When people look back on Florida’s 65-52 victory against visiting Kent State on Thursday night, it’s a good bet most of the talk will center on a 5:40 stretch to open the second half that saw the Gators throw down four rim-rattling dunks, with three coming from Alex Tyus.
And to coach Billy Donovan, that’s all fine and good. He knows dunks are exciting and got the crowd of 7,522 riled up.
But what he wanted to talk about was something that is more about effort than statistics: defense.
“The thing that is probably getting lost for the last three or four games is how well and how much these guys have improved defensively,” Donovan said. “When you go back to the UNC Wilmington game or the Ohio State game, we were giving up (better than 50-percent) from the field.
“It’s been four straight games now that we’ve kept (our opponent) below 40 percent for the game.”
The biggest example of that came in part during the aforementioned dunkfest.
In a span stretching from the 4:12 mark of the first half until 16:04 remained in the contest, 24th-ranked UF (7-2) went on a 17-2 run, turning a 27-23 KSU lead into a 40-29 Gator advantage.
In all, Florida limited the Golden Flashes (7-3) to 34.5-percent shooting, just 28.6-percent in the second half. The Gators blocked seven shots (three by senior center Vernon Macklin) and swiped seven steals (three by freshman guard Scottie Wilbekin).
And on the other end, Kent State had no answer for Tyus and Macklin in the post.
The duo combined to score 39 points (20 by Tyus) and grab 13 rebounds (eight by Macklin). They also combined to make 19-of-31 shots (61.3 percent), as Florida outscored the Golden Flashes, 46-16, in the paint.
“It was a lot of fun out there,” said Tyus, who had 14 points in Sunday’s victory against American. “We were able to get our inside-out game working, and Vern and I were able to get good touches close to the basket.”
And now, UF will take a 9-day break from playing games, something that should help Macklin’s ailing, but improving, knee injury get closer to 100-percent healthy again.
“It’s coming along,” said Macklin, who puts a heating pad on his knee throughout halftime to keep it loose. “(The knee) is a lot better than it was. It really hurt for a while, but I’m starting to feel better now.”
And after two straight impressive wins against borderline NCAA Tournament teams, so are the Gators.
FREE THROWS
*Donovan said Thursday’s performance was Wilbekin’s best of the year. The freshman from Gainesville scored three points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists.
*At one point Donovan ran this unique lineup for the first time all year: Erving Walker, Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus, Erik Murphy and Will Yeguete. That’s a point guard, a small forward and three power forwards for those keeping score.
*One Gator who may not be all that happy is freshman swingman Casey Prather, who played just three minutes against the Golden Flashes. He didn’t score but did collect a rebound.
PATTON’S PICKS
Gator(Gr)ade: A-
Gator Players of the Game: This goes to both Tyus (20 points, five rebounds, two steals) and Macklin (19 points, eight rebounds, three blocked shots, one steal, one assist). Kent State could not guard either senior.
Opposing Player of the Game: Guard Carlton Guyton scored 14 points, making 4-of-6 three-pointers in the process. He added three rebounds and three assists.
Play of the Game: In the early part of the second half, Tyus made a steal just before midcourt. He dished the ball to Walker who gave it right back to a running Tyus for the throwdown. This edges the first Gator bucket of the second half, a putback dunk from Parsons off a missed three-pointer by Kenny Boynton.
Stat of the Game: This is bizarre. At halftime, UF led 32-27. At that point, KSU was just 11-of-27 from the floor, but was 5-of-7 on three-pointers. Conversely, UF had made 15-of-31 (as it did in each half), but was just 1-of-9 on threes.
Next Up: The Gators will take more than a week off before returning to play fifth-ranked Kansas State (8-1 entering Saturday’s game at Loyola, Ill.) on Dec. 18 at 3:30 p.m. at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla.