With a little more than a minute left in the first half of Florida’s 69-52 win against Kentucky, junior Scottie Wilbekin passed the ball to redshirt senior Mike Rosario after struggling to get open. Seconds after getting the ball, Rosario had Kentucky’s Jon Hood guarding him at the arc.
Rosario then passed to junior Casey Prather.
The forward was already trying to break past Kentucky’s Ryan Harrow when Hood came over to double team Prather. Instead of trying to go up over both players, Prather found an open Rosario on the baseline and sent it over to him for an easy layup.
Even though the Gators had a 14-point lead, they were still making sure they had an open look before letting one go.
“The biggest thing I always look for is the quality of shots,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I’m always looking at the kind of shots we’re getting. I think Erik Murphy and Mike Rosario and Michael Frazier (II) and Kenny Boynton and Scottie Wilbekin, when those guys are open, when they have their feet set and their legs under them, I feel confident with our team making those kinds of shots.”
However, Florida didn’t have many shots like that in an 80-69 to Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark., on Feb. 5.
Midway through the first half against the Razorbacks, Wilbekin went up for a shot while being guarded by Arkansas’ BJ Young and Fred Gulley. Although Wilbekin made the jumper, Donovan wasn’t pleased with his shot selection.
“If you don’t play well on the road — you know you don’t have your crowd behind you, you don’t have that environment behind you — it’s hard to win,” Donovan said. “Our guys will understand going into [Saturday’s] game (against Auburn) that we have to play well.”
After struggling with shot selection against Arkansas, UF has gotten back on track.
During Florida’s 83-58 win against Mississippi State on Saturday, UF finished with 31-of-59 shooting for 52.5 percent. The Gators continued the trend against the Wildcats.
On Tuesday, Florida finished the game making 49.1 percent from the field. The Gators also dominated in the first half from behind the arc.
They made 5 of 7 three pointers in the first half. And despite only making one three in the second half, Florida still made 42.9 percent from the perimeter.
“Guys can hit open shots on our team, I’m not worried about that,” forward Erik Murphy said. “I have confidence in everybody. … We’re just trying to move the ball and share it. Whoever has an open shot, just take it.”
As Florida heads to Auburn on Saturday, it will be relying on Murphy’s example in shot selection. Murphy currently leads the Southeastern Conference in three-point percentage with 49 percent.
Although the Gators (20-3, 10-1 SEC) should have no problem grabbing a road win against the Tigers (9-15, 3-8 SEC), Donovan wants Florida to maintain its focus.
“I know it sounds like a coaching cliche, but we have to improve from day to day and game to game,” Donovan said. “I think that’s really important, because that is the only thing you can do right now. As I said before, when you come off a win or a loss there is always some kind of residual effect. … We are going to the next game right now and the only way you can get better is put the past behind you.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Senior forward Erik Murphy (33) attempts a pass during Florida’s 69-52 win against Kentucky on Feb. 12 in the O’Connell Center. The Chicago Bulls selected Murphy 49th overall on Thursday night in the 2013 NBA Draft.
