Beal leads No. 11/12 Florida past No. 25 Vanderbilt

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball | February 4, 2012
Comments » 6

An impressive all-around performance by freshman guard Bradley Beal – including 16 points on 50 percent shooting and seven rebounds in 30 minutes – led the No. 11/12 Florida Gators (19-4, 7-1 SEC) past the No. 25 Vanderbilt Commodores (16-7, 5-3 SEC) 73-65 Saturday at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL.

It was Florida’s seventh-straight victory and second in the last three days. UF has won 19 consecutive games in the O’Dome and four-in-a-row against Vanderbilt.

Though Beal was all over the court for the Gators, it was junior G Kenny Boynton who posted a team-high 18 points. Commodores’ forward Jeffery Taylor led all scorers with 26 points on 7-of-12 shooting (4-of-7 from downtown, 7-of-8 from the line).

Down 11-9 early in the contest, Florida exploded on a 10-0 run capped by five-straight points by Boynton to take an 19-11 lead with 9:33 left in the first half. Vanderbilt answered back with a 6-1 scoring stretch, but the Gators followed by notching seven points – a four-point play by Boynton and a trey from redshirt junior G Mike Rosario – to take a game-high 10-point lead on the Commodores with 5:36 remaining.

Florida, however, found themselves with three starters on the bench for the remainder of the half with Beal, sophomore center Patric Young and junior F Erik Murphy all sitting after each picked up two early fouls. Vanderbilt used this to their advantage, outscoring the Gators 11-5 down the stretch to reduce their deficit to three points at the break.

The Commodores started the second half equally as hot, scoring nine-straight points including eight by Taylor to take a 43-40 lead. Young picked up his third foul quickly and Florida started the half 1-for-10 from the field, giving Vanderbilt room to make their run.

The Gators would not relent, battling to keep the game close before putting together an impressive 12-0 run including a pair of dagger treys from Beal to take a 58-49 lead. The Commodores fought back, keeping their deficit in the low single digits the rest of the way.

Up just four and trying to close out the contest, Florida took a seven-point lead with 1:03 to go thanks to a dagger three by Boynton, but Taylor answered immediately giving Vanderbilt yet another glimmer of hope. The Gators would hold on for the victory though, hitting all 14 of their second half free throws including four in the final 39 seconds.

Florida was nearly perfect from the line, netting a season-best 16-of-17 attempts. The Gators only shot 38.3 percent from the field but nailed 45.8 percent of their attempts from downtown. UF outrebounded VU 39-34 (14-10 offensively) and forced the Commodores to commit 17 turnovers thanks to a strong press in the second half.

Vanderbilt outscored Florida 26-16 in the paint, but the Gators used 18 points off the bench – 10 of them from Rosario on 4-of-8 shooting – to pull out the win.

Senior point guard Erving Walker joined the backcourt trio as the fourth Florida player with double-digit points, posting 11 on a paltry 3-of-11 shooting performance. His game-high five assists thrust him past Eddie Shannon (493) into No. 2 on UF’s all-time list, giving Walker 495 dimes for his career.

He also passed Ronnie Williams (3,898) for No. 4 on the Gators’ career minutes list (3,906) and tied Tony Miller (1,212) for eighth in field goal attempts with 11 on Saturday.

Sophomore F Will Yeguete, playing major minutes with Young and Murphy on the bench in foul trouble, grabbed team-highs of eight boards and three steals. He was pesky on defense throughout the game and the main cog in UF’s successful press.

Taylor added a game-high four steals to his total for Vanderbilt and was supported by G John Jenkins (15 points), C Festus Ezeli (11 pointss) and F Lance Goulbourne (game-high 11 rebounds).

Florida will look to continue their hot streak when they travel to face No. 1 Kentucky on Tuesday evening. The game will air live at 7 p.m. on ESPN and marks the third time this season the Gators will face a top-three ranked opponent.

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2/3: Donovan talks recruiting, prep for Vanderbilt

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball | February 3, 2012
Comments » 1

Set to play their second of three games in six days, No. 11/12 Florida Gators head coach Billy Donovan met with the media Friday to discuss a number of topics including the Vanderbilt Commodores, basketball recruiting and senior point guard Erving Walker‘s improved play in his final season.

