ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Like the hopeful high-rollers lining the casinos near Boardwalk Hall, Florida entered the weekend with nothing to lose and an opportunity to gain more than anyone thought possible.
By the time the Gators left the Jersey shore Saturday night, they had picked up a championship trophy and made a convincing argument that they are a better team than the preseason predictions claimed.
UF won the Legends Classic, stunning No. 2 Michigan State 77-74 in the semifinals on Friday night thanks to Erving Walker’s 3-pointer with 1:55 remaining, clutch free throws by Walker and senior forward Dan Werner and a last-second defensive stand.
A night after the emotional victory, Florida overcame a lackluster start and avoided a letdown with a dominant second half en route to a 73-58 victory against Rutgers (3-2) in the championship game.
“It’s huge for us as a team,” said Walker, who was named the tournament’s MVP. “We knew that we could compete with these teams, but to come out and actually beat them shows us that we can play with anybody in the country. We’ve just got to keep it going.”
Although it came in an early season tournament and long before the grind of the Southeastern Conference schedule, it’s hard to overlook the significance of what UF accomplished in Boardwalk Hall over the weekend.
For the first time since the 2006-07 national championship season, the Gators are 6-0, and Florida had not beaten a team ranked as highly as the Spartans (5-1) since defeating No. 2 Kansas on Nov. 29, 2002.
Perhaps most importantly, winning two nonconference games against quality teams on a neutral court provided an opportunity for the Gators to show their potential and another chance to silence their critics.
Florida has met and exceeded expectations at nearly every turn so far this year, easily disposing of its outmatched opponents and raising its game to another level against higher-caliber teams like Florida State and MSU.
“After the FSU game, we felt good about ourselves. We knew we could play with anyone in the country,” said junior forward Chandler Parsons, who led five Gators in double figures against the Spartans with 14 points. “I think we got a good chance to prove it, and we’ve got a good chance to get better and move forward.”
But the Gators did even more than prove their worth early in the season.
With a victory against the second-ranked team in the country, they finally have the kind of signature win absent the past two seasons — and it may have significantly boosted their chances of getting back to the NCAA Tournament.
Friday night’s victory was the program’s biggest since the second national championship, and it brought Florida some national attention, but the follow-up proved that the Gators are ready to stay in the limelight a little longer.
“Tonight we came out and we wanted to show everyone that last night’s game wasn’t a fluke, and we wanted to respond after the win,” freshman guard Kenny Boynton said Saturday. “We’ve heard people say we’re soft, so we basically wanted to put pressure on both these teams early and get the wins.”
Boynton and the Gators got the win they wanted, the win they needed — and the win that might be pointed to down the road as the one that put Florida basketball on the road to redemption.
