UF hoops downs Yale

Florida coach Billy Donovan was concerned about his team’s energy level on a two-day turnaround coming off an emotional double-overtime loss at Rutgers.

But with better ball movement, the No. 10 Gators (11-3) pulled away in the second half to beat Yale 90-70 before 9,119 at the O’Connell Center.

Donovan said the Gators didn’t play the “right way” against Rutgers, referencing UF’s assist-to-turnover ratio of 14-to-18. Against Yale, Florida finished with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 24 to 7.

“I was really pleased with the way we moved and shared the ball,” Donovan said.

Florida junior guard Kenny Boynton led four Florida players iin double-figures, scoring 26 points on just 12 shot attempts. The Gators also made a point to establish Patric Young early and often. Young added 19 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists.

Junior forward Erik Murphy had a career-high 18 points and tied a career-high with three blocked shots. Freshman guard Bradley Beal had 11 points and 7 rebounds.

“The main emphasis for us is when we are on the court, be happy for everyone,” Boynton said. “We wanted to make extra passes and offensively, we felt like we could have made more good passes against Rutgers and gotten more good shots.”

The goal now for the Gators is to bottle that selfless formula for long stretches in Southeastern Conference play.

“After you play a few games, you kind of forget it and everyone wants to go for themselves,” Boynton said. “I think if he consistently play like we did today, everyone will play good. We will keep winning.”

A case in point was starting Florida point guard Erving Walker, who finished with more assists (5) than points (3) or shot-attempts (4). Donovan said Walker’s goal should be to try to get 10 assists in each game.

“I still think we’re figuring out there is going to be a level of sacrifice inside of our team that everyone is going to have to make to a certain extent,” Donovan said.

Florida overcame a flurry of Yale 3-pointers to win its 13th straight home game. Three straight Yale 3-pointers from Austin Morgan, Reggie Willhite and Greg Mangano put the Gators in an early 9-0 hole. But Florida regrouped, going on a 24-6 run to take a 24-15 lead.

“There are certain times as a coach when you are sitting there and it’s 9-0 and you are annoyed,” Donovan said, “I wasn’t really annoyed because I felt like we were playing the right way on offense. I felt like we were locked in defensively.”

Young got going with a three-point play, making a hook shot as he was fouled by Mangano to cut Yale’s lead to 9-8. Young scored 8 of UF’s first 29 points, including an inside layup that extended UF’s lead to 29-15.

“I probably got 15-plus touches and it all equated out to good things for our team,” Young said. “The ball has to go inside-out. That’s Florida Gator basketball, the ball going inside-out and jumping around everywhere.”

Yale still hung around by going 9-of-14 from 3-point range in the first half. Consecutive 3-pointers from Mangano and Yale guard Isaiah Salafia cut Florida’s lead to 37-32. But Boynton answered with his ninth career four-point play, nailing a 3-pointer as he was fouled to put UF back up 41-32. Florida led 46-35 at halftime.

Mangano, a 6-foot-11 center, went 4-of-6 from 3-point range and finished with a double-double (26 points, 15 rebounds).

“Mangano is a different kind of guy and he’s not a guy that takes a lot of 3-point shots,” Donovan said. “He’s made some 3s in the year but it’s not his thing.”

In the second half. Florida held Yale to 2-of-7 from 3-point range.

“We tried to get up more on them,” Boynton said. “In the first half, it seemed like we weren’t ready. Morgan, he was coming off picks, he was a smart player. It was kind of tough guarding him.”

Florida made 8-of-12 3-point attempts in the second half to break the game open. Murphy and Boynton each went 5-for-7 from 3-point range.

“It was one of the best games we played this year,” Donovan said.

FREE THROWS: The Gators finished 12-of-21 from 3-point range, making 10 or more 3-pointers for the 11th time in 14 games. …Yale, though, outrebounded Florida 37-32, just the second team to get more boards than the Gators this season. … Florida 2012 guard signee Dillon Graham attended the game. … Florida forward Casey Prather (flu) was available to play, but not enter the game. Donovan said Prather would have played in an emergency situation. “He needs a couple of days to practice and get ready,” Donovan. … Junior guard Mike Rosario scored nine point off the bench, but Donovan was more pleased with his defense. “It was the first time I wasn’t frightened to death with him on defense,” Donovan said. “There was a commitment there, a focus there.”

No. 10 Gators Drop Double Overtime Heartbreaker to Rutgers, 85-83

Despite having four players score in double figures and holding the lead for most of the game, the No. 10 Florida Gators (10-3) dropped a heartbreaking double overtime contest to Rutgers (8-5), 85-83, this evening at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

For the contest, UF was led by Kenny Boynton (Pampano Beach, Fla.), who scored 20 of his 26 points after halftime. Bradley Beal (St. Louis, Mo.) chipped in 15 points and seven boards, while Erik Murphy (South Kingston, R.I.) and Patric Young (Jacksonville, Fla.) rounded out the Gators in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively.  

Murphy poured in the first eight points of the game as the Gators jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead. The lead expanded to nine at 14-5, but Rutgers fought back and eventually tied the score at 21-21. From there, the teams played back-and-forth basketball as Florida went into the half with a 34-30 lead. The UF attack in the first was led by Murphy who had 10 points and three boards. He was closely followed by Beal who had seven points, four rebounds and two blocks.

The Gators started the second half strong, quickly extending their lead to nine behind four points from Boynton and a three point play from Beal forcing the Scarlet Knights into a time out just over two minutes into the frame.  Rutgers was able to chip away at the UF advantage and eventually knot the score at 51-51 8:52 left. The tie was short-lived as Erving Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) buried a deep triple to give the Gators the lead again. After Rutgers took its first lead of the night at 55-54, UF quickly responded with five points from Boynton to regain the four point advantage. The Gators were able to push their lead to seven with 2:04 remaining but the Scarlet Knights didn’t back down and scored the final seven points of regulation to send the Gators into their second overtime game of the season.

The first overtime was a back-and-forth affair. Boynton opened the OT session with a three, but Rutgers responded with the next five points to take a two point lead before Young converted on a three point play. The Scarlet Knights regained the advantage before Young again scored on the low block. Young then knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Gators a three point lead before RU responded yet again hitting a deep three that would send the game into a second OT, 76-76.

Rutgers struck first in the second overtime but Murphy quickly responded to tie the score. RU made a pair of unanswered jumpers to extend its lead to four before Beal hit a deep three to cut the lead to one. The one point advantage was short lived as the Scarlet Knights again knocked down an off balance three to push their lead back to four. Walker cut the lead to two with a runner in the lane with 45 ticks left setting up a dramatic finish. After the Gators forced Rutgers into a shot clock violation, UF had a chance to send the game into a third OT but Walkers jumper from just inside the ark hit the back of the rim, giving Rutgers the victory.

UF women's hoops routs Samford

The Florida women's basketball team utilized steady shooting and strong play on the glass to take down Samford, 81-56, Wednesday evening in the O'Connell Center.

The Gators' 81 points were their second-highest scoring total at home this season (83 vs. Charleston Southern on Dec. 20), as Florida closed its non-conference slate with its 10th victory of the year.

Five Gators scored in double figures on, led by junior forward Jennifer George. The reigning SEC Player of the Week notched her fifth consecutive double-double, scoring 10 points and with 13 boards, as Florida dominated the rebounding battle, 43-20. The 20 total rebounds were Samford's fewest this season.

The Gators tallied 19 second-chance points thanks to 21 offensive rebounds.

 
Florida next turns its attention to SEC action, playing host to sixth-ranked Kentucky on New Year's Day in the league opener for both teams.

Gators will begin and end SEC schedule against new teams

Florida's 2012 football schedule:

Sept. 1: Bowling Green
Sept. 8: at Texas A&M
Sept. 15: at Tennessee
Sept. 22: Kentucky
Oct. 6: LSU
Oct. 13: at Vanderbilt
Oct. 20: at South Carolina
Oct. 27: Georgia (Jacksonville)
Nov. 3: Missouri
Nov. 10: Louisiana-Lafayette
Nov. 17: Jacksonville State
Nov. 24: at Florida State
The SEC Championship Game is Dec. 1 in Atlanta.

After weeks of tweaking and jumping over speed bumps, the Southeastern Conference released its 2012 football schedule Wednesday and Florida, as reported by The Sun last week, will face both of the newcomers to the league.

The Gators will travel to College Station on Sept. 8 to face Texas A&M and will play host to Missouri on Nov. 3. This is the first time since 1995 that Florida has been scheduled to open SEC play with a team other than Tennessee. In 2001, Florida’s game with Tennessee was moved to the end of the season because of terrorist attacks on 9/11.

“We’re looking forward to going to Kyle Field and looking forward to having Missouri come to Gainesville,” said Florida coach Will Muschamp.

The new schedule is not a template for future years, but instead is a one-year schedule with an emphasis on giving the new SEC teams several marquee home games, according to someone familiar with the process. The league’s athletic directors will get together at a future date to determine future schedules.

Florida’s usual open date prior to the Georgia game is being replaced with a game against South Carolina in Gainesville. Instead, Florida will have its open date prior to its home game against LSU.

The Gators will also close the regular season with three straight non-conference games against Louisiana-Lafayette, Jacksonville State and Florida State.

As reported by The Sun last week, Georgia again gets a break in the schedule this season, Alabama was scheduled to rotate onto Georgia’s schedule but the Bulldogs will again manage to dodge the top three teams in the West — Alabama, LSU and Arkansas. Georgia opens SEC play at Missouri and plays its other seven conference games against teams that went a combined 20-36 in 2011 SEC play.

 
The SEC schedule begins on Thursday, Aug. 30, when South Carolina plays at Vanderbilt. Alabama and LSU, who will meet for the national title in January, face off again on Nov. 3.

Defense looks stout on paper

JACKSONVILLE — Despite all the struggles throughout the year, including giving up almost 450 yards to Furman, the Florida defense comes out of this six-loss season actually looking pretty good. At least statistically. After shutting down FSU’s offense in the final regular-season game (95 total yards), the Gators ended the year ranked in the top 10 nationally in total defense.

But, in reality, is this a top 10 defense?

Outside linebacker Jelani Jenkins doesn’t  seem to think so. At least not yet.

“I think we have a lot of talent on defense,” Jenkins said. “I think we made a lot of mistakes throughout the season for whatever reason — jumping offsides, stupid penalties that put us in bad situations.

“From the beginning, I felt the defense had a lot of talent. I still feel that way. But we made too many mistakes. I don’t really attribute it to being young. After a few games, we were experienced. We should have been able to handle it better than we did.”

Jenkins admitted that the defense, and the team as a whole, lacked discipline this season.

“I don’t think we were too good of a disciplined football team,” he said. “Little things happened that contributed to all those losses.”

With most of the top 22 defensive players returning in 2012, Jenkins said this defense has a chance to mature into something special.
 
“I’m looking forward to (next season),” he said. “Experience is going to help us lessen the mistakes we made this season. I’m looking at this game as being the start of a new year. We’re going to try and get it started off with a bang.”

Gators Announce 2012 Schedule; Will Face Both SEC Newcomers Texas A&M and Missouri

Complete 2012 Florida Football Schedule

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – From the moment the league’s school presidents voted Texas A&M into the Southeastern Conference in September, college football fans and media have wondered how that will alter what is already considered the nation’s toughest football conference.

More questions arose when Missouri was voted into the conference in early November, increasing the SEC from 12 to 14 schools in a span of a few weeks.

The wait is over. The SEC released its 2012 football schedule on Thursday morning and the Gators will face both Texas A&M and Missouri in their inaugural seasons in the conference.

In fact, Florida will officially say “Welcome to the SEC” to the Aggies.

For the first time since 1996, the Gators will enter a season with a school other than Tennessee scheduled in their SEC opener. The 2001 Florida-Tennessee game, originally scheduled in September, was moved to later in the season due to the terrorist attacks on 9/11.

After opening the 2012 season at home against Bowling Green on Sept. 1, the Gators will travel to College Station to face the Aggies on Sept. 8 in Texas A&M’s first game as a member of the SEC. The game will open a stretch of eight consecutive SEC games for the Gators.

Gators head coach Will Muschamp is familiar with the Aggies after spending three seasons at Texas prior to becoming Florida’s head coach.

“At Kyle Field, they do a nice job there,’’ Muschamp said. “It’s a very SEC-like atmosphere as far as their support. We’ve got to have a great preseason camp and we’ve got to be ready to roll, starting with Bowling Green. You are not going to play your way into your season. You’ve got to be ready to go immediately.

“It’s a great motivation for our players over the summer.’’

Florida and Texas A&M have played twice previously, a 42-6 Florida home win in 1962 and a 37-14 Texas A&M win in the 1976 Sun Bowl.

