GAINESVILLE — Erving Walker bounced back from his worst performance of the season with his best game.
Walker led No. 13 Florida to a 79-61 win over Alabama-Birmingham at the O'Connell Center on Tuesday night with 23 points, including a career-high seven three-pointers. Three days earlier, in a blowout of Yale, Walker scored just three points and looked disoriented.
"The thing I'm most pleased with tonight, more than anything, is that Erving Walker can take four shots last game and not really be in the flow of the game, then come back in this game and score 23 points," coach Billy Donovan said.
Walker had 23 points in his previous three games combined and had not scored 20 in a game since Nov. 28. He made 8 of 12 shots Tuesday, including 7 of 9 threes, and added six assists.
"When you get rolling like that, you feel like pretty much anything you throw up is going to go in," Walker said. "That's how it was tonight."
Florida (12-3) is finished with its non-conference schedule and moves on to SEC play this weekend. The Gators open at Tennessee on Saturday, then are home against Georgia on Tuesday.
During the early part of the season, the Gators beat Texas A&M and Arizona and lost close games at Ohio State, Syracuse and Rutgers.
"You look at the 15 games you've played and do you feel like your team is ready to play in the league? I think we are," Donovan said. "Our non-conference schedule has been difficult, has been challenging. I feel good about going into Knoxville from the standpoint of we've played at some difficult venues and I think our guys understand what it's like."
Florida started slowly against UAB (5-8), making just seven of its first 17 shots, and trailed 16-15 midway through the first half. The Gators then hit seven of their next 10 to pull away on a 16-8 run.
They pushed their lead to 37-26 at halftime and were ahead by at least nine points the entire second half.
The defense was steady throughout. The Gators held UAB to 36.4 percent shooting from the field, making it the fifth time they have held an opponent below 40 percent this year.
Kenny Boynton continued his hot streak by hitting six three-pointers and scoring 20 points. He has 72 points in his past three games and is averaging 19.5 this season.
Patric Young had 10 points in the first half and finished with 15, along with seven rebounds. Will Yeguete gave Florida four points and 11 rebounds off the bench.
Freshman Brad Beal has been one of the Gators' leading scorers, but struggled Tuesday. He shot 2 for 15 and scored five points, his lowest total this season.
"Brad Beal goes 2 for 15 and scores whatever it is and we basically score 80," Donovan said. "We're going to score points provided they play the right way. Tonight it happened to be Erving walker and Kenny Boynton. It could be different guys on different nights."
