Though the Gators exited the O’Connell Center on Friday night far from full-strength, they showed no signs of slowing down while on the court.
A year after losing to Jacksonville in overtime, No. 10 Florida (4-1) dashed any hopes the Dolphins (2-3) had of a repeat upset with their best shooting performance of the young season.
Led by junior guard Kenny Boynton’s 22 points, the Gators finished with five players in double figures and shot 55.2 percent from the field on their way to a 107-62 win.
“I felt like this game was the best game we've played in terms of how I envisioned our team playing offensive and defensively," coach Billy Donovan said. “Our guys were disappointed about the loss last year, and they came in focused. I thought we played the right way.”
Florida’s newly minted four-guard set showed serious improvement from four days earlier against Wright State. For the first time in five games the Gators limited themselves to single-digit turnovers and also dished out 20 assists.
Six of those assists were credited to senior point guard Erving Walker, who had 21 points and just one turnover in 25 minutes. Freshman Brad Beal would score 15 points, while fellow guard Mike Rosario chipped in 12.
“Coach wanted us to wear them down,” Walker said. “That’s why we get in shape in summer and do all the running so we could be able to play at that pace. … I don’t know what other teams conditioning is but we know where we at and we feel like we could play that pace the whole game.”
Florida used a 20-2 run that began five minutes into the game and 13-2 spurt to start the second to put the margin out of reach for Jacksonville.
Before the Gators were able to put up their most points since 2007 though, they had to adjust to the absence of starting forward Erik Murphy due to an injury he suffered to his right knee in practice Thursday.
“He’s had a very difficult time walking and can’t put any pressure on it,” Donovan said. “Our trainer has ruled out that it’s an ACL, we don’t think it’s that. We don’t think it’s a career (or) season-ending injury”
Starting for Murphy was sophomore forward Will Yeguete, who had nine rebounds and eight points, while junior center Patric Young had nine boards along with 14 points.
Coming off the bench, 6-foot-6 swingman Casey Prather saw an expanded role in the first half with six points, three rebounds and two steals in 12 minutes of playing time. Prather would sit the entire second half though with a groin injury.
“He slipped in practice yesterday and he kind of tweaked his groin,” Donovan said. “And it was bothering him a little bit in shootaround and then he was able to go tonight and then he tweaked it again. For him I felt bad because I felt like he was starting to put it together.”
The personnel losses pushed Donovan to put the 6-foot-3 Beal at the power forward spot during the second half. Beal would respond to the new challenge with nine boards, as the Gators outrebounded the Dolphins 46-35 for the game.
“We’re definitely stepping up in the rebounding area,” said Boynton, who had four rebounds. “And Casey ended up getting hurt too, so that put us in a worse position. So everyone had to go in there and rebound, and I thought we did a great job.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Sophomore center Patric Young thrived Thursday against Jacksonville with 14 points and nine rebounds, despite playing in an injury-riddled frontcourt.