GATORS KEEPING TABS ON THE UPPERCLASSMEN

When it comes to Vanderbilt, guard John Jenkins has been a thorn in Florida’s side each of the last three years. Leading the Commodores in minutes (33.2), points (19.9) and free throw shooting (85.7 percent), Jenkins is the consummate shooter and someone Donovan will obviously have the Gators’ defense focused on.

“He’s a great player. The three best guys I’ve seen shoot the ball – and I won’t say Lee Humphrey because I’ve coached him – that we’ve gone against in this league have been Rotnei Clark, Chris Lofton and Jenkins,” he said. “He is one of the best shooters that I’ve seen in this league. A guy that can really knock shots down. Guys that can do it under pressure with a lot of defense on them and people challenge shots are really phenomenal.”

However, Jenkins is not the only player Florida will have to deal with. Forward Jeffrey Taylor is also playing lights out, averaging 17.4 points and 5.8 boards while shooting 53.1 percent from the field and a team-high 46.3 percent from three. And 6’11” center Festus Ezeli, though he’s missed 10 games, is also dangerous in the frontcourt.

“He’s an incredible space eater. He’s a great shot blocker. He has great presence. Where he was as a freshman to where he is now, he’s really made some incredible growth in terms of his offensive game,” Donovan said of Ezeli. “He has developed offensively. He has learned how to seal and post up and create angles.”

WALKER ECLIPSES 1,600 POINTS AT FLORIDA

Climbing his way up a number of all-time lists at Florida, Walker passed 1,200 career points Thursday and is just 15 points away from moving into No. 5 on the school’s scoring list. He is also three assists away from the No. 2 spot in that category, four three-pointers away from No. 3 on the list, 24 minutes away from No. 4 in court time and six trey attempts shy of No. 1 all-time at UF.

“It’s pretty amazing what he’s done at his size, a guy that came off the bench as a freshman and then moved into the starting position as a sophomore. In terms of his assists, three-point shooting, the scoring, it’s amazing a guy his size has been able to score at the level he’s been able to score at,” Donovan said.

“Any time you are able to score over 1,000 points in a career, that’s always a pretty good career offensively. I think he’ll go down as one of the better guards to play here just based on statistics and someone being here for four years.”

Walker has been concentrating on something other than scoring this season – taking care of the ball. His season-long assist/turnover ratio is 2.46, and he is first in the SEC in assists averaging 5.1 per game.

“He tries to do everything I ask him to do. We’ve talked about trying to lead the league in assists, and he’s right up there,” Donovan said. “He’s keeping his turnovers down. He’s starting to see and understand where his shots are coming from, when he needs to shoot and when he needs to pass. He’s getting better at it.”

A “GENTLEMEN’S AGREEMENT” IN RECRUITING?

Donovan was asked if there is a “gentlemen’s agreement” in college basketball when it comes to recruiting. In other words that a coach will not actively recruit a player committed to another school. A common practice in college football, Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was accused of doing so by Wisconsin this week. He admitted as such and stated it was an aggressive action but not illegal and that many other schools do it as well. Below are Donovan’s thoughts:

“Yeah. I’ve always been amazed at football. There used to be a basketball coach – I’m not going to say his name – years ago he’s no longer coaching, when I first got in the business and a guy would commit, he would say, ‘Great now it’s down to two – me and you.’ I would say in basketball there is no question a gentlemen’s whatever. I will not recruit anybody who is committed. Never ever ever. That’s kind of a thing that goes on in basketball. And I have the right to recruit, but I think it’s kind of an unwritten or an unspoken law in basketball that once a guy is committed, that’s it.

“I have not done this but I know coaches will do this. If a guy is committed to a school and there is another school trying to change or break that commitment, the school he’s committed to will call up the coach and say, ‘What are you doing? This guy has made a decision. He’s already coming to our school.’ [...] I’ve always been amazed in football that a guy is verbally committed somewhere and he’s taking official visits to other places. That makes no sense to me. He shouldn’t commit anywhere if he’s not really sure. It just seems that’s what goes on.

