After Mike Rosario missed six games and 25 practices last season, coach Billy Donovan questioned the guard’s consistency. But as Florida faced Southeastern Louisiana Wednesday night in the O’Connell Center, Rosario showed Donovan he’s more reliable.
Rosario scored a season-high 20 points as he led the No. 8 Gators (8-1) to an 82-43 victory against the Lions (1-8).
“He’s much, much more disciplined,” Donovan said. “I feel like I know what I’m getting from him from day to day. … To his credit, I think he’s put it together where he’s become more responsible, reliable, accountable, and because of that I think he’s played really well.”
Rosario had a strong night from the beginning. After feeding center Patric Young the ball to put Florida on the board, Rosario made his first of four three-pointers on the next possession.
The redshirt senior ended the first half by going 7 for 10 from the field while accounting for 17 of Florida’s 43 points. Rosario finished the night with six rebounds, four assists and a block during his 31 minutes on the court.
“He played great,” Scottie Wilbekin said. “He really carried us for about a five minute stretch where he had four or five buckets in a row. He shot really well tonight.”
While Rosario was racking up points, the Gators’ leading scorer, Kenny Boynton, continued to struggle on offense.
Boynton put up only seven points against Southeastern Louisiana, including four that came from free throws. Prior to Wednesday night, Boynton averaged 13.3 points a game.
Despite being 9 for 40 in his last four games, Donovan isn’t worried about Boynton’s slump.
“This is great for him,” Donovan said. “Not that I want him going through a difficult time, but he’s got to fight through this. … This is going to enable him as a senior to preserve, to fight, to take on the struggle, take on the challenge and just really work through this and utilize this to make him stronger as a player.”
Rosario added: “I feel like Kenny’s been bringing the same consistency ever day as far as being a leader and just having the same tendencies on defense to help our team. Once he just starts to feel comfortable again with his shot and start to really focus on just working on it after practice and before the game, I feel like everything’s going to change for him.”
With Boynton struggling, the Gators have been leaning more on Wilbekin.
The junior tied a team-high six assists and added nine points, four assists, a block and a steal, while dealing with a broken ring finger on his shooting hand that he sustained during practice on Dec. 12.
“I haven’t really noticed it too much,” Wilbekin said. “It only hurts if it gets hit and luckily it hasn’t gotten hit too much.”
Florida had a slow start on defense Wednesday night, which was highlighted by forcing only two turnovers in the first half.
However, the Gators regrouped at halftime and opened the second half with a 13-2 run. They also limited the Lions to 17 points and a 25 percent shooting clip in the second half.
“It was a discipline game,” Donovan said. “We got to be disciplined, and we got to limit them to one shot. I thought our discipline in the second half was really, really good.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