Texas A&M is officially a member of the SEC West and Missouri will join Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and South Carolina in the SEC East.

“The SEC is the best conference in the country and I’ve got to commend what Commissioner [Mike] Slive, the SEC office, the school presidents and our president, Bernie Machen, have done by adding Texas A&M and Missouri to the league,’’ Muschamp said. “It just goes to show you how attractive this league is to everybody across the country. It’s two programs I’m familiar with from my time in the Big 12.’’

SEC athletic directors voted earlier this month to implement a 6-1-1 schedule format that allows each school to play all six division opponents annually with one permanent and one rotating non-division opponent.

LSU will remain on Florida’s schedule as the permanent SEC West opponent.

Since adding Arkansas and South Carolina in 1992, the SEC has used a 5-2-1 schedule format from 1992-2002, and a 5-1-2 format starting in 2003 through this season.

The remaining games on Florida’s schedule are at Tennessee (Sept. 15), Kentucky (Sept. 22), LSU (Oct. 6), at Vanderbilt (Oct. 13), South Carolina (Oct. 20), vs. Georgia in Jacksonville (Oct. 27), Missouri (Nov. 3), Louisiana-Lafayette (Nov. 10), Jacksonville State (Nov. 17) and at Florida State (Nov. 24).

Florida will continue to play seven home games at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium with the addition of Texas A&M and Missouri to the conference.

Missouri’s first visit to The Swamp on Nov. 3 marks the Gators’ final SEC game of the season, an earlier finish to the conference portion of the schedule than in years past. The Gators and Missouri have played only one other time – the 1965 Sugar Bowl. The game remains memorable because Florida fell behind 20-0 but rallied behind quarterback Steve Spurrier to score three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

However, the Gators went for two after each score but were unable to convert, allowing the Tigers to escape with a 20-18 win in New Orleans.

The modern-day Tigers will also provide a challenge.

“They add a totally different schematic [approach] offensively,’’ Muschamp said. “Gary Pinkel is an outstanding football coach. They are multiple formations. They are going to line up in every formation known to mankind. They do a nice job of spreading the field and making you defend the entire field. It’s a true Big 12 offense, which will be very different for our league.’’

Florida and Alabama are the only schools that will play both Texas A&M and Missouri in their inaugural SEC seasons.

The Gators have a bye week on Sept. 29, the open week coming earlier than the past two seasons when the Gators were off the week before the Georgia game. The last time Florida had two weeks off so early in the season was Tim Tebow’s senior season in 2009, when after suffering a concussion at Kentucky, the bye week allowed Tebow to return in time for a 13-3 win at LSU two weeks later.

The SEC Championship Game is scheduled Dec. 1 in Atlanta.

UF men's basketball team up to No. 10

The Florida men's basketball team moved up a spot to No. 10 in the latest Associated Press poll released Monday.

Florida (10-2) has been enjoying a holiday break and will return to action Thursday at Rutgers. The Gators return home to play Yale on Saturday.

Syracuse is No. 1 for a third straight week, making for the top seven teams remaining the same in The Associated Press' Top 25.

Women's Hoops Halts Duquesne's Streak with 62-49 Win in Gator Holiday Classic Title Game

Junior forward Jennifer George (Orlando, Fla.) posted her fourth consecutive double-double and guided Florida to a hard-fought 62-49 victory against Duquesne Wednesday evening in the championship game of the 21^st annual Gator Holiday Classic held at the O’Connell Center.

George was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Performer after scoring 15 points with 13 rebounds and becoming the first Gator to tally four straight double-doubles since Vanessa Hayden strung together five such performances midway through the 2003-04 season.

Joining George on the All-Tournament Team were teammates Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.), who scored a team-best 18 points in the title game, and sophomore guard Jaterra Bonds (Gainesville, Fla.), who scored a season-high 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting against Duquesne (10-2), which had its program-record eight-game win streak come to an end.

“I’m really proud of the way we played. Duquesne is a good team, a well-coached team and a team that is definitely a contender in the A-10,” said Gator head coach Amanda Butler. “It wasn’t the prettiest of ball games. In a sense that you always look at things and wish you would have done things better, but then you look at a win like this against a team like Duquesne and see that your best basketball is right ahead of you.

“Everyone’s minutes, when they came and how they played them, was a contributing role in the game, and they did well,” Butler said. “We threw them in the fire and they made good decisions. I don’t think the point totals showed how our players off the bench contributed. On the flipside, the starters handled putting the points up for us. This was a team win, regardless of who scored the most or who tallied the most rebounds.”

