Entering the season, Florida men’s basketball coach Billy Donovan said numerous times that he was looking for more aggressiveness from this year’s team than he got from the 2009-10 unit.
With five games gone, the numbers state he has gotten that.
The Gators (4-1) enter Sunday night’s game at Florida State (5-0) getting to the foul line 24.8 times a game. That’s 5.1 more attempts than last year. And they are coming off a season-high 31 free throws in last Tuesday night’s 79-63 victory against visiting Florida Atlantic.
In addition, Florida has out-rebounded every opponent but Morehead State and carries a plus-9 rebounding margin average in 2010-11. The No. 16/14 Gators also are forcing 14.6 turnovers per contest.
The Seminoles likely are the second-best team Florida will have faced thus far (though if FSU beats visiting Ohio State Tuesday night, the ‘Noles move to No. 1). Florida State also comes in with a plus-9 in rebounding margin, so that should provide a quality test for Florida.
One area the Gators could exploit is FSU’s proclivity for being careless with the ball. While the Seminoles have forced 17.8 turnovers a game, they have turned the ball over an average of 18.2 times, and their opposition (North Florida, UNC-Greensboro, Gardner-Webb, Florida International and Mercer) hasn’t exactly inspired fear.
“If we go hard and play with confidence on both ends of the floor, we feel like we have a good chance to beat anyone,” senior swingman Chandler Parsons said.
FIVE QUESTIONS FOR
Florida State
1. This is Florida’s first road game of the year, and the Gators will not be welcomed with hugs, high-fives and fist-bumps from the Seminole fan base. Obviously, UF’s veterans have played in environments like this, but how will the freshmen handle it?
2. Florida State runs a three-guard lineup, meaning when FSU goes man-to-man there should be times 6-foot-10 Chandler Parsons is guarded by either 6-5 Devidas Dulkys or 6-4 Derwin Kitchen. Will Parsons make the Seminoles pay for this mismatch?
3. When he was a student at Jacksonville Raines, Kitchen decided he wanted to be a Gator. For a variety of reasons, that didn’t happen, and he has said he is very happy at FSU. Kitchen doesn’t like to talk about Florida, but after all these years does the senior guard bring it a little more against the Gators than he does some others?
4. Alex Tyus delivered his best performance of the year in Florida’s last game, a 79-63 victory against visiting Florida Atlantic, scoring 19 points and grabbing seven rebounds. He is expected to have Florida’s most difficult defensive assignment as he likely will be called upon to cover ultra-talented Chris Singleton, the most recent ACC Player of the Week. If Tyus can make that matchup as close to even as possible, it should bode well for Florida. How will the Tyus-Singleton matchup go? And how will Erik Murphy fit into the equation?
5. To help his ailing knee heal, Vernon Macklin needs rest. Florida hasn’t played since Tuesday, and Macklin has been limited in what he has been asked to do when he does participate in practice. The 6-10 senior center had five points and nine rebounds in the second half against FAU, so will the time off allow him to continue producing that way? Will his efforts help deliver Florida State its first loss this season?
FIVE QUESTIONS/ANSWERS FROM
Florida Atlantic
1. There will be a lot of emotion coming from FAU guards Greg Gantt and Dennis Mavin, both Gainesville natives. How will they handle playing in their hometown against the team they grew up watching as often as they could?
Answer: They did just fine, as FAU played Florida close most of the way before the Gators pulled away late to earn a 79-63 victory. Gantt scored a team-high 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting (3-of-5 from 3-point range) and added two assists. Mavin scored 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting. He also grabbed four rebounds, dished out two assists and got a steal. Gantt and Mavin combined for three turnovers, and Owls coach Mike Jarvis joked afterward he was glad they were 6-2 (Gantt) and 6-3 (Mavin), instead of 6-4 and 6-5, because then they would be dressing in the Gator locker room.
2. If you take the numbers from the two high school backcourts playing on opposite teams, who will win? Will it be Florida’s Kenny Boynton (Plantation American Heritage) and Scottie Wilbekin (Gainesville The Rock) or FAU’s Ray Taylor (American Heritage) and Dennis Mavin (The Rock)?
