'Eventually, Somebody Has to Make a Shot'
Saturday, February 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
BATON ROUGE, La. -- It's a statement Billy Donovan has made several times in post-game interviews, numerous times to his team on the practice floor and, no doubt, countless times to himself during this wobbly 2014-15 season.
“Eventually, somebody has to make a shot.”
The Florida coach is not talking probability and advance metrics, ala KenPom.com, but just in the pure basketball sense. As in, "Go make one!
After nearly two decades of rolling out UF teams that piled up the points and bombed away from the 3-point, Donovan has a Gators version of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight." Not so coincidentally, Florida (13-13, 6-7) has its worst record through 26 games since Donovan's inaugural 1996-97 season on the UF sideline heading into Saturday's road date against the high-scoring LSU Tigers (18-8, 7-6) at Maravich Assembly Center.
In Wednesday night's 50-47 dental-chair win over Vanderbilt, the Gators managed to snap a four-game losing streak despite shooting 36 percent from the floor, 23.5 percent from the 3-point line and 50 percent (10-for-20) from the free-throw line.
“Offensively, it's been a struggle,” Donovan said afterward. “An absolute struggle.”
The team's scoring woes worsened that night with word that junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith had been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Finney-Smith was the team's second-leading scorer and next-best 3-point shooter behind junior guard Michael Frazier II, who missed his third straight game with a high ankle sprain.
Together, Frazier and Finney-Smith were shooting 45.2 percent overall in Southeastern Conference play and 41.7 from long distance, accounting for 27 points a night between them.
Now, the Gators that will go up against the Tigers -- who already mauled UF by 18 at Gainesville last month -- with group hitting a collective 42 percent from the floor (which isn't bad), but a woeful 25.1 percent from deep (not good ... at all).
Thank goodness for junior guard Eli Carter, who checks in at 28.9 percent and still has the second-most made UF treys in SEC games even after going 0-for-5 against the Commodores. Take Carter out of the equation and the remaining seven players in the Gators' rotation account for just 19 makes from beyond the line this season.
Carter, an admitted volume shooter who rang up 1,000-plus points in two seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Florida in 2013, shook his head when asked if he'd ever been on a team that had to fight so hard just to put the ball in the basket.
“Never,” said Carter, who played on some dismal Scarlet Knight squads. “At Rutgers, we scored. We just didn't win.”
Eli Carter (above) is making just under 29 percent of his 3-point shots against SEC competition, but somebody has to take 'em -- and make 'em -- if the Gators are going to score. [Photo by Jim Burgess]
The Donovan offensive system, with multiple-screening actions, finds players open shots. After that, it's on the guy with the ball -- and with the free look at the basket -- to make something happen.
And yet, check out these SEC 3-point numbers.
* Forward Devin Robinson: 23.8 percent
* Center Jon Horford: 20 percent
* Forward Alex Murphy: 18.8 percent
* Guard Chris Chiozza: 17.4 percent
UF's best 3-point shooter who will be on the floor Saturday might come as a suprirse. It's point guard Kasey Hill, who has made five of his 16 attempts (.313); this from a guy who battles his tail off to penetrate the lane for decent looks, yet has had difficulty throughout the season (to say the least) finishing plays around the rim.
In emphasizing to his players the urgency of making shots, Donovan has taken to presenting the numbers to them in a different way. Take Murphy, for example. Donovan won't remind Murphy he's shooting 19 percent.
“Hey Murph! You know your missing 81 percent of your 3-point shots, right?”
For what it's worth, Murphy went into the Vandy game 1-for-12 in league play (or missing 92 percent, in Donovan terms), but knocked down a pair (perhaps) to get out his funk. Chiozza had gone 0-for-10 the previous five games (yes, he'd missed 100 percent of his shots), but bombed his first two against the Commodores and left the game with some confidence.
“When it's open, you have to take the shot,” Chiozza said. “The coaches have confidence in me, so I just have to take them.”
Eventually, like the coach says, you have to make them. On a team in the middle of “an absolute struggle” on offense, the players just have to find a way to muddle through.
“When you miss a few in a row, it can definitely drain you. It's frustrating and can really affect you, if you let it,” Murphy said. “But I've been getting extra shots [lately], putting in more work. A lot of the guys have. It may not pay off in a day or a week, but it'll pay off down the road.”