UF also used lockdown defense to secure the victory, limiting the Dukes, who entered the contest ranked 16th in the nation scoring an average of 77.3 points per game, to a mere 49 points on 32.8 percent from the field. Additionally, the Gators were able to shutout the Dukes from distance, as Duquesne went 0-for-19 from three-point arc.

Florida outmuscles visiting Florida State

If you wanted to show one play to explain how Florida easily handled Florida State on Thursday night, his was it.

Patric Young didn't just block a dunk attempt by Xavier Gibson, he ripped the ball out of the air. Then dunked on the other end.

“I'll be very disappointed if it's not on SportsCenter Top 10 plays,” Young said. “They'll probably use the whole thing. ‘Here you see Patric Young with the block and the steal, and here he is back down on the other end with the dunk.' ”

It was a spectacular play on a violent night of basketball. And Florida showed something special against the Seminoles.

You want to play tough and physical, let's go.

“We beat them up on defense,” said freshman Bradley Beal.

FSU came onto the court with the reputation of being the great defensive team. Florida left the court having out-defensed the Seminoles.

On a night when every FSU defender seemed to have three arms and one of them was always grabbing or hacking, Florida pushed back.

“The perception is they'll get pushed around or may be soft,” Billy Donovan said of his team. “I think we're a pretty tough group.”

That pretty tough group forced 19 turnovers, had 12 steals and three blocked shots. That's what Young was credited with on the play of the night, a block. It could have been a steal.

“Is it both?” he asked.

Sure, why not?

“I was kind of surprised,” he said. “I knew he was going to dunk it. The guy has an 8-foot wing span.”

Not long enough.

“I started laughing a little bit,” Beal said. “That's amazing. Not many people can do that.”

If that play epitomized the game, there were plenty of other lines that told the story of the night. Will Yeguete continues to have the kind of lines you want to see from him — four points, eight rebounds, three steals. Erving Walker made only 1-of-7 shots, but had seven assists and jump-started the Gators at the free-throw line after they missed their first seven tries.

Young didn't miss a shot from the field, sometimes scoring despite the Hack-a-Pat defense the Seminoles were using. And Beal had one of his best games with 21 points and six rebounds.

It was Beal who had the bookends on the 15-2 run in the second half that pretty much put the game away. He made a three-point play to start the run and a 3-point shot to end it.

And it is Beal who has softened the sting of the departure of graduated Chandler Parsons. With Florida undersized, Beal has to rebound and he has. On Thursday night, he had six — five of them on the defensive end.

Still, this wasn't a game about stat lines or Florida's five scorers in double figures.

It was about Florida's defense.

When you score like the Gators do, you're going to get a reputation.

That rep was destroyed Thursday night.

“That defensive intensity,” Young said. “They couldn't score in the halfcourt. They were being portrayed as the best defense in the state. We wanted to show that we're the best offensive and best defensive team in the state.”

They will get no arguments. Certainly, FSU is an offensively challenged team. Early in the game, they were throwing up so many bricks you thought they would have to replace the backboards at halftime.

Still, if you were at the O-Dome and watched a game that received an NC-17 rating because of the violence, you know how tough the Gators played against FSU.

“I thought the game was going to be about our physicality,” Donovan said.

These Gators go into the Christmas break with some bruises that hurt so good. And then there's this, the quote from FSU coach Leonard Hamilton:

“This Florida team is at least the most difficult team for us to beat, at least since I've been at Florida State.”

No. 11 Gators win third straight over Seminoles

Freshman Bradley Beal scored 21 points, leading No. 11 Florida to an 82-64 win over Florida State at the O'Connell Center.

The Gators (10-2) won their third straight against the rival Seminoles (8-4).

All five Florida starters reached double figures. Patric Young added 15 points, Kenny Boynton scored 14 points, Erik Murphy had 12 points and point guard Erving Walker had 11 points and 7 assists.

Gators get another JUCO commit

The Florida football team has landed two top-10 JUCO players in four days.

UF picked up its 18th verbal commitment of the 2012 class from defensive tackle Damien Jacobs on Wednesday. The 6-foot-4, 290-pounder is rated a four-star prospect by Rivals and No. 10 overall.

