JACKSONVILLE — Billy Donovan knows what it’s like to be a shooter. During his All-American career at Providence and during his brief NBA career, shooting was his calling card. He had a shooter’s mentality and if missed, he forgot about it and started thinking about making the next shot. That’s why he hasn’t been worried about the Gators early season shooting woes — even if others were.
Friday night, the shots finally started falling for Florida as the 13th-ranked Gators rode a 12-20 barrage of three-pointers to beat Jacksonville University, 85-67, before a Veterans Memorial Arena crowd of 7,170. And it wasn’t just the three-pointers that were finding their mark. The Gators finished the game at 58 percent (29-50 shooting), which is their best night of the season.
Sophomore point guard Erving Walker, who hit only five of his first 28 three-pointers this season, shot well for the third straight game, hitting 6-8 from the field and 4-5 from beyond the arc to finish in double figures for the sixth straight game. In addition to a season-high 18 points, Walker had four assists and three rebounds. Center Vernon Macklin had his fourth straight game in double figures, riding a 5-6 shooting night from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the foul line to finish with 16 points, another season high. Macklin also blocked three blocked shots. He has now hit 12 free throws in a row.
Freshman Kenny Boynton rebounded from Tuesday night’s game when he scored only one point to score 15 points, knocking down 3-7 on three pointers. Boynton led the Gators with five assists and he had three rebounds, three steals and no turnovers.
The shooting was contagious because Dan Werner hit 3-5 of his three-pointers and Chandler Parsons went 2-2. Werner scored 12 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal while Parsons scored nine points, grabbed a game-high nine rebounds and came up with two steals.
Donovan knew the Gators (8-0) were due to knock down some shots but he has been encouraged by the fact they’ve been winning even though they haven’t been shooting well.
“I want Kenny (Boynton), Erving (Walker), Dan (Werner) and Chandler (Parsons) to shoot the ball with confidence,” Donovan said. “They’ve got to shoot the ball. It’s good for our team. I thought it was encouraging that going into this game, we were 7-0, and we played a real quality schedule, winning those games without shooting the ball. Tonight we knocked down 12 threes. Some nights that’s gonna be there, some nights it’s not.”
In a back-and-forth first half in which the lead changed five times, Jacksonville took an early 7-2 lead before the Gators turned things around in a two-minute stretch that featured the first three-ball by Werner, who promptly stole a pass and fed it to Boynton, whose alley-oop pass to Alex Tyus was finished with a throw-down dunk.
Florida ratcheted up the defensive intensity in the final seven minutes of the first half, holding the Dolphins without a field goal over that stretch as the Gators extended their lead to 41-32 going into the half.
Donovan’s halftime message was stick together, play as a team and play 20 minutes of defense they way they played the last seven minutes of the half.
“We got some defensive stops in the first half, which were critical, and then we got some stops at the end of the game, which allowed us to extend our lead,” Donovan said. “Our defense was okay, I’m much more pleased with our three-point defense ‘cause they only shot 31 percent.”
Jacksonville was able to close to within four of the Gators (58-54) in the second half on a Ben Smith steal and layup with 12:50 left, but that’s as close as the Dolphins came. The Gators outscored the Dolphins. Ben Smith pickpockets Erving Walker and broke free for a layup, putting the game to a 58-54 score. From that point on, the Gators dominated on both ends of the court.
Although Walker was happy he knocked down shots, he wasn’t happy with his four turnovers.
“It was a good game all in all,” he said. “Of course, I’ve got to take care of the ball a little better. But our main priority is getting a win, and we got it, so I’m okay with that.”
Macklin had a good offensive game and he blocked three shots but he managed only two rebounds and he wasn’t happy with that.
“I’m working on a lot of things, but I need to get better at rebounds,” Macklin said. “The offense is good and the free throws are good, but I need rebounds.”
Although the players weren’t shy about their shortcomings, coach Donovan didn’t want to harp on the negative in Florida’s eighth win of the season.
“This is our eighth game is 17 days,” he said. “It’s been a long stretch for our kids, and our kids have done a good job. When you look at the fact of last weekend — less than a week ago — we’re playing in Atlantic City. It’s been a lot of games in a short period of time. This is their fifth game. We’ve already played four more games than they have. I knew there was gonna be a lot of emotion and energy. I’m more pleased with our guys and the way we fought and battled when things weren’t going well. You know, we looked a little drained, but we hung in there and did the things necessary to find a way to win the game.”
For the first few games of the season, the Gators were shooting poorly and playing good defense. Friday night, they played good defense and shot well, too.
“It felt good for all of us to be shooting well,” Boynton said. “It made it easier for us tonight. We just need to put it all together.”
If they do, the Gators will be tough to stop. Billy Donovan knows what that’s like too.