“Al Horford is a perfect example. Al Horford committed to Michigan. I had a person very close to Al in the recruitment who said that he felt like he made a mistake and he would like to come to Florida. I said, ‘I’m not going to recruit him. The only way that I would recruit him is if he calls up the coach at Michigan and tells him that he has decided to open up his recruitment. But I’m not going to talk to you about Florida, and I’m not going to talk to you about anything. It’s got to be his decision.’ Al obviously did that. I’m not going to pick up the phone and talk to a kid that’s already committed somewhere and tell him why he shouldn’t go there and that he’s making a mistake there.

“There’s kids that decommit all the time. Austin Rivers decommited last year and he decided to open up his recruitment. [...] I don’t know if other schools were tampering with Austin or not or talking to him. It’s one of those things where I just don’t do that. I would say that most of college basketball coaches don’t do that once a guy is committed. That’s like an across the board consensus.”

NOTES AND QUOTES

» On if he “ripped into the team” following their victory on Thursday: “I’ve learned as I’ve gotten older that sometimes you’re better off watching the film. I would say most of the time my assessment just sitting there is accurate but there are times where you look at something and you think something was the problem and it’s not.”

» On the quick turnaround: “There’s no question the stretch that we have coming up is going to be very demanding, very tough playing against a lot of good teams. [...] What you have to do is put all of your focus and energy into what is in front of you right now. They’ll eventually all play themselves out.”

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3/12: Donovan discusses semifinals victory

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball | March 12, 2011
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The No. 12/12 Florida Gators (26-6) advanced to the championship game of the 2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon with a 77-66 win over the No. 24 Vanderbilt Commodores at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA. Florida head coach Billy Donovan and his players had plenty to say after the game as they prepared to face No. 16 for the third time this season. OGGOA has compiled some of the most important notes and quotes from the post-game press conference.

LOCKER ROOM VIDEO and SOUND BITES

QUOTES

Donovan on the team’s performance in the first half: “Physically at the basket, we didn’t get a lot done. We could have been down a lot more at the half.”

Donovan on guarding Vanderbilt guard John Jenkins: “Our team, collectively, did about as good of a job as you can do on Jenkins. Kenny did a great job on him. When the ball leaves his hands, it always has a chance to go in.”

Donovan on the fearlessness of sophomore G Kenny Boynton and junior point guard Erving Walker: “I have a lot of confidence in those guys because there’s a high-level of accountability I put on those guys on the defensive end of the floor. When Boynton’s doing what he’s doing defensively at the other end of the floor, and he’s working the way he’s working, I’m going to let him take a couple because he can get going. You’re going to live with it because he’s doing a heck of a job at the other end of the floor defensively. The same thing with Erving. Erving’s a smart guy. He understands scouting; he understands schemes. They’re both highly competitive, winning kind of guys. They can make winning plays for you – on offense and/or defense.”

Donovan on turning the ball over a lot early: “They understood the importance of taking care of the basketball. It was pretty clear half of their points in the first half came off of our carelessness.”

Walker on assessing how he played in the first half vs. the second half: “I didn’t play bad, but I wasn’t great. I just tried to be patient and Taylor was on my back the whole game. My teammates found me for some good looks, and I was able to get in a little bit of a rhythm.”

Walker on he and Boynton shooting with confidence: “We’re just two players that play with a lot of confidence. It always helps when your coach don’t yank you if you miss one. [Laughing] He’s been real generous to us. And we just got to keep shooting with confidence.”

Walker on scoring nine-straight points: “It started on the defensive end. We were able to get out in transition. Vanderbilt’s defense is real tough, and I was able to get some clean looks out of transition – and some layups. Defense sparked it all for us.”

Walker on starting slow: “In the first half, we have a bad habit of waiting to see how hard we have to play. We have to get out of that.”

Boynton on beating two teams three times in a single season: “It’s a great accomplishment for us. The key to these games was our focus to get one win and move on to the next. We had a problem with that – winning big games and then losing to other teams. Lately we’ve been doing well.”

Boynton on why his scoring is up: “Just confidence. [My] confidence level. I’m taking good shots, not forcing anything. When I get in a rhythm, they just fall.”

Boynton on having the confidence to take big shots: “Coach has a great amount of confidence for us, for him to give us that freedom. We love to take those shots. He gives us the freedom to take those shots because he knows that we can make them and we can go on runs.”

