It may have taken longer than expected, but Florida finally found its outside shot Friday night.
After hitting a combined three 3-pointers in its first two games, UF connected on 12 shots from beyond the arc on the way to an 80-58 win against Troy (2-1) in the O’Connell Center.
The Gators (3-0), who were shooting 10.3 percent from 3-point range entering the game, finished 37.5 percent from long range against the Trojans.
Freshman guard Kenny Boynton led all scorers with 23 points on 8-of-16 shooting, followed by Chandler Parsons (15), Erving Walker (13) and Dan Werner (12). All four hit at least two threes in the game.
During pregame warmups, the coaches insisted on getting the ball back to players who were missing their shots — an odd twist on the usual shootaround ritual of getting the ball back to players who make them.
“They told us just to keep shooting, keep our confidence up,” Boynton said. “(Parsons) came in hot, so we knew somebody else had to get hot. Erv got it going, then I got it going.”
Parsons, who made UF’s first threes of the game in the second half of the previous two games, once again broke the ice for the Gators, but it didn’t take nearly as long for the shots to start falling Friday night.
“It’s huge,” Parsons said. “Hitting your first shot really helps you get going.”
With the first 3-pointer out of the way, the rest of the Gators were less reluctant to shoot from long range the rest of the game.
Walker was 0 for his last 17 before connecting on a three from the wing a little more than three minutes into the second half. He hadn’t scored a field goal in nearly 78 minutes of game time before the 3-pointer sparked him offensively.
“I’m not going to lie, I was very frustrated, but you can’t dwell on that,” Walker said. “That’s so frustrating when you just keep missing and missing.
“That was just a slump, but hopefully I’m out of it.”
To ease some of the tension on Walker, who has run the point and led the team in minutes played through the first three games, Boynton occasionally took the ball at the top of the key during the second half to set up Walker.
Boynton said the backcourt role reversal is something the two will look to do more often as the season progresses.
“Both those guys look for each other when they’re playing,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “They need to continue to have that kind of relationship because when both those guys are playing like that, it really creates a lot for our team.”
TYUS SPRAINS ANKLE: Junior power forward Alex Tyus went down with a sprained right ankle with a little more than two minutes remaining in the second half.
Tyus was tangled up with Troy’s Bernard Toombs and hit the ground in obvious pain, wincing as he walked off the court on his own. Donovan said Tyus’ ankle was tender and sore after the game, but he won’t know anything more until he meets with team doctors.
“I am concerned about Tyus’ ankle,” Donovan said. “I don’t know where that’s at.”
Parsons was also a little banged up after the game, nursing a hip flexor he said was “a little tender.”
