Dan Werner avoided the Florida record books Tuesday night. He’d love to see his name associated with some good records before his Gator basketball career is over, but this is one record he’s happy he won’t be associated with.
“I just found out that if we had lost I would have been the first player to go 0-and-4 against [Florida State],” Werner said after the Florida Gators (4-0) put the clamps on previously unbeaten Florida State, 68-52, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. “You don’t want to be remembered for that.”
Werner didn’t have the kind of game that will go down in the record books against FSU, but without his across-the-box score production, the Gators would have had a very difficult time handling the archrival from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Werner scored only six points, but his two first-half three-pointers were critical to a 33-8 run that gave the Gators a 39-18 lead heading into the locker room.
The shooting was impressive, but so was the passing — four assists, three of them from the foul line to cutters going back door for easy baskets. He also contributed three rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
It was the typical Werner performance, maybe not one that grabs the headlines but certainly one that contributes to winning basketball for a team that heads into Atlantic City, New Jersey Friday to play second ranked Michigan State (4-0) in the semi-finals of the Legends Classic.
“I love coaching him, because he is the typical guy, when you look across the stat sheet you say, ‘Geez this guy didn’t do too much tonight,’” said Florida coach Billy Donovan after Tuesday night’s win. “But any person watching it could see how valuable he was to our team.”
Werner’s contributions are often overlooked by fans who only pay attention to who has the most points and rebounds. Werner’s contributions don’t always show up on the box score because there is no way to measure a good outlet pass or a well-set pick or a denial on the defensive end. Werner does those and many other things. Maybe it’s not what fans expect, but it certainly lives up to Donovan’s expectations.
Werner has always had to battle fan perceptions. Coming out of Christian Brothers Academy in Middletown, New Jersey, he was Mr. Basketball in the state. After playing a minor role coming off the bench for Florida’s 2007 national championship team, he has done whatever Donovan has asked in the last two seasons. He was the power forward on both those teams although his skill set is more suited for playing on the perimeter.
He’s back on the perimeter most of the time through four games but he does fill in at the high post and occasionally at center when Donovan tries to get a matchup advantage or simply needs Werner’s do-it-all experience and mentality to help the team most.
“He’s one of those guys who will make a three-point shot here or make a defensive play,” Donovan said. “He plays with no intention. The only intention he plays with is the intention to do what is best for the team.”
Werner can spend more time on the perimeter because the Gators have more size this year with 6-10 Vern Macklin taking over in the low post, allowing Alex Tyus to move to the high post where he’s far more comfortable.
“The biggest thing with Dan, to me, this year is he has a little bit more help,” Donovan said. “I thought last year he had to do so much. He had to rebound. He had to defend. He had to shoot the ball well. I think right now with Vernon [Macklin], Kenny Kadji being a year older and Alex Tyus, I think Dan can be who he is.”
Being who he is means doing things like changing the entire momentum of Tuesday night’s game with Florida State by taking a charge from Jordan DeMercy with 11:16 left in the game. At that point, Florida State had trimmed 16 points off Florida’s halftime lead and was ready to cut the margin to 43-40 as DeMercy streaked to the basket on a two-on-one fast break.
DeMercy didn’t bother to pass and certainly didn’t count Werner establishing position and maintaining it. He left his feet, crashed into Werner and was called for a charging foul that seemed to break the Gators out of their funk. The Gators ran off 12 straight points before FSU scored again.
“I knew if he was going to pass it his momentum would keep taking him,” Werner said. “He was up in the air. At first I was like, ‘I don’t want to get laid out and nailed in the chops.’ So I put my knees up and ended up getting hit in the shins.”
That’s the kind of play teammates have grown accustomed to seeing from Werner, a quiet kind of leader who sets a great example for a team that is still very young.
“That’s what Dan Werner does,” said sophomore guard Ray Shipman, who contributed nine points off the bench in Tuesday’s game. “Last year I didn’t realize the little things he did for the team. That right there was a motivator for the fans, for the team.”
That charging foul never showed up in the box score and Werner doesn’t mind that at all. He also doesn’t mind that he won’t show up in the record books as the only player in Florida history to lose four consecutive years in basketball to FSU. With that possibility out of the way, he can simply go quietly about his business doing whatever Billy Donovan asks to help the Gators win games.