Erving Walker made zero field goals Thursday night, but he finished just three points shy of leading the Gators in scoring.
The sophomore point guard hit 14 of 16 free throws, junior forward Chandler Parsons led the team with 17 points and Florida used a vastly improved performance from the line as it took down Auburn 78-70 in the O’Connell Center.
The Gators (18-8, 7-4 Southeastern Conference) shot a miserable 48 percent combined from the field-throw line in their losses to Xavier and South Carolina last week, but UF had plenty of chances to redeem itself against the Tigers (12-14, 3-8 SEC).
Auburn racked up 29 team fouls, and UF finished 32 of 40 from the line. Florida scored its last 15 points on free throws and made zero field goals in the final 8:24.
“We don’t care how we get it – pretty, ugly – as long as we win,” said Walker, who added six assists to just one turnover. “That says a lot that we can still score without a field goal in eight minutes. I think that’s good for us.”
While UF coach Billy Donovan was reluctant to call Thursday night’s matchup a must-win game, Walker said his team couldn’t afford a loss if it wants to return to the NCAA Tournament.
“We all know if we want to make the NCAA Tournament, we can’t lose a game to Auburn on our home court,” Walker said.
After a back-and-forth first half, the Gators tied the game at 42 three minutes into the second half and went on a 14-5 run over the next five minutes.
UF brought the crowd to its feet with back-to-back dunks: a thunderous left-handed slam by senior forward Dan Werner and an alley-oop from Walker to junior forward Alex Tyus.
“I haven’t seen that from him in a while. That was impressive,” Parsons said of Werner’s dunk. “White man can jump.
“He’s an athlete, what can I tell you?”
Given the team’s lack of depth, the Gators had been looking for bench production, and Werner (nine points, four rebounds) and freshman Erik Murphy (seven points, three rebounds) gave the team the lift it needed.
Murphy had not scored more than four points since going for a career-high 16 against Presbyterian on Dec. 30.
Werner has struggled to do anything much in SEC play, and his nine points were his most since his 11 points against Vanderbilt on Jan. 9.
“That’s huge for those guys to come in here, spark and give us minutes,” Parsons said. “When our big guys get tired or get in foul trouble, those guys are really reliable when they come into the game.”
The Gators relied on their frontcourt to produce against the undersized Tigers before intermission, and Parsons, Tyus and Murphy combined for 20 of the team’s 37 first-half points.
UF will play at Ole Miss (17-8, 5-6 SEC) on Saturday at noon. The Rebels fell to Vanderbilt 82-78 on Thursday night at home.
