Last Thursday, with less than four minutes to play, Brad Beal was in mid-air above the rim and about to exact a small piece of revenge on South Carolina’s Damontre Harris.
Earlier in Florida’s 74-66 win, the 6-foot-9 Gamecocks starting forward sent back six Gators shots, including a layup of Beal’s.
But this time, Beal had a step on his defender.
As he continued to elevate from the baseline, Beal’s right arm cocked back and then sent forward the ball cradled in his hand. Harris, clearly, wasn’t going to touch this one.
It was the kind of dunk that ended up putting the 6-foot-3 freshman guard on national TV.
Heading into Rupp Arena tonight at 7, though, that’s the same kind of play Beal doesn’t expect No. 8 Florida (19-4, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) to be making when it takes on top-ranked Kentucky (23-1, 9-0 SEC) for a share of first place in the league standings.
“It’s probably going to be impossible for us to get all the way to the rim, just because they have (Terrence) Jones and Anthony Davis down there,” Beal said. “Both are great shot blockers.”
While the Gators had problems dealing with Harris, the SEC’s fourth-leading shot blocker, Kentucky’s big men present a much taller challenge.
The 6-foot-10 Davis, a freshman, has 116 rejected shots — the most in the nation.
Florida has 81 as a team.
Gators coach Billy Donovan said the best way to negate Davis and Jones, who has 42 blocks, is to make good decisions and not risk floating shots in the lane.
“It can’t be a situation where we’re not going to go to the basket or not post up because [Davis is] there,” Donovan said. “I just think you have to make wise choices, because when he does block shots, it certainly ignites them on a fast break, and they’re traditionally a terrific transition, fast-breaking team.”
With 6-foot-11 junior Erik Murphy being more of an outside-shooting threat and fellow forward Will Yeguete making most of his plays on defense, the only other Gators player with a better penchant than Beal for finishing at the rim is center Patric Young.
A 6-foot-9 junior, Young has a team-high 34 dunks, but he is also struggling to find his way back to form after injuring his right ankle in early January.
Though he made his return to the starting lineup for the first time in five games Saturday against Vanderbilt, Young got into foul trouble early and played just 14 minutes. His lone field goal came off an uncontested dunk.
Donovan said Young may still be feeling the effects of the injury, even if it’s just on his conditioning.
“When he’s got that energy going and when he’s got that motor going and he’s somewhat rested, he’s really effective,” Donovan said. “I think his inefficiency maybe the last couple games has had to do with he has not played with that motor. He’s got to mentally push through that fatigue.”
Beal said he doesn’t think Young is frustrated.
“He’s probably going through the same thing that I probably went through, so to speak,” Beal said. “I think he’s fine mentally. He just has to get back into his flow, and I think he’ll be alright.”
Regardless of if they are able to get Young comfortable and scoring points again in the paint, junior guard Kenny Boynton said the Gators will have to shoot at a high percentage from the 3-point line to keep Kentucky off-balance.
“Three-point shooting will be a factor in the game,” Boynton said. “Anthony Davis is a great shot blocker down there, so they’re going to try to run us off the line. We just got to adjust to whatever defense they play.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Sophomore center Patric Young played just 14 minutes against Vanderbilt after getting into early foul trouble.
