Gators Survive South Carolina

by mlmintampa on Feb 4, 2009 12:11 AM EST in Florida Basketball

My dog started barking following the game and I was shocked to find Devan Downey shooting jumpers in my driveway. He was aiming in the general direction of Gainesville, about 120 miles away. He was draining them, even with me and the puppy jumping in front of him.

Tonight's 97-93 win by the Gators (19-4, 6-2) over South Carolina (16-5, 5-3) almost ended that way, even with the stellar two-way play of Erving Walker. Downey's 33 points almost sank UF on a night when defense was no where to be found. Six Gators in double figures, including 18 by Walker, prevented the Gamecocks sweeping the series. Walker had a very efficient line; 4-8 from the field, 7-8 at the line, 4 assists and 1 turnover. With the freshman on the floor, it freed up Nick Calathes (22 pts) and Chandler Parsons (14 pts, 10 reb) to just worry about getting open. And the pace of the game made Alex Tyus (19 pts, 7 reb) seem like a world beater, although we saw flashes of greatness which have been lacking from the sophomore. Had South Carolina shot better at the line (they were 10-22), this would be a different story.

Halfway through SEC play, the Gators are all alone in first place in the SEC East. The question is now; where do they finish?

Poll

The Gators will finish...

1st in the SEC East

15 votes

2nd in the SEC East

18 votes

3rd in the SEC East

7 votes

4th, 5th or 6th in the SEC East

3 votes

43 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Let’s be careful with the ‘if’ game, gentlemen – if UF had shot better at the line at Columbia, we likely would have won there. If UF had played better defence in the last five seconds, ditto. If Downey hadn’t been white-hot from the arc tonight, it wouldn’t have mattered how well USC shot at the line. If Calathes hadn’t been in foul trouble early, maybe we wouldn’t have gotten blown off the court against UT. Get a few more of those, and hey – suddenly we’re undefeated and #1. Or you can get a run going the other way, and abruptly we’re looking up at Georgia and dreaming of our glory days in the NIT. That’s the way it goes when the top half of the league is as tightly bunched as it is right now… there are going to be a lot of close games, and a lot of fans going away thinking ‘if only.’

by peachy rex on Feb 4, 2009 12:30 AM EST reply actions

We're A Stud Center Short.

After watching the Gators for a few games, I’ve come to feel comfortable with four of our players. I like Calathes and Walker as the guards, as well as Parsons and Tyus. Unfortunately, our lack of a solid big man in the middle is forcing Chandler and Alex to play out of position. I never thought I’d wish Speights had stayed in Gainesville, but we could we really use right about now…

by ejruiz on Feb 4, 2009 6:45 AM EST reply actions

Why can't I get excited about this team?

The record is good – we’re in first place, etc….yet, I just can’t help feeling that either the collapse is coming, or we make the NCAA by the skin of our teeth and get blown out by a mid-major in the first round. I don’t know why I am so negative here.

If our lack of a big man is forcing Chandler to play out of position – wouldn’t that mean that he is being asked to play bigger than he is? If that is the case, why does he so often look like a 2 guard camped out beyond the arc. I hate him shooting 3s. He’s not very good at it and it leaves absolutely nobody to rebound his misses. I want him cleaning up underneath. The only 3 guys I want taking 3s are Calathes, Walker and Hodge.

I was so hopeful coming into this season that Vargas and Kadji would be out big men of the future. I like Kadji a lot. He definitely looks like a freshman out there, but I believe he’ll be good in a year or two. Where is Vargas? Is he a total bust? He was our top recruit according to Rivals.com. I would love to see him out there.

by skigator93 on Feb 4, 2009 10:05 AM EST reply actions

Well, there’s a lot of negativity going around right now, so you aren’t alone. I’m not partaking in it too much, perhaps because I’m already a pessimist by nature. :) We’ve been a middling seed before, and we’ll be one again… these things happen to everyone except maybe Duke.

I agree with the notion that our key weakness is the lack of a first-rate big man. Tyus and Werner are both competent players, but neither is a star – or likely to become one – and they’re both (possibly undersized) power forwards. Kadji has developed nicely so far, but yeah, he hasn’t been that one freshman in a hundred who plays like a vet right away. (Vargas suffered a pretty serious injury – in preseason, I think – and missed most of the non-con; my guess is that Donovan doesn’t want to throw a guy with no seasoning right into the SEC inferno.) In short, we look like the Haslem and Lee teams – one or two hustling but not spectacular big guys trying to do the work of three inside while everyone else bombs away from downtown. If the perimeter shots are falling, and the defence is pressing, and fresh athletic bodies are flying around the floor, the system can get the job done perfectly well… but it doesn’t have much margin for error. There’s certainly no ‘throw the ball inside to Horford/Noah/Richards’ button to push with this team.

As for Parsons – I don’t think he’s being played out of position, I just think he has Matt Walsh Syndrome… he would rather hang out at the arc and launch threes than develop an inside game. If he shot better than 30% from outside, or we had more big guys, that would be tolerable enough. But he doesn’t, and we don’t, so it really isn’t. Brewer is a great example of a tall, skinny SF who liked to shoot the 3, but brought lots of other skills to the table even when the threes weren’t falling. Parsons doesn’t have that versatility.

by peachy rex on Feb 4, 2009 11:00 AM EST up reply actions

Great points

That sort of sums up our team in a nutshell. I also really don’t like Tyus- he played well last night, but there are too many games where he just appears to get manhandled. I know he isn’t really a center, but I hate seeing the ball ripped from his hands, seeing him go up and just slap the ball up into the air instead of grabbing a rebound, and shooting weak layups that get swatted instead of dunking (last night he appeared to correct that problem). I hope he comes around, but I still think he looks more like a decent 6th man ala Chris Richard. Warner? he is what he always was – short on talent, but a hustler, so I can tolerate that.

by skigator93 on Feb 4, 2009 11:19 AM EST reply actions

Come on guys.

We’ll be fine. If we start collapsing, expect Calathes to start slamming the ball into his teammates’ faces. He seems like the type that won’t take losing easily – Tebow like. Let’s hope he can carry the team when needed.

For those children who claimed they’ve been a fan of their favorite team all their life, or even since they were about four or five years old: bullshit. There’s always that certain event or certain player that draws to the sport and draws you to a team. For me, Nomar Garciaparra was that reason. - Nick Coviello: I Try To See Rocco, But All I Think Is Nomar; 1/9/09

by bdalebs on Feb 4, 2009 8:07 PM EST reply actions

Oh, and ESPNU's broadcast last night:

How much did they save by firing someone and finding a few random students to help? And what was with the lack of text lingo knowledge? The UF kid claimed to have 1-upped the LOL by creating the ROTFL. Not only did Stone take forever to get the acronym, but the kid stole credit for something and screwed it up, too – it’s ROFL. And they couldn’t think of the next step up. Because, you know, they can’t steal credit for LMAO.

by bdalebs on Feb 4, 2009 8:26 PM EST reply actions