Florida coach Billy Donovan knew coming in to this season that the Gators would have to make sacrifices in the name of unselfish play.
Some of his players’ offensive numbers would surely dip, but they would not have to pin a loss on not passing enough like they did Thursday against Rutgers, when Florida had 18 turnovers to just 14 assists.
“I think after you play so many games, it’s kind of like you forget it,” junior guard Kenny Boynton said. “Everyone tries to go for their self.”
Less than two days removed from that draining, double-overtime road defeat, the Gators were again heading back to the locker room.
This time, Donovan held up a box score showing the results of the team’s previous 40 minutes of work in a 90-70 win at home Saturday afternoon against Yale.
“My comment was then, ‘Can you now take whatever statistics are like for you – assists, rebounds, steals – and be genuinely happy?”
Some of No. 10 Florida’s players put up paltry numbers. Senior guard Erving Walker was 1-for-4 from the field, while freshman phenom Brad Beal’s 11 points were nearly five under his usual average.
But as a full squad the offensive performance told a different story. The Gators (11-3) shot 53 percent from the field and hit 57 percent of their shots behind the arc against the Bulldogs (8-4). Florida’s assist-to-turnover ratio was a vastly improved 24-to-7.
The answer to the Donovan’s question was a resounding, ‘Yes.’
“I was really pleased with the way we moved the ball, shared the ball,” Donovan said. “I talked after the game against Rutgers that we didn’t play the right way. I think we played the right way today. We tried to play the right way.”
For the second straight game, Boynton matched his season high of 26 points, but, against Yale, he noticed a change in the way the ball got to him. Five of Boynton’s made baskets during his 8-of-12 shooting night were assisted.
“We wanted to make extra passes,” he said. “Offensively we felt like (against) Rutgers, we could’ve made more passes and I think we would have gotten more open shots.”
The Gators were also able to get the ball inside often to 6-foot-9 center Patric Young, who finished with 19 points, and fellow sophomore Erik Murphy, who added 18.
While Murphy was 2 for 7 from the field at halftime, the 6-foot-10 forward went 4 of 5 in the second and finished with five threes.
“We did a great job getting the ball to Murph,” Boynton said. “When a person’s hot and feeling it, we just need to keep giving it to that person.”
After trailing 46-35 at the break, the Bulldogs drew within six points with 14:48 remaining when Murphy unleashed three made 3-pointers in just over four minutes. By the end of Murphy’s shooting streak, which also featured two blocks, the Gators held a 17-point lead.
“Murph is always a big factor in our game; he’s really the X-factor,” Beal said. “People sleep on Murph and don’t realize he can pop back and shoot. … He’s a real quiet player and he sneaks around. Somehow he’s always wide open for a three.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
