ATLANTA— After a lackluster first half, the Gators squashed the
pressure of living up to their reputation as Southeastern
Conference regular-season champions.
Over the opening 20 minutes, coach Billy Donovan said his players
were struggling to stay focused in the face of recent
accolades.
But a halftime speech from Donovan returned No. 12 Florida (25-6,
13-3 SEC) to its usual form and sparked a dominant second half that
resulted in an 85-74 win over Tennessee (19-4, 8-8 SEC) in the
quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament on Friday in Atlanta, Ga.
“Coach yelled at us at halftime and put us in our place,” junior
guard Erving Walker said. “He got us going and we didn’t want to
continue to look like that. We played how Florida is supposed to
play in the second half.”
Although the Gators jumped out to an early 25-13 lead, Donovan
wasn’t pleased with his team’s performance.
Florida had capitalized on Tennessee’s poor defense and offensive
miscues to build a lead Donovan wasn’t convinced they’d
earned.
“It was a little bit of fools gold,” Donovan said. “Things were
going our way, and when they turned up the defensive pressure I
thought we looked fractured.”
Over the final nine minutes of the first half, UF turnovers
outnumbered points 5 to 2, as the Volunteers made an 18-2 run to
grab a five-point lead.
Their late spurt was sparked by the play of freshman Tobias Harris,
who scored 18 first-half points. No other Volunteer had more than
three.
“I don’t think we were playing selfishly, I just thought we were
playing as individuals,” Donovan said. “We weren’t utilizing each
other.”
The Gators came out of halftime looking more synchronized following
Donovan’s reminder of how they got this far.
Florida shot 82.4 percent and held Tennessee to just 38.7 percent
over the final 20 minutes. UF scored 51 second-half points, its
third consecutive game with at least 48.
“I didn’t think any of those guys were in a good place mentally,”
Donovan said of his team’s first half performance. “I just tried to
explain to them that they’d worked really, really hard and it’s
always been about our team, and it’s always been about them
together as a group.”
That togetherness resulted in all five Gators starters scoring in
double figures for the second straight contest, led by sophomore
guard Kenny Boynton with 22.
Boynton struggled through the opening 20 minutes and had just two
points at the break, but rebounded in the second half by hitting 4
of 7 shots from the field and 10 of 10 from the free-throw
line.
“In the first half they were running at me, and I think I took
contested jump shots,” Boynton said. “In the second half I drove to
the hole and hit some free throws, and it got me in a rhythm.”
The second half was marred by choppy play and constant fouling, as
Florida took only 17 shots compared to 33 free throws.
But the Gators connected on 24 of their freebies, earning
themselves a third win over Tennessee and a spot in the SEC
Tournament semifinals.
“This is huge,” Walker said. “Any time we can win in this league
with a tournament like this, it’s always a good feeling.”