Jacobs originally signed with Florida State in 2009 out of Bourgeois High School in Gray, La., but could not qualify academically. He's spent the last two years at East Mississippi Community College in Scooba, Miss., and helped the school win a national championship this season.

Four-star defensive tackle Visesio Salt (Walnut, Calif.) committed to UF before leaving from his official visit Sunday. The 6-foot-3, 340-pounder is ranked by Rivals.com as the nation's No. 9 overall JUCO prospect and the second-best at his position.
 
Jacobs is Florida's fifth defensive line commit and the eighth early enrollee who will be on campus in January.

WBB Advances to Gator Holiday Classic Final with 83-59 Victory over Charleston Southern

The University of Florida women’s basketball team used a balanced offensive attack, which saw three players score in double figures, and stifling defense to down Charleston Southern, 83-59, Tuesday evening on the opening day of the 2011 Gator Holiday Classic.

Florida will play Duquesne in the championship game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the O’Connell Center. The Dukes (10-1) defeated Maine, 76-38, in their opening round bout.  The Bears and Buccaneers will play the consolation game beginning at 4:30 p.m.

 “I’m really pleased with this win, in particular, the second half, as well as the first part of the second half,” Gator head coach Amanda Butler said. “We had some defensive lapses and some moments when we didn’t lock up and play the type of defense we’ve been practicing. I also thought that we did a good job of coming back and making adjustments and applying those adjustments and regaining control of the tempo. I thought that was a factor for us.”

Florida (8-3) led wire-to-wire, but it wasn’t as easy early in the contest as the final 24-point margin might indicate. The Gators held a 42-34 halftime lead against the Buccaneers (6-4), who came out strong in the second period, cutting UF’s lead in half just over four minutes into the frame.

After CSU closed within four points, 50-46, with 15:42 remaining, the Gators kept their composure and ripped off 16 straight points over the next 8:47of the game and built their lead to 66-46 with 7:09 left on the clock.

The game-changing run was keyed by lockdown defense and ignited by a pair of layups from senior guard Deana Allen (Houma, La.) and a trio of jumpers from redshirt-senior forward Ndidi Madu (Antioch, Tenn.).

The Gator defense starred in the second half, when UF limited the Buccaneers to 36.5 percent shooting for the final 20 minutes, including a stretch of 9:46 where CSU was held without a field goal and the visitors committed 10 turnovers.

For the contest, UF was led by a trio of players who scored in double figures, as senior guard Jordan Jones (Suwanee, Ga.) scored 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting and added three assists along with three steals. Junior forward Jennifer George (Orlando, Fla.) scored all 19 of her points in the first half on 9-of-9 shooting, before collecting six more rebounds in the second to post her third consecutive double-double with 10 boards to headline Florida’s 43-33 rebounding advantage.

Sophomore guard Brittany Shine (Sacramento, Calif.) scored a season-high 14 points to lead Florida’s bench brigade.

“Obviously (Jennifer) George got us out of the gates quickly,” Butler said. “One of the most impressive stats looking at the stat sheet was our bench out-scoring their bench, 30-4. We expect to go deep into our bench and get production. It was a good win against a good team.”

The Gators jumped out to an early 17-6 advantage less than seven minutes into the game behind a quick 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting from George. Florida was able to push its lead to 12 as Jones poured in a trio of threes. The Buccaneers fought back and were able to cut the UF lead to eight entering the halftime break. In the first half, George was a perfect nine-for-nine from the field and one-of-one from the line for 19 points. Jones added 14 of her own in the first to give the Gators a 42-34 advantage heading into the locker room.

Florida dished a season-high 22 assists on its 31 field goals, paced by sophomore Jaterra Bond (Gainesville, Fla.), who provided a career-best nine.

Gators Pick Up Where They Left Off in Rout of Mississippi Valley State

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Mississippi Valley State should add a couple items to its basketball team’s official team uniform.

Blindfolds and cigarettes.

The school from itty-bitty Itta Bena, Miss., certainly could afford them after hauling in upwards of $1 million in guarantees to play a murderer’s row of non-conference road games the first five weeks of the season at -- get this -- Notre Dame, DePaul, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Northwestern, Mississippi and, Monday night, at Florida.

The Delta Devils should have started the game by covering up, lighting up and lining up along an O’Connell Center wall.

