After a 2010 that prominently featured both flashes of brilliance and moments of despair, the Gators opened the new year with the type of performance they’ve been looking for all season.
Florida (11-3) finally played well on both sides of the ball for almost the entire 40 minutes, and the result was a resounding 84-59 victory over Rhode Island (9-5) on Monday in the O’Connell Center.
After the game, numerous players compared the win favorably with some of this season’s previous performances.
“I would say it’s No. 1,” junior Erving Walker said. “We had a variety of guys play well and we defended for the whole game. We didn’t let up this game like we usually do.”
While the defense held URI to a new season low in scoring, the story of the game was Florida’s offense.
The Gators cracked the 80-point barrier for just the second time this season with a formula similar to the one they used to defeat Xavier: limit turnovers and convert from beyond the arc.
Against the Rams’ relentless full-court pressure defense, the Gators logged 19 assists while yielding just 13 turnovers, including only five in the first half.
“We just try to plan an attack,” Walker said. “They weren’t really too aggressive, they would just try to get one trap. So we just wanted to attack them and make them pay for it.”
And pay for it Rhode Island did, as the Gators consistently beat the press and found the open man.
Florida could score from seemingly anywhere on the floor Monday, as it recorded 36 points in the paint and also connected on 8 of 18 shots from three-point range.
“Offensively, we were able to score whenever we wanted to,” freshman Patric Young said. “I think that was definitely our best game throughout the whole year.”
While UF’s hits from beyond the arc were critical, their ability to force URI misses was even more impressive.
The Rams entered the contest hitting 38 percent of their three-point tries, but made just 4 of 23 against the Gators.
Sophomore Nikola Malesevic, who was connecting at a 58-percent clip prior to the game, failed to make a three and got off just two attempts.
“I wasn’t denying him… it was just hard close outs,” said senior Chandler Parsons, who was on Malesevic for the majority of the game. “I wanted to run him off the line and make him put the ball on the floor.”
Florida outrebounded its opponent for the 13th time in 14 games, this time dominating URI by a 49-31 margin.
Parsons led the way with 12 while chipping in a game-high 18 points.
UF also got five boards from Young, who made his first career start Monday in place of Vernon Macklin. It was expected that the senior would be limited after injuring his left shoulder against Xavier, but by the end of the game he had equaled Young’s 22 minutes.
Young added eight points and didn’t miss from the field or free-throw line, going 2 of 2 and 4 of 4, respectively.
“I thought Patric played a great game today,” coach Billy Donovan said. “He’s really been a different player for us since he’s come back from break.”
The Gators led wire-to-wire — usually by a comfortable margin — thanks to a 22-2 run that spanned 7:27 of the first half.
The Gators connected on seven consecutive field goals during the streak while also forcing three turnovers and holding the Rams to 1-of-10 shooting.
“It all started with defense,” Walker said. “We were able to get some stops and some steals and get out and run. We just had to keep the defensive intensity up, because our offense thrives a lot better when we play good defense.”
