AUBURN, Ala. —— Although it was his team’s lowest scoring output in his time as Florida’s coach, Billy Donovan still called Thursday’s game “one of the best wins I was a part of.”
The Gators (14-4, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) shot just 28.3 percent, but they still managed to escape with the 45-40 win at Auburn (7-11, 0-4 SEC).
“It was unbelievable,” Donovan said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of a game, sitting on the sidelines as a player or a coach, and been a part of a team struggle to shoot the ball as badly as we did tonight.”
The Gators shot, by far, their lowest percentage of the season, as they connected on just 15 of 53 shots in the game.
Auburn seemed content to let UF shoot from outside all night, and the Gators were more than willing.
After dominating the paint for most of the season, Florida took 49 percent of its shots from beyond the arc Thursday.
“That was a terrible shooting display by us,” junior Erving Walker said.
Said Donovan: “It was just a hard game to watch.”
After 38 minutes of play, the Gators were just 3 of 24 from three and 13 of 50 from the field.
But with 1:51 left and Florida down by three, Kenny Boynton finally connected from beyond the arc, tying the game.
Up to that point, the sophomore had been just 1 of 8 from outside.
“In my head I was saying before I got the ball, ‘My team needs me,’” Boynton said. “I knew one would fall. All I need was one to fall. And one fell.”
Just 37 seconds later, Erving Walker took his turn from long distance, connecting on a three to give the Gators the lead and the eventual win.
Walker, like Boynton, finished 2 of 9 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Gators finished just 5 of 26 from three-point range.
Although UF had a monstrous size advantage, it was forced to stick to the perimeter as Auburn dropped deep into a zone, doubling every pass that went into the post.
“We just have to keep shooting with confidence,” Walker said. “The way they were sagging in the lane, it was tough to get the ball inside and penetrate, and I had good looks.”
Despite their team’s atrocious shooting, Donovan and Boynton were adamant that the team’s ball movement and shot selection were solid.
Boynton said that prior to the game the Gators weren’t expecting Auburn to play as much zone as it did, but once the Tigers chose to defend Florida in that manner, UF had no other option.
“That was the game plan after they were settling like that,” Boynton said. “They just were leaving us open, so we had no choice. Coach wasn’t mad at all. He just told us to keep shooting.”
Said Donovan: “I felt like our ball movement was pretty good, and we had some pretty decent looks.”
Donovan added that his team took a few ill-advised shots, and he would have to review the film to evaluate the offense more precisely.
Donovan was pleased with his team’s defense, which held Auburn to its lowest point total in the shot clock era.
“Our defense won the game,” Boynton said. “If we didn’t play good defense tonight and they shot a high percentage, then we lose this game.”