Answer: The Owls won the points matchup for this one, 23-21, but that has little to do with Boynton, who scored all 21 of his duo’s points. Wilbekin played an extremely quiet 13 minutes and missed the only shot he attempted. The Gator pair added two rebounds (one each), two assists (both Boynton) and three turnovers (all Boynton). They had no steals. The FAU duo added nine rebounds (five for the 5-5 Taylor), five assists (three by Taylor), four turnovers (three for Taylor) and one steal (Mavin).
3. In an unexpected turn of events Florida was out-rebounded for the first time all season in the Morehead State game. No doubt cleaning the glass will be a focus for Billy Donovan’s team. Will the Gators resume their positive rebounding ways against a team that enters the game with an average rebounding margin of minus-1.4?
Answer: One has to give the Gators credit for their consistency here. Florida out-rebounded FAU 23-15 in the first half and 22-15 in the second half. Five Florida players grabbed at least six rebounds, led by senior center Vernon Macklin’s 11.
4. After turning the ball over seven times against Ohio State, Florida point guard Erving Walker followed up with 13 assists to just two turnovers in his next two games. FAU has quality guards, so this won’t be an easy game for Walker. Will he continue his positive play?
Answer: There was good and bad for Walker against Florida Atlantic. First, the good. He scored 14 points, grabbed six rebounds, dished out a team-high four assists and collected a game-best five steals. He also made 5-of-6 foul shots. Now, the bad. Those 14 points came on 4-of-12 shooting (1-of-4 from 3-point range) and his four turnovers tied the Owls’ Alex Tucker for a dubious game-high.
5. At 6-foot-10 Chandler Parsons is coming off his eighth career double-double and should be a difficult matchup for smallish FAU on the wing. Will he have a big night?
Answer: Parsons was surprisingly passive, despite Gantt, at 6-2, drawing the defensive assignment. Parsons took only two first-half shots, missing both, and he didn’t score until making a layup with 5:36 remaining in the contest. He picked it up late, finishing with eight key points as Florida pulled away. Still, this is a guy who can score inside, outside, off the dribble, mid-range, on the break and on garbage buckets … you name it, he can do it. Shouldn’t he be more assertive? Following the game, coach Billy Donovan split the blame, saying he has been over-coaching Parsons and, as a result, Parsons has been over-thinking. Donovan said he wants Parsons to be aggressive but also play with accountability. That explains the lack of shooting, but still, with that type of matchup in front of him (though at times FAU ran zone), Parsons shouldn’t exit a game with no offensive rebounds like he did Tuesday night.
GAME 6 PREVIEW
No. 16/14 FLORIDA GATORS (4-1)
Position: Players, Height/Weight, Year, 2010-11 statistics
G: Erving Walker, 5-8/171, JR, 13.0 points per game, 4.2 assists per game
G: Kenny Boynton, 6-2/183, SO, 15.6 points per game, 2.2 rebounds per game
F: Chandler Parsons, 6-10/218, SR, 13.2 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game
F: Alex Tyus, 6-8/220, SR, 10.3 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game
C: Vernon Macklin, 6-10/240, SR, 8.4 points per game, 6.2 rebounds per game
Head coach: Billy Donovan (335-140 in 15th season at Florida; 370-159 in 17th season as head coach)
FLORIDA STATE SEMINOLES (5-0)
Position: Players, Height/Weight, Year, 2010-11 statistics
G: Michael Snaer, 6-1/205, SO, 8.8 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game
G: Derwin Kitchen, 6-4/204, SR, 10.6 points per game, 2.8 assists per game
G: Devidas Dulkys, 6-5/195, JR, 11.2 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game
F: Chris Singleton, 6-9/220, JR, 17.4 points per game, 10.8 rebounds per game, 81.3 percent FTs
F: Xavier Gibson, 6-11/230, JR, 8.2 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game
Head coach: Leonard Hamilton (136-106 in 9th season at Florida State; 336-315 in 23rd season as head coach)
When: Sunday, Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee.
TV/Radio: FSN/SunSports / Gator Radio Network / Sirius 219 / XM 199.
Tickets: Available.