The Gators hit their first eight shots from the floor, led by as many as 20 less than seven minutes into the game and rolled to an 82-54 blowout of sacrificial-lamb MSU before an O’Dome crowd of 8,025.

Senior point guard Erving Walker scored 19 points and junior backcourtmate Kenny Boynton added 16 to go with four rebounds and four assists, as Florida (9-2) picked up where it left off in Saturday’s high-energy route of No. 22 Texas A&M in the Orange Bowl Classic at Sunrise, Fla.

Speaking of the OBC, it was 364 days ago that UF returned from a rousing defeat of No. 6 Kansas State in that very event only to lay a Christmas tree-sized egg in a home loss against Jacksonville that made for some nasty mood heading into the holidays. 

“It was almost an identical situation,” Coach Billy Donovan said.

And he reminded his players about it.

“Everybody was comparing it to last year,” said freshman swingman Bradley Beal, who had 13 points, six rebounds and went 3-for-4 from the 3-point line to lead a 10-for-21 UF barrage from distance. “Coach Donovan said he was tired of hearing about it, so we just came out with the mentality of taking care of business and trying to get that stuff out of the way.”

Taking a 26-point first-half lead on 61-percent shooting was a pretty good start. The Gators did damage everywhere, getting the ball inside to center Patric Young for two jump hooks to start the game and immediately establish the post. Boynton buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key and also had a steal and coast-to-coast layup, followed immediately by another transition basket that Erik Murphy (11 points, 8 rebounds) finished with a dunk. All of that was inside the first four minutes.

UF led by as many as 39 in the second half, and with junior guard Mike Rosario (strained back) and freshman forward Cody Larson (strep throat) unable to play, both Walter Pitchford and even walk-on Jacob Kurtz got in the mix. And scored.

More good news: UF shot 20-for-24 (83.3 percent) from the free-throw line. Added to Saturday’s 23-for-30 performance against A&M that makes 79.6 percent over two games, a far cry from the 59.1 they were hitting through eight games.

Avoiding the post-OBC letdown against a severely outmanned team, though, was an encouraging sign, especially sandwiched with a big matchup against rival Florida State looming Thursday night.

“I thought they showed a level of maturity,” Donovan said.

MSVU, the alma mater of Jerry Rice, may have played in a roll in that, also. The Delta Devils, though, could have had five Jerry Rices on the floor and still not made a dent.

“All I ask my kids to do is fight and continue to get better because it’s almost a no-win situation,” MSVU coach Sean Woods said. “The No. 1 team in the country couldn’t handle this schedule and go out unscathed.”

Mississippi Valley State came in ranked 297th in field-goal percentage, 291st in rebounding and 264th in assists. The closest the Delta Devils will get to No. 1 is playing it -- which they already did in facing then-top-ranked North Carolina last month.

“I don’t know, man,” Boynton said. “I guess it’ll help ‘em when they get to their [Southwest Conference] schedule.”

If they live to see.

UF men's basketball at No. 11

Florida moved up two spots to No. 11 in the latest Associated Press men's college basketball poll released Monday.

UF (8-2), which was ranked No. 13, hosts Mississippi Valley State (1-8) at 7 tonight.

Syracuse is on top of poll for a second week and UNLV and Virginia are newcomers to the Top 25.

The Orange (11-0) received 53 first-place votes Monday from the 64-member national media panel. The next six places remained the same from last week: Ohio State, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, Baylor and Duke. Ohio State had five first-place votes, while Kentucky had four and Louisville two.

Connecticut, Missouri and Marquette all move up one place to round out the top 10.

Gators Ranked No. 1 in Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

On the heels of a runner-up performance at the 2011 NCAA College World Series, the University of Florida was ranked first in Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 40 NCAA Division I Preseason Poll released on Monday. It marks the first time in school history that the Gators have occupied the top spot during the preseason in the nation’s oldest college baseball poll, which began in 1958. It was also announced that Florida established a record with seven Louisville Slugger preseason All-Americans (Nolan Fontana, Brian Johnson, Austin Maddox, Hudson Randall, Preston Tucker, Karsten Whitson and Mike Zunino).

UF headlines the publication's top five, followed by South Carolina, Stanford, North Carolina and Texas. Fifth-year head coach Kevin O’Sullivan’s club will begin the 2012 campaign on Feb. 17 at McKethan Stadium, when No. 21 Cal State Fullerton visits for the opener of a three-game series.

