It wasn’t the ideal bounce-back performance, but after Monday’s loss to Jacksonville the Gators will certainly take it.
Although No. 20 Florida (9-3) continued to struggle with turnovers and shooting, it did enough to secure a 66-55 win against an overmatched Radford (2-9) team Wednesday night in the O’Connell Center.
“We started off with energy and then it tailed off,” sophomore Kenny Boynton said. “But I think, overall, it was a good win for us.”
Fueled by memories of the JU loss, Florida jumped out to a 9-0 lead and forced six Radford turnovers in just over five minutes.
The Gators extended their edge to 22-9, but the Highlanders responded with a 17-9 run that cut the deficit to five just after the halftime break.
“When we came out tonight we wanted to take out all of our frustration on them, and I don’t even think we did that,” senior Chandler Parsons said. “Once we get a lead like that we have to keep jumping on them and not let them get back in.”
Florida responded to Radford’s run with a run of its own, as a 13-2 streak extended the lead to a comfortable 16.
From there, UF cruised to victory. But when all was said and done there were far more negatives than positives to take from the result.
The Gators scored under 70 points for the seventh game in a row and committed 16 turnovers against a Radford team that was content to sit back and play zone from beginning to end.
“The turnovers are a major problem,” coach Billy Donovan said. “It’s a major, major problem and it’s not getting corrected.”
Donovan added that the Gators should’ve had between six and nine turnovers in the game, and that they vastly exceeded that number due to poor passing and a lack of understanding who should get the ball in certain situations.
Those two tenets have been areas of concern all season for Florida, which has had double-digit turnovers in each of its 12 contests.
“We don’t have a great feel of how to utilize each other, and we’re not, fundamentally, a great passing team,” Donovan said.
While Donovan noted that everyone has contributed to the turnover problem, he also lauded each individual’s effort in trying to find a solution.
Unfortunately, the team’s renewed commitment to ball movement and selflessness may have actually made matters worse.
“I think this game our turnovers came from us trying to be too unselfish,” sophomore Kenny Boynton said. “We tried to make the extra pass when the extra pass wasn’t really there and we could’ve taken shots. I think we need to quit thinking about things and just play.”
Florida’s offense has also struggled from the free-throw line, where it shot just 11 of 21 against Radford.
That performance lowered the Gators to 63.7 percent on the season, a figure nearly five percent below the national average.
“We’ve gotten fouled enough in games and we aren’t shooting a good enough percentage from the free-throw line,” Donovan said. “We have to shoot better.”
On the bright side, Parsons offset his 0-for-4 three-point shooting night with a well-rounded nine-point, eight-rebound and five-assist performance.
Junior Erving Walker was once again the team’s leading scorer with 20, his second consecutive 20-point outing.
After missing long-range looks at the end of regulation and overtime in Monday’s loss, Walker connected on five of his seven attempts from beyond the arc against Radford.
“It’s not so much that I’m looking to score, but that’s what the game called for,” Walker said. “They played a sagging zone, and coach just wanted us to shoot the ball with confidence.”
