Gator Country

It has taken only two games for freshman Allan Chaney to make an impression at Florida./Gator Country Photo by Tim Casey

When true freshman forward Allan Chaney of Florida buried a 3-pointer to start an 11-2 run that closed the first half Friday against Toledo, it was apparent he didn’t have any jitters.

Chaney, who went on to score six points and grab five rebounds in Friday’s opener, carried that momentum into Sunday’s game against Bradley.

The 6-8, 231-pound Chaney contributed 9 points and 2 rebounds to Florida’s 81-58 victory over Bradley and has established himself as a key part of his team’s rotation.

“Allan is getting better every day in practice,” said Florida true freshman guard Erving Walker. “He’s working hard and doing the little things. Rebounding and now he’s even scoring more. If we get him the ball, it is getting to the point where he’s getting a bucket or getting fouled and that’s great. I think he’s doing well so far.”

Facing a Bradley team which is third in the nation since 2006 in most 3-pointers made, Chaney and Walker had to play good defense to not allow the Braves’ shooters to get good looks. In the first half, Bradley made just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc and finished the game 7-of-24.

“It’s tiring to play against, but the key is that you have to be disciplined,” Chaney said. “It’s good for us to see. We were prepared for what they were doing.”

Both of Chaney’s rebounds were on the offensive end and helped the Gators to a 23-2 edge in second-chance points. For the game, Florida also held a 39-33 rebounding edge and thanks to its freshmen, held a 25-12 in bench points.

Chaney and fellow freshman post player Kenny Kadji (2 points, 3 rebounds) helped keep Bradley’s 7-foot center, David Collins (6 points, 3 rebounds) from making any impact on the game.

Facing a taller player like Collins is an adjustment for Chaney and Kadji, but the two have handled themselves well, despite not being the tallest players on the court like they were most of the time at the prep level.

“Coach (Donovan) talks to Kenny and I about that all of the time,” Chaney said. “He tells us, ‘You two are used to being the tallest guys on the court, but now it is different.’ We know that we just have to keep working hard and getting better each day.”

Bradley employed a 1-3-1 defense, which Chaney had never faced at the prep level, but he was able to find openings and finished 2-of-6 from the floor and used his aggressiveness to get to the foul line where he made 5-of-6.

Walker, meanwhile, logged 17 minutes and had a spurt where he knocked down three consecutive shots in the second half, including two from 3-point range, on his way to 10 points. Another freshman, Ray Shipman, finished with 4 points and 4 rebounds for Florida and was a key cog in the team’s press, which helped force the Braves into 23 turnovers.

Thanks to the defensive effort of the freshmen, the Gators held a 32-14 edge in points off turnovers and never let Bradley get its offense going.

On offense, the freshmen also got a chance to shine. The openings in Bradley’s 1-3-1 zone were there for the Gators, who knocked down 14 of 32 shots from 3-points range and have made 21 of their last 43 from long range since starting 0-for-8 against Toledo.

“Coach prepared us, so it wasn’t that big of a deal,” Walker said. “We knew that they had a variety of defenses and we ran through all of them, so we just found the open spots and hit shots. When you hit a shot, your confidence goes up. But like coach says, even when the shots aren’t falling, we got to stay tight and play defense.”

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