NEW ORLEANS — As Patric Young sat in the locker room after Florida’s 66-63 win against Alabama, a look of surprise and confusion crept across his face.
The Gators outside shooters had once again dominated the offense, launching 30 of Florida’s 52 shots from beyond the arc. Young knew the total would be high, but not that high.
“I didn’t realize we shot that many from three,” he said. “We definitely need to get inside more, for sure.”
Across the room, Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker — UF’s leaders in 3-point attempts — sat calmly in the locker room’s padded folding chairs, unwinding on their phones after two hours on the court.
When asked about Young’s concerns, Boynton looked over to the corner in which the Gators sophomore center was sitting shirtless with a towel draped over his shoulders, still surrounded by the throng of reporters that harassed him for almost 20 minutes. Boynton’s face betrayed no emotion — neither smile nor scowl.
“If Patric wants it, all he’s got to do is ask for the ball,” he said. “I just think that’s what the defense gave us. We were open, we took open shots, if he feels that way all he’s got to do is tell us and we’ll go in to him.”
When Walker heard of Young’s complaints, he wore the same look Boynton did. To say he spoke with frustration or fatigue would be presumptuous, but the question wasn’t one he was happy to address.
“Patric was in and out in the second half with foul trouble,” Walker said. “The zone, they collapsed. Like I said we just took the open shot, what was open.”
All season long, the “open shot” has been the 3-pointer. Florida entered Friday ranked seven in the nation with 44.3 percent of its shots from beyond the arc. That figure ranks 11.4 percentage points above the national average of 32.9.
The battle for shots between Young and the five Florida players who have taken more threes than twos has been subtly waged all season.
The three-ball has unquestionably won out, and that reliance on the shot Billy Donovan called “the great equalizer” will ultimately be Florida’s undoing.
Walker and Boynton insist that the Gators just took the shots that were open. Between Alabama’s zone and Erik Murphy’s tendency to hang on the perimeter, there were plenty of outside looks to be had. Donovan thought Florida took good shots, and even Young admitted that most of Florida’s threes were smart ones.
“I think you try to play to whatever your team’s strengths are as best you can,”
Donovan said.
Donovan also expressed a desire to establish an inside-outside balance, noting that Florida needs to have an interior presence to make the outside shooting possible.
Young provides the threat of inside scoring that legitimizes UF’s outside shooting, but that’s all he is. Like Donovan said, Florida will play to it’s strengths, and the Gators can’t be something they aren’t.
The way the roster is constructed, the Gators are destined to shoot. That’s why they’re also destined to lose.
No team in the tempo-free era — the past nine seasons — has made the Final Four taking as many threes as Florida does. Louisville’s 2005 team made it shooting 42.1 percent of its shots from outside, but they’re the exception rather than the rule. Twenty-three of the last 35 Final Four teams were at 33 percent or lower.
The Gators can’t win this way, but trying to change into something they don’t have the personnel to be this late in the season isn’t the answer.
As much as Florida wants to control its fate with things like focus, defense and rebounding, the truth is all UF can do is hope shots fall for six straight games in the NCAA Tournament.
It’s a sad truth for Young, who has no choice but to accept that UF relies on the three. The outside shot has been the Gators lifeblood all year, but ultimately it will be their demise.
Contact Greg Luca at gluca@alligator.org.