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Florida fights back to beat Vanderbilt 77-66, advance to SEC Tournament Championship

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball | March 12, 2011
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Advancing to the 2011 Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship for the first time since 2007, the No. 12 Florida Gators (26-6) outscored the No. 24 Vanderbilt Commodores (23-10) by 19 points in the second half to come out of the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA with a 77-66 victory in the semifinals.

Florida sophomore guard Kenny Boynton and junior point guard Erving Walker combined to outscore Vanderbilt 33-30 in the second half to help the Gators match a season-best mark by coming back from a 12-point deficit.

The Commodores were fast out of the gate, starting the game with an 11-2 run as the Gators shot 1-for-7 from the field. Florida answered back with a 13-3 run to tie the game at 18, but a subsequent 10-1 stretch by Vanderbilt put them back ahead nine points.

UF suffered a 7:15 drought without a field goal in the middle of the first half and turned the ball over 11 times (resulting in 18 points) in the period. VU went into the half with a 36-28 advantage, forcing Florida to attempt to come from behind once again.

The Commodores started the second half by scoring four-straight points to take a game-high 12-point lead; however, the Gators responded immediately with a 15-4 run to take their first lead of the game, 51-50. Walker exploded for nine-straight points during the run, giving his team a much-needed spark.

Florida kept their foot on the pedal from there. Tied at 57, the Gators utilized a 17-6 run (including nine consecutive points from Boynton) to put them up a game-high 11 with 1:09 remaining in the contest. Vanderbilt fouled the rest of the way, sending Florida to their eighth appearance in a SEC Tournament Championship game.

Boynton’s hot shooting continued for the Gators; he hit 8-of-16 shots and 5-of-9 attempts from downtown to score 24 points including 16 in the second half. Walker was 0-for-2 in the first half but countered that with a 6-for-12 second half (3-for-6 from beyond the arc) for all 17 of his points.

Senior forward Chandler Parsons once again filled in the cracks with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting (2-of-4 from three) to go along with a team-high nine rebounds. Florida’s young bench supported the effort, combining for 13 points with freshman center Patric Young grabbing eight boards in 20 minutes of action.

Vanderbilt F Jeffery Taylor was consistent all game for the Commodores, scoring a team-high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting; however, Taylor was only 1-for-5 from downtown and committed three fouls. Center Festus Ezeli caused UF’s frontcourt all sorts of problems; he finished with 17 points and nine rebounds (five offensive). Facing immense defensive pressure, VU star G John Jenkins only hit 3-of-15 field goals (2-of-12 three-pointers) and struggled to score 10 points on the afternoon.

Not only did the Gators shoot better than the Commodores (48.3 percent vs. 36.5 percent), UF also out-rebounded them 38-30 and only turned the ball over once in the second half after coughing it up 11 times in the first.

Florida has now defeated both Tennessee and Vanderbilt three times each in the same season. It is the first time UF has swept either program thrice in one year and also the first time the Gators have beat any two opponents three-straight times in a season.

With the win, Florida advances to face No. 16 Kentucky for the SEC Tournament Championship on Sunday. UK will be the third-straight SEC East opponent UF will face in the event. The game airs live at 1 p.m. on ABC.

Photo Credit: Dave Martin/Associated Press

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SEC Tournament: (12) Florida vs. (24) Vanderbilt

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball | March 12, 2011
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Event: 2011 SEC Tournament – Semifinals
Location: Georgia Dome – Atlanta, GA [Capacity: 26,000]
Time: 3:30 p.m. (ET)

TV: ABC/ABCHD
Online Video: ESPN3.com
Online Audio: Yahoo!
Live Updates: @OnlyGators

No. 12 FLORIDA GATORS No. 24 VANDERBILT COMMODORES
Head Coach: Billy Donovan Head Coach: Levin Stallings
Record: 25-6 Record: 23-9
Division: SEC East Division: SEC East
Roster | Schedule Roster | Schedule

