GAINESVILLE,
Fla. -- Statistically, they’re the deadliest three-point shooting team in the
Southeastern Conference and one of the best at bombing the long ball in the
country.
The
Florida Gators, though, have struggled from the arc since SEC play commenced
four games ago and did again Saturday at the O’Connell. For the third time in
those four conference outings, only one of every three three-pointers found the
mark in UF’s 76-64 victory over LSU before a crowd of 12,198.
For now,
the 17th-ranked Gators (15-4, 3-1 SEC) will embrace the positives of beating a
third straight SEC foe -- and winning a 16th straight home game -- without
their best stuff from long distance.
“We can
do a lot of different things,” junior forward Erik Murphy said after leading five
UF players into double-figures with 15 points. “We have a lot of options on a
nightly basis. If someone is off, someone else will fill in. Everybody on our
team can score.”
Against
the Tigers (12-7, 2-3), it was Murphy hitting six of his seven field-goal
attempts and going 3-for-4 from the arc. Senior point guard Erving Walker threw
in 12 points and backcourt mates Kenny Boynton, Bradley Beal and reserve Mark
Rosario each had 11 points. Patric Young, hampered the last two weeks with an
ankle sprain came off the bench to score eight (hitting all three field-goal
tries) and grabbing eight rebounds.
But
Boynton and Walker, averaging a combined six treys per game this season, were a
collective 1-for-10 from 3-point range and the Gators were just 7-for-21.
Boynton had a streak of 34 straight games with at least one three-pointer
halted.
Inside
the 3-point line, however, Florida was 20-for-27.
“We were
pretty efficient,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “I thought we had pretty good
looks from 3-point line, but didn’t shoot the ball well as we have in the
past.”
That
didn’t stop the Gators from hitting a season-high 56.3 percent for the game,
despite just 11 assists on 27 field goals.
