Ray Shipman couldn’t believe what he was hearing in Florida’s halftime locker room Monday night. The Gators held a 54-23 lead over Webber International, an NAIA team from the Sun Conference, and there was Chandler Parsons talking about ways to tighten things up on Florida’s full court press.
“Chandler hasn’t exactly been known for his defensive presence the last two years,” Shipman said after Florida’s 104-53 exhibition game win over Webber at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. “Now we talk more about defense. Usually at halftime Chandler would be on the side breaking his wrist [to simulate a shot]. Like today he missed his first three [point shot] but at halftime he’s talking about the press and like this is what I do on this side of the press. We’re talking about the press instead of whether he made a shot or not. Chandler is a man now. I love his attitude and how he’s matured.”
The more mature Chandler Parsons came off the bench Monday night to score 12 points and grab a team-leading nine rebounds. He was instant energy in all phases of the game but he was particularly effective when the Gators went to full court pressure where he was an active and disruptive presence. He was Florida’s traffic cop in the full court defense, directing the flow and making certain everybody was in the right place.
It was a brand new role for Parsons, but one he has embraced.
“I’m just doing what the team needs me to do,” Parsons said. “No matter if I’m starting or coming off the bench, I’m going to be a guy who plays with a lot of energy and passion and lays it on the line every single game. I want to be that guy that gets everyone going.”
In both of Florida’s exhibition games, Parsons has brought the energy off the bench but perhaps more significant has been his willingness to assert himself defensively.
“He grew up a lot in the offseason,” Shipman said. “Mentally, he took a whole new step. It’s a different Chandler out there.”
It is also a different Ray Shipman, who teamed with Parsons to give the Gators a high energy, 1-2 punch off the bench. Shipman was good or 16 points and five rebounds, most of them on dunks or layups. He was good in the press because it gave him the chance to operate in space but he didn’t hesitate to put the ball on the floor and get to the rim when the Gators were in their halfcourt sets.
There wasn’t he hesitation or that lost ball in the tall grass look on his face that characterized his freshman year last year. Billy Donovan wanted Shipman to concentrate on being an athletic guy off the bench who could be a defensive stopper and a player who could get out on the break quickly in transition. Shipman wanted to be the scorer he was in high school when he was Florida’s Mr. Basketball after leading Monsignor Pace to four Final Fours and two state championships.
“I think Ray came in as a freshman — and I think he would even tell you this — with an entirely wrong mentality,” Donovan said. “I think he came in wanting to do what he thought the team needed instead of doing what the team actually needed.”
That attitude has been transformed into one that is team-centered. Shipman embraces his role coming off the bench and he’s particularly aggressive on the defensive end. Because he has taken such an active approach defensively, Donovan is willing to give him some freedom at the other end of the court.
“I don’t mind him looking to be aggressive offensively because he’s doing so many other things for our team right now and we need that,” Donovan said, adding, “I wish he could have played like that last year because we could have used that.”
Parsons and Shipman are part of a new look Florida team that not only has more size and athleticism but chemistry that just wasn’t there the last two years as well as a measure of maturity.
Billy Donovan saw some of that maturity in the huddle at the under 16 timeout with 15:05 remaining in the first half. Webber had a 15-11 lead but the Warriors had led by as many as eight (11-3) just 90 seconds earlier. Donovan didn’t hear anyone screaming and instead of negatives, he was hearing encouraging words and discussion of what needed to be done defensively.
“I’ve been in huddles before when guys get on somebody and it’s all negative and not good,” Donovan said. “This was more of guys talking to each other about what needed to be done and I think that’s always positive.”
After that time out, Parsons came into the game and had an immediate impact with a pass that Vernon Macklin converted into a driving two-hand dunk, a steal and a driving layup that tied the game at 15-15 with 13:58 remaining in the half. Parsons had six points and six rebounds in the first half.
Shipman entered the game for the first time with 14:09 remaining and Florida trailing, 15-13. The Gators outscored the Warriors 40-8 the rest of the way with Shipman providing 14 points.
Shipman admitted after the game that he still has a lot of work to do to get his game to the level he wants it to be consistently but he feels that a changed attitude and a new level of maturity will help him get there.
“(Assistant) Coach (Richard) Pitino said that 95 percent of the players coming into college basketball are dumbasses,” Shipman said. “Well, I was one of those dumbasses and now I feel more mature and it’s helping me out.
* * *
Webber was totally outsized and outmatched so the game was more about Donovan learning more about what players fit best in combinations and developing substitution patterns that he can live with. He got what he knew he was going to get out of his starting backcourt of Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker. Boynton hit 5-8 of his three-point shots en route to a 25-point night while Walker had 12 points and for the second straight game he finished with nine assists. In the two exhibition games, Boynton scored 47 points while Walker had 28 points, 18 assists and only three turnovers.
Donovan got a combined 26 points, 15 rebounds, five blocked shots, six steals and two assists out of the center position from Macklin (six points, three rebounds and two assists), Kenny Kadji (11 points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots) and Erik Murphy (eight points, four rebounds, three blocked shots and six steals). Dan Werner contributed six points, one rebound, one assist and two steals from the small forward spot while power forward Alex Tyus had six points, seven blocked shots and two assists.
Defensively, the Gators forced 26 Webber turnovers and held the Warriors to 33.8 percent shooting and only 3-18 (16.7 percent) on three-pointers.
The exhibition games are over for the Gators. The season starts for real Sunday afternoon against Stetson in a 4 p.m. encounter at the O-Dome.