JACKSONVILLE — So far this season, the Gators have built their identity on defense, a sharp contrast to the team that lived and died by its 3-point shooting a year ago.
Friday night, Florida looked a little more like its old self.
No. 13 UF shot 12 of 20 from beyond the arc on its way to an 85-67 win at Jacksonville (0-5), moving to 8-0 for just the third time in school history.
“I feel like in the previous games, we’ve had bad shooting nights and good defense,” said freshman guard Kenny Boynton, who returned to the starting lineup and scored 15 points. “In this game, we had a good shooting night and bad defense.
“We’ve just got to put it all together.”
The Gators entered Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena shooting just 27.7 percent from 3-point range, but Boynton, Erving Walker, Dan Werner and Chandler Parsons kept shooting with confidence like UF coach Billy Donovan told them to, and the shots finally started falling.
Florida’s eight second-half 3s were more than the team has made in all but one game this season.
“Teams were not even playing us honest sometimes. Me and KB had a lot of good looks this game and the last few games,” said Walker, who led the team with 18 points on 4-of-5 shooting from beyond the arc. “It seems like it’s slowly starting to change, and we’re happy for that.”
The Gators and Dolphins traded baskets for the opening 13 minutes of the game, and UF held just a 31-29 lead with 7:13 remaining in the first half.
The fast-paced first half was starting to wear on a UF team playing its eighth game in 17 days, but the Gators clamped down on defense and only allowed one JU field goal from that point on — a layup by guard Ben Smith as the buzzer sounded.
“We’ve had an emotional, long stretch here. It’s been a long stretch for our kids, and our kids have done a good job,” Donovan said. “I knew there was going to be a lot of emotion and energy.
“We looked a little drained and a little fatigued, but we hung in there and did the things necessary to find a way to win the game.”
With Jacksonville refusing to be put away for most of the second half, Florida’s defense once again buckled down. The Gators gave up just seven points in the final 8:43 and held the Dolphins scoreless for more than five minutes to end the game.
“It’s good to see us hitting shots, but we definitely didn’t play defense the way we wanted to,” said Werner, who finished with 13 points. “They were flying the ball up and down the court. Our pressure really wasn’t as effective. They did a great job handling it.
“The last couple minutes of the first half and the last couple minutes of the second half really won us the game.”
With the Gators’ outside shooters hitting from long range, Vernon Macklin put together one of his best scoring games as a Gator.
The junior center hit all six of his free throws — extending his streak to 12 straight and giving Donovan another reason to play him late in the game — and finished with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
“(The improved outside shooting) makes it a lot easier,” Macklin said. “I want these guys to keep this up and keep on knocking them down and help out a lot of our big guys.”
