When the Gators play unselfishly on offense, good things happen.
No. 4 Florida has been successful distributing the ball during six games of Southeastern Conference play, averaging an SEC-high 16.8 assists.
Strong ball movement has led to improved shot selection in recent games. Against conference opponents, UF has shot 51.2 percent from the field, drilled 41 percent of its attempts from behind the arc and scored 74.7 points per contest. All three of those averages are SEC bests.
"Our guys are recognizing what’s open," coach Billy Donovan said. "When you go back to before the holidays, we had a lot of games where we had 10, 11, 12 or 13 assists, and you’d like to be up to 17 or 22. That’s an ideal number. But the guy with the ball in his hands has to make good reads and good decisions and find the open man.
"When we do that, we become difficult to guard, because we have a lot of different pieces with the floor being spaced that finds an open shooter or it finds inside to (junior center) Patric (Young) or finds different spots on the floor. Guys are getting more open and better looks."
Florida recorded a season-high 23 assists, including nine from junior point guard Scottie Wilbekin, against Mississippi State on Saturday. Four players scored in double-digits during UF’s blowout win.
In SEC play, no Gator has taken more than 17.7 percent of UF’s 334 field goal attempts.
Florida’s balanced approach on offense begins with Wilbekin, who was named SEC Player of the Week on Monday. This season, he has notched 5.1 assists per game — the highest average by a Gator since point guard Nick Calathes tallied 6.4 per contest in 2008-09.
Stepping in for Erving Walker as UF’s starting point guard this year, Wilbekin has done a better job of studying his options. Although Walker ended his college career as UF’s all-time assists leader, he was a shoot-first guard.
Young has noticed a difference with Wilbekin steering the offense.
"This is the first time I’ve ever been on a team where the point guard actually looks for the lob," Young said. "Most of the time, I’m looking for the guard to shoot the ball, so it’s kind of weird."
Although ball security was an issue for Florida against Mississippi State on Saturday, the Gators have the second-lowest turnover total in SEC play.
Wilbekin’s 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks second in the conference. Senior guard Kenny Boynton, who is second on the team with 2.8 assists per game, leads the SEC with a 4.5 assist-to-turnover ratio during conference play.
"Those guys have done a good job back there taking care of the basketball," Donovan said. "We had a little lapse midway through the second half (against Mississippi State) where we had some careless turnovers from Scottie and Kenny and Mike Rosario, but Scottie has done a really, really good job of finding people when they have been open. He has made really good decisions, and I think he has made the game easier for other people around him."
No. 4 Florida (16-2, 2-0 SEC) will look to maintain its discipline on offense when it hosts South Carolina tonight at 8 in the O’Connell Center.
The Gamecocks (12-7, 2-4 SEC) are 12th in the SEC in scoring defense, allowing 67.6 points per game. South Carolina ranks No. 13 in the conference in both steals per game (4.9) and turnover margin (minus-2.3).
"We see on film, when we don’t take good shots, teams get out on us on fastbreaks and score," Boynton said. "Good shots is basically the main thing."
Guard Scottie Wilbekin (5) drives against Middle Tennessee in UF’s 66-45 win on Nov. 18 in Tampa.
