NASHVILLE, Tenn.— After a week filled with the challenge of
balancing emotions, it was balanced scoring that led the Gators to
a Southeastern Conference Championship.
All five starters scored between 13 and 17 points, as No. 14
Florida (24-6, 13-3 SEC) held off furious rallies from No. 21
Vanderbilt (21-9, 9-7 SEC) to secure an 86-76 win on Saturday in
Nashville.
“Coach talked to us before the game about chemistry. He wanted us
to come out and play as a team,” sophomore Kenny Boynton said.
“That’s what got us our success.”
The Gators evenly distributed not just points but shots, as each of
the five starters got between 9 and 11 looks.
Coach Billy Donovan said the balanced effort was due to his team
avoiding Vanderbilt junior Jeffrey Taylor, who his team had tabbed
as the Commodore’s best defender.
“They just sort of took turns,” Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings
said. “They went at us, and they went at us better than we went at
them.”
Even amid such a balanced performance, sophomore Kenny Boynton
stood out.
The junior scored a team-high 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting,
including 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.
Boynton didn’t score his first points until 6:20 remained in the
first half, but he never let it affect his confidence.
“Even earlier in the game, the shots I missed, I thought they were
going down,” Boynton said. “It felt good the whole game. I just
knew sooner or later they were going to start falling.”
Once Boynton got hot he continued his habit of scoring in spurts,
dropping nine points in a 2:22 stretch during the second half.
That run was capped by a four-point play, the sophomore’s fifth of
the season and seventh career.
Boynton also played a major role in guarding sophomore John
Jenkins, the SEC’s leading scorer, who finished with 22 points but
scored many of those in what Donovan called “broken-floor
situations.”
“Kenny, he’s our best defender, and we’ve seen him and Scottie do
it time and time again,” junior guard Erving Walker said. “It’s
pretty much the norm for us now. When they’re playing defense we
expect them to take the other team’s best players.”
Jenkins was the sparkplug igniting second-half Vanderbilt runs of
15-4 and 11-2, but UF consistently responded and never trailed over
the final 20 minutes.
Now the Gators have to respond to something else: the level of
confidence and success that comes with an outright regular-season
championship, the third in Florida history.
They rebounded from the emotions of senior night and clinching a
championship Tuesday against Alabama, but now their challenges are
even greater.
Their first test will be in the SEC Tournament, which opens on
Thursday. But, for tonight, the plan is simple.
“We’re going to celebrate,” senior Chandler Parsons said. “There’s
definitely going to be some celebrating going on in Gainesville
tonight.”
