A day after Billy Donovan called the 3-point line “the greatest equalizer” in college basketball, Erik Murphy spent his Saturday afternoon seemingly hammering in his coach’s point.
In two previous losses to Kentucky during the regular season, Florida shot a meager 12 of 49 from behind the arc and fell by 22 points at Rupp Arena and a 15-point margin at home.
If the usually hot shooting Gators wanted to avoid a third double-digit defeat at New Orleans Arena in the Southeastern Conference semifinals, their greatest strength couldn't remain missing.
Led by Murphy’s perfect, 4-for-4 performance from distance, Florida connected on 50 percent of its 3-pointers to push top-ranked Kentucky to its closest margin of victory against an SEC team this season.
“We made some shots,” said Murphy, a junior forward. “We just competed. And when you have two teams at this stage in the season, meeting for the third time, you pretty much know each other. I think that’s what kept it close, our energy and our passion that we played with.”
Murphy, who scored a career-high 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting in the Gators’ 74-71 loss, fared just 3 of 10 on 3-point shots during his two earlier meetings with Kentucky this year.
While the Wildcats were able to dominate on the glass with a 16-7 offensive rebounding advantage and shot 18 more free throws than the Gators, the 11-of-22 shooting effort from three allowed Florida to control the lead seven times.
“This is the first time in both times we have played them that we shot the ball (well) from behind the line,” Donovan said. “We made 11 threes, and it was 11 to their five. So we made six more threes and that I think was the huge discrepancy.”
When Kentucky looked to be pulling away with a nine-point advantage at the 6:59 mark, Murphy sparked a furious rally fueled by his third 3-pointer and two layups.
Murphy’s 7-1 run over the next 1:41 cut the Wildcats lead to three and transformed the final minutes into largely a one possession game.
“I thought he could’ve scored even more,” center Patric Young said. “Teammates were able to find him, he knocked down some big time shots, the only two free throws of the game for us, got to the basket really well, finished and was really aggressive today, really good game.”
Though Murphy’s 6-foot-10 frame helped stretch Kentucky’s lengthy defense and open up looks from three, Kenny Boynton, who leads UF with 105 made 3-pointers, connected on just 1 of 9 shots and was held to two points.
Boynton failed to hit a 3-pointer for just the third time this season but had high praise for his teammates’ ability to carry the scoring and shooting load against the Wildcats.
Freshman Brad Beal, who scored 20 points, knocked down four of his seven attempts from three and fellow guard Scottie Wilbekin came of the bench in the first half to hit a 3-pointer that extended an early lead for Florida.
“I think everyone’s playing better at this point in time,” Boynton said. “Scottie coming off the bench provides so much energy. Murph and Brad Beal, they’ve come into their own late in the season. We needed that.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida forward/center Erik Murphy (33) goes to the basket as Kentucky forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (14) and forward Kyle Wiltjer (33) defend during the first half of the SEC Tournament semifinal Saturday.