Odds: Florida -3; O/U 139.5

HISTORY and STREAKS

» Vanderbilt leads the all-time series against Florida 63-58 and won both meetings last season. However, the Gators are 17-5 in their last 22 games against the Commodores including two victories earlier this year.
» Florida is looking to defeat Vanderbilt three times in a single season for the first time in school history. The Gators accomplished that exact feat Friday night against Tennessee.
» UF is 6-7 in their previous 13 SEC Tournament semifinals appearances. However, Florida has won its last four semifinals (2004-07) by an average margin of 16 points; the Gators are 4-1 in SEC semifinals under Donovan.
» Since 2004, Florida has won the most SEC Tournament titles (three – 2005-07) and SEC Tournament games (14) in the league. Among the six major conferences, UF ranks only behind Duke (4-15) and Kansas (4-14) since 2004 in conference tournament titles and league tournament wins.
» The Gators are 11-2 in their last six trips to the Georgia Dome (17-7 since 1992).
» Florida has won 17 of their last 20 games (and nine of their last 10) with 15 victories against RPI top 100 teams.
» UF enters the game having won the 2011 SEC regular season title and as a No. 1-seed in the tournament. VU is a No. 3-seed.
» The current Gators team is the fourth in school history to win 24+ regular season games. They also captured the third outright SEC title in school history (1989, 2007).
» Florida is 20-1 (9-0 SEC) when holding an opponent under 70 points this year.
» The Gators, struggling all season from the line, are hitting 72.4 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe over the last 10 games.
» Florida is 10-2 when senior forward Chandler Parsons takes 10+ shots from the field. He has moved into the top 20 in school history in scoring (1,377 points) and is one of only two active players in Division I college basketball with over 1,300 points, 800 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals. He also became the sixth player in school history with 500+ career field goals after hitting four on Friday.
» Gators junior point guard Erving Walker, hitting a trio of three-pointers on Friday, moved into the top five all time in school history.
» UF has reached 20+ wins for the 13th consecutive season, the longest active streak in the SEC. The Gators have also reached 10 wins in league play for the ninth time in the last 13 years and first time since 2007 (13-3).
» Vanderbilt leads Florida in points per game 76.5-71.9 (27th-87th) nationally, while the Gators hold advantages over the Commodores in assists 13.8-13.4 (102nd-135th), rebounding 37.4-37.1 (58th-68th) and field goal percentage .463-.460 (47th-63rd). Florida holds opponents to five fewer points per game than Vanderbilt 62.7-67.3, grabs more turnovers 13.0-12.2 and coughs up fewer 12.4-13.4. The Gators rank 8th in RPI (.6366) and seventh in strength of schedule nationally compared to the Commodores being 25th (.6083) and 19th, respectively.

LAST TIME(S) OUT

Florida and Vanderbilt will square off for the third time this season; the Gators defeated the Commodores in a 65-61 overtime thriller in Gainesville, FL on Feb. 1 and a hard-fought 86-76 contest in Nashville, TN just one week ago. In the first game, Parsons led the way with 18 points and 11 rebounds as Florida clawed their way to a victory. The latter game was won a team effort that saw all five starters score in double figures to help propel the team to the outright SEC regular season title.

