, he had no points (0-for-4 from the floor, all 3-pointers) and one rebound in 21 minutes. ... Speaking of freshmen, guard Chris Chiozza has missed his last 10 shots from the 3-point line since hitting a big one in the second half in the win against Alabama. ... Trivia answer: UF lost five straight to end the 1997-98 regular season, a run that coincided with point guard Jason Williams being dismissed from the team for violating team rules. And, yes, Williams was the team's leading scorer that year, averaging 17.1 points (plus nearly seven assists) in only 20 games. UF was 13-7 at the time Williams was booted and went 1-8 the rest of the way.
