GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida coach Billy Donovan has pinpointed the cause of his team's early season struggles and its recent surge.
Both have everything to do with chemistry.
The 12th-ranked Gators lacked on-court cohesiveness in November and December, but have since figured it out. It's a big reason Florida won eight of its last nine games, clinched the Southeastern Conference championship for the fifth time in school history, and earned a No. 1 seed and first-round bye in this week's SEC tournament.
It also should make the Gators (24-6, 13-3), who will face Tennessee or Arkansas in the second round Friday, a threat in the NCAA bracket.
"The hardest thing for a coach to create is chemistry," said Donovan, who found the ultimate formula when Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, Al Horford and Joakim Noah carried the team to consecutive championships in 2006 and 2007. "We all want it, and you try to do the best you can to try to build it.
"But in order for there to be chemistry, the guys on the team have to be willing to sacrifice and give something up to enhance the chemistry. Sometimes you're dealing with young guys, maturity-wise, that don't understand a lot of time how to do that."
The Gators certainly had their problems earlier this season.
Point guard Erving Walker, generously listed at 5 feet, 8 inches, drove into the lane with few, if any, options. Power forward Alex Tyus took long-range shots, even some 3-pointers, despite off-the-mark results. Teammates seemingly forgot to run the offense through center Vernon Macklin, whose high-percentage shots inside often create open looks outside.
Throw in poor 3-point shooting and a slew of missed free throws, and the Gators were ripe to be beaten. They were, too.
Central Florida and Jacksonville, in-state rivals Florida has handled with relative ease in recent years, upset the Gators in December.
"Those games were definitely lows for us," Walker said. "Not to take anything away from those two teams, but, yeah, Florida, we expect to win those type of games. And we let them get away."
The results baffled players, coaches and fans.
"They were all frustrated," Donovan said. "We played better last year, for really the majority of the season, than we did in November and December, in my opinion. Nobody, individually, was playing at the level that they did the year before."
Donovan believes the problems stemmed from having five returning starters who were wanting bigger roles and trying to do more. Maybe too much more.
"We weren't utilizing each other and we didn't have good balance," Donovan said. "We didn't have good chemistry on the floor. Not personality-wise, just playing chemistry. A lot of it has to do when you have older guys, returning guys, they all want more than they had the year before, which is normal. Sometimes wanting more than you have the year before, actually everybody gets less."
The losses may have been beneficial, at least in the long run.
The Gators dropped from the polls and endured their share of criticism, but they also embraced ways to get things turned around.
"Those losses made us tougher and closer," forward Chandler Parsons said.
Walker, who had 42 turnovers in the first 14 games, has 31 in the last 16. Tyus, who took five 3-pointers in the first 12 games, hasn't taken one since and has improved his rebounding.
Nowadays, Florida's offense consistently runs through Macklin, who ranks second in the SEC in field-goal percentage. Macklin had just eight assists in the first 18 games, but has 14 in the last 12 games. Not coincidentally, Parsons and Kenny Boynton are getting better looks and making more shots.
The freshmen, meanwhile -- Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin, Will Yeguete and Casey Prather -- have settled into contributing roles.
"We've gotten more connected as it's gone on," Donovan said. "They might not always play well, but we're not a team that's divided or there's personality conflicts or this guy doesn't like that guy. We don't have that. We've got great guys that understand the importance of us being a team."
