The talk heading into Florida’s critical Southeastern Conference
showdown with Alabama was the Gators getting back to full strength.
But
with Will Yeguete and Michael Frazier II still limited in effectiveness
coming off injuries, the teetering Gators needed someone else to step
up Saturday.
Florida junior Casey Prather provided that lift in
crunch time. Behind 10 points and nine rebounds off the bench from the
6-foot-6 forward, the No. 8 Gators rallied from down eight points in the
second half to beat Alabama 64-52 before a crowd of 11,624 at the
O’Connell Center.
Florida (23-5, 13-3 SEC) clinched a share of the
conference title and moved a step closer to its fourth outright
regular-season league title in school history. The Gators can clinch
that title with a win against Vanderbilt on Wednesday.
“We want to
win the championship and we want to be the only ones holding that
trophy by ourselves,” Florida junior center Patric Young said.
But
for 28 minutes, Florida didn’t seem urgent about seizing the moment. Up
just 29-26 at halftime, the Gators floundered early in the second half,
falling behind 45-37 during a stretch that included ill-advised shots
and passes that wound up in the first row of the bleachers.
“We
were beating ourselves,” Florida senior guard Kenny Boynton said. “Not
rebounding and crazy turnovers. We just had to settle down, get stops
and basically finish on offense.”
But momentum changed when
Prather stepped on the floor. From out of control, the Gators
transformed into a team in control. From a team that couldn’t control
the glass, the Gators transformed to a team that limited the Tide to
just one shot.
The Gators went on a 19-2 run, with Prather scoring eight points during the flurry.
“He
was the only guy to me that had a level of energy,” Florida coach Billy
Donovan said. “Our team picked it up with about eight minutes to go,
but in terms of even in the first half and the second half, he had good
energy.”
Subbing in Prather for 6-foot-3 guard Mike Rosario,
Florida went bigger across the frontline to match Alabama’s physical
front. Alabama still managed more second-chance points than the Gators
(14-12), but Florida outrebounded Alabama 33-31.
Still wearing a
bandage over his left eye after taking a gash to the forehead against
Tennessee, Prather mixed it up inside against Alabama’s frontcourt.
“Coach just let me play,” Prather said. “I was just trying to be aggressive and help the team any way I could.”
Yeguete
and Frazier couldn’t provide the same spark. Frazier, battling back
spasms in practice, missed a pair of free throws in the first half and
had no points and one turnover in six minutes. In 11 minutes off the
bench, Yeguete had just one rebound and one turnover.
“He hasn’t
been out there, so getting back into the flow of the game is going to be
a little tough,” Young said. “Hopefully we can have him back at 100
percent soon.”
Erik Murphy led four Florida scorers in double
figures with 15 points. Boynton added 13 points, and Scottie Wilbekin
had 11. But Donovan was upset with Florida’s lack of ball movement. The
Gators finished with seven assists to 10 turnovers.
“We are not a
good team unless you start to see our basketball team between 17 and 24
assists,” Donovan said. “We don’t have players who can make plays on
their own. They are not capable of doing that. They need to rely on and
utilize each other.”
It didn’t help that the Gators suffered
another off shooting day. Florida was just 2 of 13 from 3-point range, a
season-low 15.4 percent. Coming off a 4-for-17 3-point shooting game
against Tennessee, the Gators are just 6 of their last 30 from beyond
the arc.
But the Gators made up for their lack of perimeter
production by pounding the ball inside and drawing fouls. Florida went
to the free-throw line 26 times, making 22. The Gators were a perfect 13
of 13 from the line in the second half.
“We did a great job
attacking the rim as a team,” Boynton said. “Post touches, throwing it
in to Pat and Murph, they did well finishing in the second half. It
wasn’t our best shooting night, but we got fast breaks and finished free
throws.”
Alabama (19-10, 11-5 SEC) was done in by another long
scoring drought. From the 12-minute to 3-minute mark of the second half,
the Crimson Tide scored just two points. Wilbekin did a good job
defensively on Trevor Releford, holding the Alabama junior point guard
to 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Releford had been averaging 24.8
points over his previous three games.
The loss dropped Alabama
coach Anthony Grant to 0-5 against his mentor. Grant worked 12 seasons
as an assistant under Donovan (1994-2006) at Marshall and UF.
“It’s
always going to be a 40-minute game,” Grant said. “We wanted to stay
the course, not play too fast or too slow, and that helped us to get the
lead. But a team as good as Florida will know how to respond to that.”
NOTES:
With 13 points, Boynton passed Andrew Moten (1,930 points) for second
on UF's all-time scoring list. Boynton is at 1,940 points, still 150 shy
of school record-holder Ronnie Williams (2,090 points). … Former Gator
point guard Jason Williams and former UF forward Chris Richard sat
courtside during the game. … The Gators improved to 14-0 at home this
season, and can finish the season unbeaten at home with a win Wednesday
against Vanderbilt.
