Although the Gators are no longer the same team of years past, one that lived and died by the three-point shot, they were forced to turn back the clocks Saturday and rely on perimeter shooting to pull out a four-point Southeastern Conference win on the road.
With Ole Miss’ Marshall Henderson sinking five first-half three pointers, Florida answered with a season-high eight threes before the break.
Despite Henderson’s hot start to the contest, the rest of the Rebels only combined for one made three during the first half. On the other hand, the Gators distributed the points more evenly — four players hit at least one from behind the arc.
“I thought that was huge,” coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought that was maybe the biggest stat in the first half.”
Scottie Wilbekin and Michael Frazier II, who combine for just more than 70 percent of Florida’s three-point field goals, recorded two and three three-pointers, respectively, during the game’s first 20 minutes.
But their five combined baskets from three-point range only matched what Henderson did alone.
If it wasn’t for DeVon Walker and Dorian Finney-Smith adding three more, the Gators could have been facing a much more daunting task heading into the locker room.
“If you in the first half, instead of making eight (three pointers), you end up making three, you’re probably talking about being down double-digits,” Donovan said.
“So even with Henderson going crazy in the first half, it was kind of a wash, him versus our team.”
However, in four of the six games prior to visiting Ole Miss, Florida players not named Wilbekin and Frazier were 0 of 22 from beyond the perimeter.
In fact, Finney-Smith was 0 for his last 21 three-point shots coming into Saturday’s matchup. The redshirt sophomore hadn’t made a three-point shot since the Gators’ 62-51 victory over Mississippi State on Jan. 30.
During the six-game stretch before Ole Miss, when it wasn’t Wilbekin or Frazier knocking down threes, it was Walker.
The 6-foot-6 guard has taken advantage of his more frequent time on the court with Kasey Hill out with a groin injury.
In his previous two games, Walker was 4 of 9 from three. And even with a full roster against Tennessee on Feb. 11, Donovan played Walker for eight minutes and was rewarded with 2-of-2 shooting from beyond the arc.
Before this four-game stretch where Walker combined for six three-pointers, the sophomore recorded only eight in the 20 games prior to Feb. 11.
Frazier said his team answered Henderson’s first-half performance by fighting fire with fire. If the Rebels were going to come out firing against the Gators’ press, then Donovan’s squad was going to do the same against Ole Miss’ zone defense.
“When they have a guy like that, you got to have three-point threats on the other team to kind of balance it out,” Frazier said.
Donovan added that it’s not the individual talent that separates this team from others in the past, but it’s the chemistry with one another and realization that each player is only a piece of the puzzle.
“I think that they understand that for us the whole is greater than our parts,” Donovan said. “And I like that about us.”
Follow Jonathan Czupryn on Twitter @jczupryn
Michael Frazier II (20) reaches up to block a shot by Ole Miss guard Jarvis Summers (32) during the Gators’ win over the Rebels on Saturday.
