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.
