When Brad Beal struggled to knock down 3-pointers in his career opener, he quickly found comfort scoring in a variety of ways.
After notching 12 points from deep in a Nov. 3 exhibition, Beal cooled down during a decidedly off night of 1-of-6 shooting from three Friday against Jackson State.
For many players, it would have been an inauspicious footnote to a freshman debut. But for Beal, it was just the beginning of a 50 percent shooting performance.
“He’s got great pace to his game; he never gets rattled,” coach Billy Donovan said. “He had 10 points in the first half and you don’t even recognize it. It’s an offensive rebound putback, it’s a floater on a runner, it’s one three; he just plays the game.”
Beal finished the No. 8 Gators’ 99-59 win with 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting. The five misses came on 3-pointers.
Donovan has described Beal as the most mature freshman he has coached at UF (1-0). Instead of worrying about his stroke or forcing more threes, Beal found other scoring avenues.
Using his ability to separate vertically from defenders, the 6-foot-3 Beal had six of his points in the paint and made a team-high three free throws.
“My shots weren’t falling, but I’m really not focused on that as long as we win,” Beal said. “I try to impact other things in the game like getting defensive rebounds and just playing really hard on defense.”
Even though Beal took only 10 shots, Donovan said the freshman’s high shooting percentage should allow him to get to 20 points in a hurry during most games. Donovan also praised the quality of Beal’s attempts.
“The thing with him that I think makes him such a good player is he’s not a high-volume shooter,” Donovan said. “He scores very quietly, and he’s very efficient when he scores.”
Beal credited the chemistry between the guards for keeping him involved, despite his low numbers from three. Florida’s main rotation of five guards had a 14-to-3 assist-to-turnover ratio against Jackson State and was able to keep scoring high in the backcourt.
Shooting guards Mike Rosario and Kenny Boynton led all scorers with 19 points each. The duo stayed hot from outside, combining to go 9 for 15 from behind the arc.
Senior point guard Erving Walker added 10 points on just six shots.
“The ball movement is perfect,” Beal said. “Everybody’s knocking down shots. When we see that, you know that’s Florida basketball. It’s the way coach Donovan wants us to play and it’s just beautiful.”
Overall, the Gators shot 51.3 percent from the field and 43.3 percent from three.
Although Donovan was pleased with his freshman starter’s performance against the Tigers, he suspected Beal would be itching to raise the team’s percentage from deep next time out.
“In his realm and the way he thinks, 1 for 6 from the 3-point line, that’s unacceptable,” Donovan said. “(He’s thinking) ‘I need to shoot the ball better.’”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida freshman guard Brad Beal scored 14 points in the team’s season-opening win against Jackson State at home on Friday.
