A year ago to the day after draining a miraculous 75-foot game-winning buzzer-beater at North Carolina State, Chandler Parsons once again left his team impressed by his performance.
Not because of his crowd-pleasing one-handed putback dunk or his timely outside shooting. Instead, the Gators were simply happy to see Parsons playing like himself.
Parsons, who hadn’t scored in double figures in nearly a month (13 points at American on Dec. 5), posted his second double-double of the season. He scored 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and grabbed 12 rebounds while adding five assists in Florida’s 84-59 win over Rhode Island.
For Parsons, it was a welcome return to form. Calling his 9.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.6 turnovers per game so far this season anything less than disappointing would be unfair, especially in light of the progress he made last year. He has been inconsistent all season and was beginning to draw plenty of criticism from fans and media alike.
But Monday night was exactly the kind of game the 6-foot-10 senior forward is capable of – the kind the Gators will need if they hope to improve on last year’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss.
“If he gets 15 or 18 points for us and he’s shooting a high percentage, that’s great. But Chandler should be a guy that’s a double-figure scorer, in the top three in our team rebounding wise, top three in our team assist wise,” coach Billy Donovan said earlier this season. “Those are the things he needs to do, he needs to be a complete player instead of just being a scorer for us.”
If Parsons can get back to the level he often reached last season – particularly in a seven-game stretch when he averaged 17.7 points and 8.4 rebounds – or finish out his senior season the way he played against URI, the Gators have a leader, a multi-faceted scorer and a player who’s not afraid to do the dirty work, either.
UF has only lost one game in which Parsons has scored in double figures this season: a 93-75 thumping at the hands of Ohio State in which the Gators were clearly the inferior team. In their other defeats, however, Parsons’ lack of presence on the offensive end was glaring. He combined for 10 points on 4-of-15 field-goal shooting and 2-of-9 free-throw shooting in upset losses to Central Florida and Jacksonville.
The difference between this Parsons, the one who fills up the stat sheet and stands out on any given night as the team’s best player, and that Parsons -- the one who embarrassingly airballs free throws -- is all in his head, he admitted Monday night.
And his teammates agree. Point guard Erving Walker had a one-word answer when asked what changed in Parsons: “Confidence.”
Added freshman Patric Young: “He just needs to let the game come to him, which is what he’s been doing, clear his mind and just play Chandler Parsons basketball, and he’ll be fine.”
The only thing standing in the way of that, it seems, is Parsons himself.
“For a guy like Chandler, at 6-10, when he’s just playing the game – just playing – he can be very effective for us,” Donovan said.
Whether this will be a season-long confidence boost for Parsons is anybody’s guess at this point. He has had an up-and-down career and went through rough patches last season despite putting up improved numbers. Even Parsons, when asked after the game, said he didn’t know if he would continue shooting like he did Monday night.
While it’s easy to chalk it all up to a wavering sense of confidence, there might be more to it – although it’s still all in Parsons’ head. Young said he thought his teammate was feeling too much outside pressure about improving his NBA draft stock -- something that has affected the way he plays at times.
In reality, as Young said, Parsons is probably naturally talented enough to make it to the NBA. With his height and ability to play four positions, which he did against Rhode Island, Parsons is projected as a second-round pick by many analysts.
“Chandler’s a great player. He just needs to let the game come to him,” Young said. “I can definitely see him playing at the next level. He’s got everything you need.”
And he can give the Gators everything they need to win. He just needs to stay out of his own way.