KEEP AN EYE ON…

» Parsons…the 2011 SEC Player of the Year and a unanimous All-SEC First Team selection…who is averaging double-digit points (11.5) while leading the Gators with 7.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. Parsons ranks No. 1 among active SEC players in rebounds (812), No. 3 in points (1,389) and assists (311) and No. 4 steals (125). At one point he notched three-straight double-doubles and now has seven this year.
» Walker…who is marred in a shooting slump over the last few games but is still leading his team in scoring with 14.5 points per game while also leading the backcourt in both field goal percentage (.414) and three-point percentage (.375). Walker also tops Florida’s turnover rankings (76) and became the 47th player in school history to score 1,000 points earlier this season.
» Redshirt senior center Vernon Macklin…who is shooting a team-best 57.7 percent from the floor as a starter this season with most of his buckets coming inside the paint. He averages 11.6 points and 5.7 rebounds a game while being a major presence for UF.
» Sophomore guard Kenny Boynton…who is arguably the Gators’ most talented player but is struggling with consistency shooting the ball. Boynton is only hitting 37.7 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from beyond the arc; however, he is second in scoring with 13.9 points per game and makes a team-high 82.7 percent of his free throws. He is also shooting 87.5 percent from the line (63-of-72) in SEC play. Boynton has been stellar from the floor over the last three games, hitting 47.7 percent of his field goals (21-of-44).
» Senior F Alex Tyus…who is averaging career-lows in points, rebounds and field goal percentage as a starter. Tyus became just the fifth player under Donovan to reach 500 career field goals, accomplishing the feat two weeks ago against Vanderbilt. His last five games for the Gators have been efficient and productive as he has combined for 56 points and 32 boards while shooting 52.4 percent from the floor.
» Freshmen PG Scottie Wilbekin and C Patric Young…who are Florida’s primary reserves each averaging over 17 minutes per game. Wilbekin, in relief of Walker, leads UF in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.32:1), while Young averages 3.4 points and 3.5 boards.
» Vanderbilt G John Jenkins…who plays a team-high 34.6 minutes and is his team’s leading scorer (19.8 points per game). Jenkins also shoots 89.0 percent from the charity stripe, hits 41.4 percent of his three-pointers and leads the SEC in scoring average.
» Commodores F Jeffrey Taylor…who is his team’s second-leading scorer (14.9) and third-leading rebounder (5.4) while playing the second-most minutes (31.5).
» Vanderbilt G Brad Tinsley…who leads the SEC in assists with 4.5 per game. He also contributes 10.6 points and 3.8 rebounds for the Commodores.

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Gators win 2011 SEC title outright as No. 14 Florida takes down No. 20 Vanderbilt 86-76

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball | March 5, 2011
Comments » 12

No. 14 Florida Gators basketball (24-6, 13-3 SEC) put the wheels in motion Tuesday by clinching a share of the 2011 Southeastern Conference regular season title and went on to win it outright Saturday by defeating the No. 20 Vanderbilt Commodores (21-9, 9-7 SEC) 86-76 at the Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, TN.

All five of Florida’s starters scored in double figures and their intensity on the offensive glass (out-rebounding Vanderbilt 11-3) provided them ample opportunities at second-chance points. Sophomore guard Kenny Boynton led the Gators with 17 points, and senior forward Alex Tyus contributed a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

UF struggled early, allowing VU center Festus Ezeli to score nine points in five minutes. He and F Jeffrey Taylor, who added 10 points, scored 19 of the team’s first 21 points as the Commodores led by five early.

Vanderbilt soon went up 25-18, but Florida answered back with an explosive 16-2 run including two three-pointers by senior F Chandler Parsons and five points from both Boynton and redshirt senior C Vernon Macklin to take a 34-27 lead.

The Gators ended the first half with a contested missed trey by junior point guard Erving Walker that was rebounded by Tyus and passed back to Walker for a layup to complete a 20-5 run and give them a 38-30 lead at the break.

With Florida up 11, Vanderbilt used an 8-0 run of their own to reduce their deficit to 48-46 with 13:20 left. VU was soon down only one, but UF quickly responded with an 11-1 run capped by another three from Boynton to gain a 65-54 advantage.

Macklin and freshman C Patric Young each saw themselves in foul trouble after Macklin also committed his fourth with 6:45 left. Even without the size, the Gators did not relent. Boynton hit two more triples (including his fifth four-point play of the year) to put Florida up a game-high 14 points, 73-59, with 6:30 remaining.

The Commodores put one last run together to cut the Gators’ lead to 77-72 with 3:05 to go, but eight free throws from Walker iced the game and clinched the title for Florida.

Boynton scored his 17 points on 4-of-9 shooting from downtown. Tyus was an efficient 5-for-9 from the field and grabbed an impressive seven offensive boards. Walker contributed 16 points (10 from the free throw line) and six assists, while Parsons and Macklin added 13 apiece.

Vanderbilt G John Jenkins scored a game-high 22 points off 9-of-15 shooting. Ezeli added 16 with four blocks, and Taylor was 7-for-11 from the field with 15 points.

The Gators’ 13-3 conference record ties the 2007 team for the best in school history. With the victory, Florida won only its third outright SEC title in school history (1989, 2007) and reached 24 wins for just the fourth time ever.

UF, the No. 1 overall seed in the 2011 SEC Tournament, will face either Georgia, Ole Miss or Tennessee in quarterfinals (second round) action on March 11. The game will air live on your local SEC Network affiliate at 7:30 p.m.