Notable: The Gators lead the all-time series against the Seminoles, 39-22, and UF won last year’s meeting, 68-52, in Gainesville. However, Florida State has won four of the last six games in the series. … Florida is 17-9 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams under Donovan and 137-111 all-time against the ACC. UF is on a four-game winning streak against the ACC. … In addition to being the most recent ACC Player of the Week, Singleton also already has been named the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Week. … The 6-9, 220-pound junior forward can play inside and out, and he is averaging 3.6 steals while also making 38.5 percent of his 3-point attempts this season. … In the first five games of the season, Singleton recorded three double-doubles and a 22-point, 11-rebounds, 10-steal triple-double in a victory against UNC-Greensboro. He is looking to be the first Seminole to record four straight double-doubles since former power forward Douglas Edwards in 1993, the same year he went 15th overall in the NBA Draft. … However, Singleton is a long way from the school record of 18 straight double-doubles by All-American Dave Cowens, an eventual NBA Hall of Famer, in the 1968-69 season. … Look for Singleton, the 2008-09 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, to be selected in the first round of next April’s NBA Draft. … The Seminoles have back-to-back big home games. Third-ranked Ohio State, which already has defeated UF this year, will visit the Donald L. Tucker Center on Tuesday night as part of the ACC/Big 10 Challenge. … FSU has defeated rival UF three consecutive times in Tallahassee. The last time the Gators left the state capitol with a victory was Dec. 6, 2002 when UF eeked out a 58-57 win. … Donovan needs six more victories to move into sole possession of third place on the Southeastern Conference’s career list. … Former Kentucky coach Adoph Rupp leads everyone with 875 wins, while former Louisiana State coach Dale Brown is second with 448. Former Alabama and Vanderbilt coach C.M. Newton and former LSU coach Harry Rabenhorst finished their careers with 340 wins while in the SEC. Donovan is at 335 wins, 27 more than former Georgia and Kentucky coach Tubby Smith and exactly 100 more than the No. 2 Gator coach, Norm Sloan. … Florida has grabbed at least 17 offensive rebounds in three of five games this year. … This is the second straight Gator game where both coaches have more than 350 career wins. Donovan has 370, FSU’s Leonard Hamilton has 358 and Florida Atlantic’s Mike Jarvis had 368. … Florida won the national championship in the 2006-07 season but not the state championship. FSU defeated the then fourth-ranked Gators, 70-66, on Dec. 3, 2006 in Tallahassee. … Florida has made 31 3-pointers this season, a combined 21 coming from the starting backcourt of junior Erving Walker and sophomore Kenny Boynton. … More than half of the rebounds Gator power forwards Will Yeguete and Alex Murphy have pulled down are offensive. Yeguete has 14 offensive boards, good for 60.9 percent of his total, while Murphy has eight (57.1 percent). … Florida is 21-2 all-time when Walker dishes out at least five assists. … The Seminoles have allowed opponents to shoot just 32.7 percent this year. … Florida has allowed its foes to shoot 44.9 percent. … Oddly, FSU’s opponents have shot 35.8 percent from 3-point range, while Florida is allowing teams to shoot only 34.8 percent from behind the arc. … Florida State is blocking 9.4 shots per game, more than twice as many as Florida (4.0). … The Seminoles have won 12 consecutive non-conference home games.
PAST EXAMS AND GATOR(GR)ADES
Game 1: Florida 77, UNC Wilmington 60. Gator Player of the Game: Scottie Wilbekin (3 points, 5 assists, 4 steals); Opposing Player of the Game: Chad Tomko (15 points, 3 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals). Patton’s Gator(Gr)ade: B–. Record: 1-0.
Game 2: Ohio State 93, Florida 75. Gator Player of the Game: Vernon Macklin (12 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block); Opposing Players of the Game: David Lighty (26 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal) and Jared Sullinger (26 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals). Patton’s Gator(Gr)ade: C. Record: 1-1.
Game 3: Florida 105, North Carolina A&T 55. Gator Player of the Game: Will Yeguete (7 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals); Opposing Player of the Game: Thomas Coleman (8 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal). Patton’s Gator(Gr)ade: A–. Record: 2-1.
Game 4: Florida 61, Morehead State 55. Gator Player of the Game: Chandler Parsons (13 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals); Opposing Player of the Game: Kenneth Faried (20 points, 18 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocked shots. Patton’s Gator(Gr)ade: C–. Record: 3-1.
Game 5: Florida 79, Florida Atlantic 63. Gator Players of the Game: Alex Tyus (19 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist) and Kenny Boynton (21 points, 2 assists, 1 rebound); Opposing Player of the Game: Greg Gantt (17 points, 2 assists, 1 steal). Patton’s Gator(Gr)ade: B–. Record: 4-1.