Gator Country

Patric Young showed how unselfish he was when he brushed off a chance to return to the starting lineup in order not to disrupt the chemistry starters have displayed of late. / Gator Country photo by Tim Casey

Patric Young ‘s finally getting his grove back. On Monday, Florida basketball coach Billy Donovan told the media last week was the first time in a while that the sophomore has been consistent from start to finish in practice. Coming off the pains of his sprained ankle, Young hasn’t been in the starting lineup for the Gators the past few games. Before Saturday’s showdown against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, Donovan approached Young about where he was mentally in relation to rejoining the starting rotation.

“Coach, keep it like it is. I’m fine,” Young told Donovan.

Yet, it’s just that mentality that pins him as a “real team guy” in Donovan’s eyes.

“He’s very unselfish,” Donovan said. “I think he’s always about what’s best for the team.”

The bench isn’t only area the Gators are being selfless from as individuals. Against Mississippi State, Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker exhibited their own helping hands to the team mentality, as opposed to focusing on simply upping their own repertoires.

“(Kenny) and Erving didn’t even reach double figures and were able to win by double digits in the game,” Donovan said. “I think it says a lot to one, how we play defense in the game and two, that there’s other people there — Erik (Murphy) and Brad (Beal) and Patric — kind of carrying the scoring.”

Donovan added it demonstrated the Gators could win a game without relying on just one person to score. Against Mississippi State, Boynton (the Southeastern Conference’s No. 2 scorer) finished with his lowest point output of the season. While Donovan said Boynton didn’t have a great shooting night (he was 1-for-6), he believes he played a solid game because he took advantage of the way he was being played defended.

“I was really impressed with the way he played the game because he didn’t really force any shots,” Donovan said.  “He didn’t try to create things that weren’t there. He and Erving did a great job making decisions and handling the ball — making extra passes. “

When it comes down to it, making smart decisions is the biggest improvement the Gators have needed, according to Donovan.

“I never felt like our unselfishness was ever a problem,” Donovan said. “I thought at times, our decision making was a problem.”

Walker has been exhibiting his own wise decisions in his ability to level out his aggressiveness with putting the team’s needs first.

“He knows that there’s going to be some times he needs to be aggressive offensively and there’s going to be some times where he’s going to have to make everybody else better,” Donovan said. “And I think the last couple of games he’s really had a great balance in both of those areas.”

Looking forward to Thursday’s matchup against South Carolina, Donovan said his squad will have to capitalize again on such group efforts in passing and crisp offense as he described the Gamecocks as a “pretty disruptive team.”

The Gators take on the Gamecocks at home at 9 p.m. on Thursday.

Gator Country reporter Allison Banko can be reached at . You can also follow her on Twitter at @allisonbanko.

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