RALEIGH, N.C. – With Florida down by two points and just two seconds remaining in overtime, Chandler Parsons pulled down a rebound, took one dribble and let the ball fly right before the final buzzer sounded.
Parsons said he’s not usually one to take three-quarter-court shots in practice, unlike some of his teammates, but his heave found the bottom of the net, sending the Gators into a raucous celebration on the floor of the RBC Center as UF prevailed 62-61 against North Carolina State on Sunday.
“I feel like someone’s about to pinch me right now, and I’m gonna wake up from a dream,” Parsons said. “I’ve never had this feeling in my life, and I’m just glad I could step up for my team and knock it down.”
UF (11-3) had a dismal shooting performance from beyond the arc against NC State (10-4), going just 3 of 24 from 3-point range, but the shots fell when they were most important.
Freshman guard Kenny Boynton hit a leaning 3-pointer with 13 seconds left to pull within two, and sophomore point guard Erving Walker drained four free throws in the final seven seconds.
The Wolfpack had plenty of chances to put the game away after jumping out to a 53-48 lead that held for nearly half of the overtime period. But they failed to connect on four free throws in overtime, including the final one by guard Farnold Degand, whose miss fell right into Parsons’ hands for the last shot.
“We’re very, very fortunate to win. It was one of those shots where there’s nothing diagrammed, there’s no play, there’s nothing like that,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “It was just a guy who took the ball, and you talk about strange things happening. If the ball bounced anywhere except where it bounced, maybe a different guy shoots it.”
Donovan credited his team’s defense and rebounding for keeping things close, as UF held NC State to just 19 points in the second half and grabbed 15 offensive boards.
“The only way we could even stay in the game with the way we shot the ball was what we did defensively in the second half,” Donovan said. “In years past, with some of these guys, if they had had a shooting performance like this on the road? Bad body language, down in the dumps, could not even emotionally deal with that kind of shooting performance.”
But the Gators hung around despite their shots not falling. NC State opened up an eight-point lead with two minutes to go before halftime, but UF battled back to cut the margin to two at the break.
Junior center Vernon Macklin, who finished with a team-high 14 points, scored the Gators’ first eight points after intermission, getting off to a hot start in a second half that was otherwise devoid of productive offense – the two teams scored a combined 40 points.
“Both teams played good defense. Sometimes you’re gonna have games like that,” said Walker, who added 13 points, six assists and four steals in 38 minutes of play. “We like to get up and down and run, but they turned it into a half-court grind. We had to be able to play that way, too. You’re not gonna always be able to run.”
Donovan said a slow-paced, offensively challenged game performance like Sunday’s should give his players a little confidence that they don’t have to be on fire from the outside to win.
“If anything, they know they can win some games without shooting well,” Donovan said. “But you’re going to have those situations like we did tonight where you’re in a dogfight trying to find ways to manufacture points because you’re getting pretty good stops, you’re getting out on the break, but you’re just unable to score.”
