Brad Beal could not repeat what he heard at halftime in Florida’s locker room.
Neither would Kenny Boynton, nor Erving Walker.
“Coach was mad as I-don’t-know what,” Beal said. “He said words we can’t even describe.”
Billy Donovan didn’t delve into too many details either, but he did have the right to dish out an unpleasant speech midway through No. 12 Florida’s 63-47 win against Auburn (14-13, 4-9 Southeastern Conference) on Tuesday night in the O’Connell Center.
The Gators (22-6, 10-3 SEC) spent their first 20 minutes turning the ball over 12 times and trailed by three at halftime. By the end of the game, Florida had 18 turnovers — a season-high at home.
Beal accounted for four, following a six-turnover outing Saturday against Arkansas.
Not since committing 20 in a Dec. 2 loss to Syracuse have the Gators given away possessions so freely.
Donovan said he spoke to his players about their families perhaps watching in the stands or former players like Joakim Noah or Mike Miller seeing the game on TV. At least one former Donovan player, 1996-99 guard Greg Stolt, was actually in the building.
“What’s their feeling right now?” Donovan said. “Those guys gave their heart and soul to this program and that’s the way you’re representing our program right now with your effort and focus and everything else?”
Though the Gators made their first six attempts of the night and shot better than 50 percent from the field and behind the arc for the second straight game, Donovan felt the good shooting performance didn’t cover up a lack of focus.
He brought up Walker, who scored 13 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds, as an example. With eight seconds left in the first, he clanked a long 3-point shot off the rim and then failed to get back in transition. Auburn’s Chris Denson was able to drive the length of the court and lay in a shot at the buzzer, sealing the first-half lead for the Tigers.
“Erving Walker’s going to shoot with eight seconds to go at the end of the half and then he’s going to look up at the clock and hope the clock runs out,” Donovan said. “Are you kidding me? So I don’t think that, for me as coach, that it’s that outrageous to ask.”
When the Gators finally emerged for the second half, they clearly took Donovan’s message to heart. Florida dished out eight assists in the final stanza after only having five in the first. UF also cut its turnover rate in half with just six giveaways.
After trading the lead 13 times, the Gators were finally able to pull away courtesy of a 15-2 run sparked by a Beal 3-pointer at the 12:52 mark. Beal, a freshman, scored 13 points and hauled in six rebounds.
For a veteran guard like Boynton, who had a team-high 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting from three, seeing Donovan angry wasn’t a novel experience like it was for Beal. Though, it still was beneficial.
“I’ve seen him like that a couple times,” Boynton said. “He needed to get on us though. I think it helped us. We came out in the second half and we came with some intensity.”
Despite losing sophomore forward Will Yeguete for the indefinite future to a broken left foot with 11:11 left to play, the Gators were able to clamp down defensively and hold the Tigers to just 17 points in the second half.
After Auburn hit half of its 10 shots from behind the 3-point line in the first, it made just 1 of 7 in the second half and ended the night shooting 33.3 percent from the field.
In his postgame press conference, Donovan said Yeguete’s injury will force UF to overhaul its lineup and use several players out of position.
The 6-foot-7 Yeguete had just returned to Florida’s lineup Saturday against Arkansas following a one-game absence due to suffering his second concussion of the year.
“We’re banged up right now,” Donovan said. “We’ve got some health issues that we need to get back healthier than we are right now, but it’s nothing major.
“Will’s would be major because if it is broken, I would say that he’s done for the year.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida coach Billy Donovan talks to his players during a timeout in the second half against Auburn on Tuesday.
UF freshman Brad Beal scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds in Tuesday’s win, but he also accounted for four turnovers after committing six Saturday.