POST-GAME THOUGHTS

Tyus on the win: “It means everything. It was huge. I’m really excited right now. All the guys are really excited. Just all the hard work, how far we’ve come since our freshman and sophomore years. Now we’re getting to the top of the mountain and just want to keep going.”

Parsons on all starters scoring in double figures: “That’s just everybody playing unselfish. We don’t have any guys on our team that try to go out and get theirs. Whoever’s open gets the ball and everyone really contributed tonight. Our bench was terrific in the first half. We played extremely hard tonight. It shows a lot about our team that we won it all for ourselves.”

Parsons on the celebration: “We’re going to celebrate tonight. Definitely gonna celebrate tonight. I’m not going to tell you what or what we’re going to do. There’s definitely going to be some celebrating going on in Gainesville tonight.

Photo Credit: Wade Payne/Associated Press

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No. 14 Florida at No. 20 Vanderbilt Gameday

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball | March 5, 2011
Comments » 5

Location: Memorial Gymnasium – Nashville, TN [Capacity: 14,316]
Time: 6:00 p.m. (ET)

TV: ESPN/ESPNHD
Online Video: ESPN3.com
Online Audio: Yahoo!
Live Updates: @OnlyGators

No. 14 FLORIDA GATORS No. 20 VANDERBILT
Head Coach: Billy Donovan Head Coach: Kevin Stallings
Record: 23-6 (12-3 SEC) Record: 21-8 (9-6 SEC)
Division: SEC East Division: SEC East
Roster | Schedule Roster | Schedule

Odds: Vanderbilt -4; O/U 137.5

HISTORY and STREAKS

» Vanderbilt leads the all-time series against Florida 63-57 and won both meetings last season. However, the Gators are 16-5 in their last 21 games against the Commodores including an overtime victory earlier this year. UF is also 19-11 against them under Donovan including 6-8 in Nashville.
» The Gators are 7-2 against the SEC East this season.
» Florida has won 15 of their last 18 games (and seven of their last eight) with 13 victories against RPI top 100 teams.
» UF, which has already won at least a share of the SEC regular season title and a No. 1 seed in the 2011 SEC Tournament, can win sole possession of the former with either a road victory (or Alabama home loss) on Saturday.
» If the Gators win Saturday, it will be the fourth team in school history to win 24+ regular season games. They would win the third outright SEC title in school history (1989, 2007).
» Florida is 20-1 (9-0 SEC) when holding an opponent under 70 points this year.
» The Gators, struggling all season from the line, are hitting 71.5 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe over the last seven games.
» Florida is 10-2 when senior forward Chandler Parsons takes 10+ shots from the field. He has moved into the top 20 in school history in scoring (1,364 points) and is one of only three active players in Division I college basketball with over 1,300 points, 750 rebounds, 300 assists and 100 steals.
» Gators junior point guard Erving Walker, with 197 three-pointers, is sixth all-time at UF. He is one trey away from moving into the top five.
» UF has reached 20+ wins for the 13th consecutive season, the longest active streak in the SEC. The Gators have also reached 10 wins in league play for the ninth time in the last 13 years and first time since 2007 (13-3).
» Vanderbilt leads Florida in points per game 76.7-71.0 (27th-116th) nationally, while the Gators hold an advantage over the Commodores in assists 14.0-13.6 (99th-129th). The teams are nearly identical in rebounding (37.7 apiece) and field goal percentage (.459-.458 [UF]). Florida holds opponents to five fewer points per game than Vanderbilt 61.8-66.8, grabs more turnovers 13.1-12.5 and coughs up fewer 12.4-13.7. The Gators rank 11th in RPI (.6352) and seventh in strength of schedule nationally compared to the Commodores being 24th (.6172) and 15th, respectively.

LAST TIME OUT

Florida and Vanderbilt will square off for the second time this season; the Gators defeated the Commodores 65-61 in overtime in Gainesville, FL on Feb. 1. Even though the Gators failed to score a single field goal in the last 6:19 of regulation and the first 2:12 of overtime, Florida was up three with 15 seconds left when Parsons hit a pair of free throws to ice the game.

