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.”
