GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) – North Florida coach Matthew Driscoll isn’t sure how to defend No. 7 Florida. Do you take away Patric Young inside or focus on all those shooters on the outside?
Driscoll’s team did neither.
Kenny Boynton scored 20 points, Erving Walker added 17 and the Gators bounced back from a loss at Ohio State to beat overmatched North Florida 91-55 Thursday night.
“You’re almost in a pick-your-poison type of situation,” Driscoll said. “Which guy do you want to guard? Which guy do you want to rotate to? They are really gifted.”
Freshman Bradley Beal chipped in 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Gators (2-1), who won their eighth consecutive home game. The latest one was completely one sided from the opening tip.
Florida built a double-digit lead in the first eight minutes, opened a 17-point cushion by halftime and pulled ahead 70-34 on Mike Rosario’s 3-pointer from the corner midway through the second half. Florida coasted from there, turning to the reserves for the final minutes.
Parker Smith led the Ospreys (1-2) with 17 points. Travis Wallace added 12.
“These games are frustrating in the sense that I always think we can win them,” Driscoll said.
Not even close, though.
The only blemish for Florida was free-throw shooting. The Gators finished 16 of 29 from the charity stripe, the second consecutive game filled with misses for coach Billy Donovan’s team. Florida was 13 of 21 from the line in an 81-74 loss against the No. 3 Buckeyes two nights earlier.
Donovan took the blame for the misses, saying he hadn’t had his team work on free throws enough in practice.
But they were hardly a factor against North Florida.
Boynton was solid from the start, scoring from behind the arc, on drives, on jumpers and from the free-throw line. He also finished with five assists and just one turnover, showing the kind of well-rounded offensive game Donovan wants from his best defender.
“He’s really made some great steps and I’ve seen improvement every year since he’s been here,” Donovan said. “He came in as a prolific scorer, and that’s kind of what he knew. Last year, he had a better understanding of shot selection and extra passing. Right now, he’s really done a nice job of assist-to-turnover ratio, driving it and not just relying on a 3, getting in the lane, mid-range jumpers. He’s starting to add some different things to his game.”
Boynton scored 14 points in the first half, helping the Gators overcome a slow start from fellow guard Walker. He was 1 for 6 shooting, 0 for 3 from 3-point range, and had two turnovers in the first half.
Donovan challenged Walker at the break, and the senior responded better than his coach anticipated.
Walker made 3 of 4 shots from behind the arc in the second half. His 17 points were a season high, considerably better than his 10-point performance in the season opener and his four-point showing at Ohio State.
“I think you can get into a little bit of senioritis, where you’re a senior and you kind of want everything to kind of go well and you want it to be a really good year and you’ve paid your dues and you’ve worked hard,” Donovan said. “And then when it’s not going well, there’s almost this, `Why me?’
“We need him to have that fight because I think that impacts the rest of our team.”
The Gators were 11 of 29 from behind the arc, and had 18 assists on 32 baskets.
North Florida committed 21 turnovers, struggling to beat Florida’s press and getting outmanned in the paint. Young had seven points and five rebounds for Florida, and fellow forward Erik Murphy added 13 points.
“This might sound crazy, buy Young is the key component to that offense,” Driscoll said. “He knows his role in that offense and he plays it to the hilt. He’s the reason all those guys are so open on the outside.”
Add A Comment