KEEP AN EYE ON…

» Parsons…who is averaging double-digit points (11.4) while leading the Gators with 7.8 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. Parsons ranks No. 1 among active SEC players in rebounds (798), No. 3 in points (1,364) and assists (306) and No. 4 steals (123). At one point he notched three-straight double-doubles and now has seven this year.
» Walker…who is leading his team in scoring with 14.4 points per game and leading the backcourt in both field goal percentage (.415) and three-point percentage (.377). Walker also leads Florida in turnovers (72) and became the 47th player in school history to score 1,000 points earlier this season.
» Redshirt senior center Vernon Macklin…who is shooting a team-best 57.8 percent from the floor this season with most of his buckets coming inside the paint. He averages 11.5 points and 6.0 rebounds a game while being a major presence for UF.
» Sophomore guard Kenny Boynton…who is arguably the Gators’ most talented player but is struggling with consistency shooting the ball. Boynton is only hitting 37.2 percent from the field and 31.9 percent from beyond the arc; however, he is second in scoring with 13.6 points per game and makes a team-high 81.3 percent of his free throws. He is also shooting 86.2 percent from the line (50-of-58) in SEC play.
» Senior F Alex Tyus…who is averaging career-lows in points, rebounds and field goal percentage as a starter. Tyus became just the fifth player under Donovan to reach 500 career field goals, accomplishing the feat two weeks ago against Vanderbilt.
» Freshmen PG Scottie Wilbekin and C Patric Young…who are Florida’s primary reserves each averaging over 17 minutes per game. Wilbekin, in relief of Walker, leads UF in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.27:1), while Young averages 3.1 points and 3.4 boards.
» Vanderbilt G John Jenkins…who plays a team-high 34.6 minutes and is his team’s leading scorer (19.4 points per game). Jenkins also shoots 89.2 percent from the charity stripe, hits 41.0 percent of his three-pointers and leads the SEC in scoring average.
» Commodores F Jeffrey Taylor…who is his team’s second-leading scorer (14.5) and third-leading rebounder (5.5) while playing the second-most minutes (31.0).
» Vanderbilt G Brad Tinsley…who leads the SEC in assists with 4.5 per game. He also contributes 10.8 points and 3.9 rebounds for the Commodores.

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FOUR BITS: Tebow, Dunlap, Jenkins, Horford

Posted by Adam Silverstein | Posted in Basketball, Football, Recruiting | February 5, 2011
Comments » 2

1 » Just because Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Tim Tebow earned the starting nod for the team’s final three games last season does not mean he is guaranteed to retain that job next year, new team president John Elway said this past week. “Kyle [Orton] is definitely in the equation,” he said. “It’s not a foregone conclusion that we’re going to trade Kyle Orton. At all. We still have to evaluate that. A lot of people think it’s an automatic, but it’s not.” With player trades not able to be completed until a new Collective Bargaining Agreement is signed, Orton would not be traded any time soon no matter what Elway and new head coach John Fox decide is best for the team.

2 » ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that Cincinnati Bengals rookie defensive end Carlos Dunlap, who concluded the 2010 season with an impressive 9.5 sacks (a franchise rookie record), has left agent Todd France and signed with Drew Rosenhaus. He currently has three years remaining on a four-year, $3.01 million contract with Cincinnati that included a $1.22 million signing bonus, $1.779 million in guaranteed cash and an additional $649,000 available through incentives.

3 » Receiving a commitment from four-star QB Jacoby Brissett (West Palm Beach, FL) on Friday, the Florida Gators were only awaiting word from one more potential signee. That wait is now over as four-star junior college defensive tackle John Jenkins (Perkinston, MS) officially committed to the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday. Florida has now finished the 2011 recruiting cycle with 19 commitments . Their class (not yet updated to include Brissett) is ranked No. 14 by Rivals, No. 18 by Scout and No. 12 by ESPNU.

4 » Atlanta Hawks forward/center Al Horford was provided an opportunity to live up to his NBA All-Star billing as he was tested with the game on the line Friday. With nearly no time remaining and his team down one, Horford drove the lane and was met by Los Angeles Clippers power forward Blake Griffin, who impeded his track to the rim with a flagrant foul. Landing on and injuring his back, Horford was slow to get up but eventually reached the line and hit both free throws to propel Atlanta to a 101-100 victory.

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