Donovan wins No. 400 as Florida crushes Missouri

By Adam Silverstein
January 19, 2013

Head coach Billy Donovan could not have asked for a better performance out of the No. 9/10 Florida Gators (14-2, 4-0 SEC) on Saturday as the team earned him his 400th career victory at the school with an 83-52 blowout victory over the No. 16/17 Missouri Tigers (13-4, 2-2 SEC) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Donovan, with a record of 400-160 (.714) at Florida, watched on as the Gators outworked and outplayed the Tigers in every facet of the game.

Senior forward Erik Murphy scored a team-high 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting (3-of-5 from downtown) for Florida, which was fueled by a double-double (13 points, game-high 10 assists) from junior point guard Scottie Wilbekin.

Senior guard Kenny Boynton and junior F Will Yeguete also scored in double figures with 14 and 13 points, respectively. Junior center Patric Young chipped in nine points with game-highs of eight rebounds and three blocks.

Missouri, which was without star Laurence Bowers (MCL), struggled offensively but was led by G Jabari Brown’s game-high 16 points.

The Gators outshot the Tigers from the field (.593-.327) and beyond the arc (.421-.250), won the rebounding battle 35-25, registered 21 assists on 35 made baskets and blocked seven shots.

Florida also outscored Missouri in the paint (48-14), off turnovers (34-12), on second chances (11-1), on the fast break (16-2) and off the bench (23-8).

The Gators led wire-to-wire, scoring the first 11 points of the game and never allowing the Tigers to even tie up the score.

Florida and Missouri went head-to-head in men’s basketball for the first time ever. The new SEC East rivals will square off again before the conclusion of the regular season.

7 Comments

  1. Swell Miguel says:

    SEC basketball no longer includes divisions.

  2. obgator says:

    I know there’s a long way to go, but it looks like we can run the table in the SEC. Great energy from our guys. Especially on the defensive end.

  3. Marlex says:

    That was dominance. Utter dominance.

  4. Intuition says:

    Congrats to BillyD! Man, you can just see in that video how much those guys love him. And to think that when he took this job some folks doubted that he could ever build a real basketball program at a school like UF. And I love that he does it right–he expects guys to be mature both on the floor and off. He pushes them. Helps them grow. Everything a college sports coach is supposed to be.

    SO thankful that he’s a part of the GatorNation.

    Oh and…ps…this team is sneaky good…not always flashy…no national superstars (except Young to an extent)…but they know how to play ball…just enough scoring power…just enough unselfishness…everyone willing to play D, hustle, grind…we’ll see how far they go…but this team makes me proud to be a Gator (like so many other BillyD teams).

  5. Fernzpat says:

    Thanks for the video link, well worth the view. You can really see how close this team is….

  6. J says:

    Through years I watch Coach BillyD’s game, it is all about disciplinary of his team, no top-1 star, everyone is equal, in offense and defense, always underrated and stand out in the March madness. Yes we are a football school, but how about a back2back national title. You think only John Buy-Big-Center Calipari playing basketball in SEC? I am really proud of being a gator and I send my best regards to the Coach Billy D. and his team.

  7. dp says:

    I’m still trying to figure out why there hasn’t been a piece about this weekends visitors…namely Nkemdiche. You working on a piece about recruiting or something?

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