The Gators may not have opened the game the way they wanted to, but it’s hard to argue with the end result.
No. 9 Florida (1-0) overcame a slow start to win their 20th consecutive season opener as they defeated UNC-Wilmington (0-1) 77-60 Friday in the O’Connell Center.
The Gators trailed 11-6 after 4:55 but used balanced scoring, strong rebounding and a powerful press to make a 15-4 run en route to the victory.
Each of the five starters scored at least nine points, while sophomore Erik Murphy chipped in 10 of his own off the bench.
“We had really good balance,” said senior Chandler Parsons, who led the way with 16 points. “That’s going to be our whole thing this year. We play unselfish and make the extra pass.”
The Gators had plenty of chances to make extra passes, as they cashed in on 52 percent of their offensive rebounding opportunities.
Senior Alex Tyus led the way on the glass, grabbing four of the team’s 17 offensive boards on his way to a team-high seven rebounds.
“That was one of our tone points last year and we wanted to start it off strong this year,” Tyus said. “That’s something that we can control, just trying to kill the other team on the offensive glass.”
A third point that led Florida to victory was a potent press defense led by freshman Scottie Wilbekin, who recorded four steals in 17 minutes.
Wilbekin rotated with Parsons, sophomore Kenny Boynton and junior Erving Walker at the guard spots, allowing the Gators to wear down a shallow Seahawks backcourt.
The 12 steals UF recorded were a refreshing change from the second half of the team’s final exhibition game, when coach Billy Donovan noticed a lack of intensity.
“Coach got on to us this week in practice about the press,” Wilbekin said. “We were all trying to get out there and work hard in the press and frustrate them.”
While the Gators successfully forced 20 turnovers, they also recorded 15 of their own.
Florida was often guilty of attempting ill-advised home-run passes and its guards occasionally tried to push the ball up the floor too quickly.
“I think we rushed a little bit offensively in the first half, certainly the first ten minutes,” Donovan said.
Another area in which the Gators continued to struggle was three-point shooting, as the team shot just 6 of 19 in the game.
Boynton cooled down significantly after shooting 8 of 15 in the exhibition season, going 0 for 6 from beyond the arc against UNCW.
Walker, on the other hand, rebounded from a preseason in which he shot just 1 of 10 from distance by opening the year with a 3 for 5 performance.
Despite his team’s streaky shooting, Donovan hasn’t asked them to limit their attempts.
“We haven’t been a prolific scoring team and a knock-down jump-shooting team, but I try to give them freedom because I do think when you do that they can have a game where they make 12, 13, 14 threes,” Donovan said. “We can’t let a lack of knocking down three-point shots discourage us as a team.”