Last season, the Gators were 53-19, finished second at the CWS for the second time and established a school record for victories. Florida made the trip to Omaha in consecutive seasons for the first time and reached the CWS for the seventh time in school history (1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2005, 2010, 2011).

With a 22-8 performance in the SEC that matched South Carolina and Vanderbilt for the top spot, the Gators blanked the Commodores, 5-0, to capture the 2011 SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. It was the first time in 20 years that Florida won the league’s tourney and was its sixth title (1981, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1991, 2011). The triumph also represented the first time since 1988 that the Orange and Blue had won the SEC and SEC Tourney in the same season. O’Sullivan’s club reached the 40-win plateau for the 20th time in school history and the school-record 53 wins marked the third time that the program exceeded 50 wins (also in 1991 & 1996).

The Gators return a solid nucleus that includes 2011 SEC Player of the Year catcher Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.), 2011 Perfect Game Freshman Pitcher of the Year right-hander Karsten Whitson (Chipley, Fla.), as well as All-SEC selections shortstop Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.), left-hander/first baseman Brian Johnson (Cocoa Beach, Fla.), right-hander Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) and outfielder Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.), 2011 SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player outfielder Daniel Pigott (Ormond Beach, Fla.), 2011 College World Series All-Tournament Team selection third baseman Cody Dent (Boynton Beach, Fla.), catcher/infielder/right-hander Austin Maddox (Jacksonville, Fla.), left-hander Steven Rodriguez (Miami, Fla.) and 2011 SEC All-Freshman Team third baseman Zack Powers (Seffner, Fla.). O’Sullivan also welcomes his fourth-straight top-10 incoming class.

Offensively last season, Florida hit .307 with 143 doubles and 69 homers last season and the squad averaged 6.3 runs per game. According to the final 2011 national NCAA statistics, UF ranked No. 1 in hits by its offense (755), No. 5 in doubles and No. 5 in homers. The pitching staff ranked No. 1 in the nation in walks allowed per nine innings at 1.82, compiled a 2.95 team earned run average and had more than a 4:1 strikeout to walk ratio (547 strikeouts and 130 walks).

The Gators join several other SEC programs in the poll, as 11 teams are either ranked (two-time defending national champion South Carolina, 2nd; Arkansas, 8th; LSU, 12th; Georgia, 18th; Vanderbilt, 23th) or received votes (Mississippi State, Auburn, Ole Miss, Kentucky, Tennessee).

The contest with the Titans begins the 34-game home schedule at McKethan Stadium, where the Gators were 34-7 (.829) last year and boast a 124-26 (.827) mark in O’Sullivan’s tenure. Twenty-six of UF's 56 games during the regular season will be against squads listed in the Collegiate Baseball poll.

2012 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Division I Preseason Poll

Rank	School (’11 Final Record)	Points
1.	FLORIDA (53-19)	497
2.	South Carolina (55-14)	494
3.	Stanford (35-22)	490
4.	North Carolina (51-16)	488
5.	Texas (49-19)	485
6.	Texas A&M (47-22)	484
7.	Rice (42-21)	482
8.	Arkansas (40-22)	479
9.	Georgia Tech (42-21)	476
10.	TCU (43-19)	474
11.	St. John’s (36-22)	470
12.	LSU (36-20)	468
13.	Florida State (46-19)	465
14.	Miami (Fla.) (38-23)	464
15.	Louisville (32-29)	460
16.	Oklahoma (41-19)	458
17.	Arizona State (43-18)	457
18.	Georgia (33-32)	455
19.	UCLA (35-24)	454
20.	Arizona (39-21)	452
21.	Cal State Fullerton (41-17)	449
22.	California (38-23)	447
23.	Vanderbilt (54-12)	445
24.	Oregon State (41-19)	443
25.	Clemson (43-20)	437
26.	Stetson (43-20)	435
27.	Oregon (33-26-1)	432
28.	Baylor (31-28)	430
29.	UC Irvine (43-18)	425
30.	Southern Miss (39-19)	422
31.	Missouri State (33-23)	419
32.	College of Charleston (39-22)	417
33.	Virginia (56-12)	413
34.	Georgia Southern (36-26)	412
35.	Texas State (41-23)	408
36.	UCF (39-23)	406
37.	Wichita State (39-26)	403
38.	Jacksonville (37-24)	400
39.	FIU (40-20-1)	397
40.	Southern California (25-31)	395