Gators Nut Up, Defeat Tennessee 75-62
by mlmintampa on Feb 23, 2010 11:29 PM EST
in Florida Basketball
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PrintWith SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and a member of the NCAA selection committee in the building, the Gators did something they have not done in the previous two seasons; win a meaningful late season game. Florida's 75-62 victory over Tennessee gives the Gators a huge push towards the tournament with three games remaining.
The Gators (20-8, 9-4 SEC) did everything needed to win; outrebound, score in the paint and play very good defense. Tennessee (20-7, 8-5) fought off an early Gator surge with their own, but UF tied it at the half. UT had a 44-43 lead with 14:33 left in the second half when Billy Donovan called a timeout. Following that, the Gators went on a 21-4 run over the next ten minutes to bury the Vols.
Once again, Chandler Parsons would not be denied, as he scored 19 points on 8-12 shooting with eight rebounds. Erving Walker also had 19, with three backbreaking 3-pointers. Vernon Macklin had his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Kenny Boynton had 12 points but six turnovers. Alex Tyus was the only Gator starter in single digits with eight points and eight rebounds. Erik Murphy, the Poor Man's David Lee, had four points and two rebounds in only nine minutes.
Tuesday might have been Florida's best defensive performance as they attacked the hobbled Wayne Chism (seven points) and forced Stephen Pearl (two points) to get significant minutes. Scotty Hopson was on fire from the arc, scoring 20 points and 4-8 3-point shooting. But only Cameron Tatum (13 points) and Bobby Maze (11 points) followed with double figures.
Florida will now have to avoid a let down when they go to Georgia (4-8, 12-13) on Saturday.
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Nice win!
So I know I ripped the hell out of the Gators after losing to Xavier, and also promised to not watch them again until they make it to the NCAA tournament, but I broke down and watched them today, and it was a great surprise.
Way to nut up, Gators. You boys still haven’t totally convinced me you are for real (take care of business on the road against UGA and maybe that will change). The boys down low did a nice job, the backcourt finally made some timely shots, and the Gators finally showed on national TV (the only time this Wisconsinite gets to see them) that they wanted to win.
I will gladly eat crow on my original prediction that they won’t make the tournament. This was a huge win, but now they need to keep up the intensity and finish strong.
Damn, I hate SBNation’s no-edit policy on fanshot comments, but I forgot to include this most important statement: GO GATORS!
by KegelExercise on Feb 24, 2010 12:55 AM EST up reply actions
Best game for the Gators
I made a prediction during the Mich. State game, that if we won the MSU game we’d go to the Big Dance, I think my prediction is coming true.
"HULU: An evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy"
Driver of the "Cut Reggie Nelson" Bandwagon.
Winner of the 2010 Chad Pennington Award
Huge Win
I am really starting to like this team….even though he is still terrible, Werner has really contributed the last 2 games, both Gator victories. I am fine with Dandy Dan taking 3 shots (all misses) so long as he limits idiot turnovers and grabs meaningful rebounds and dishes a few asists (all of which he did).
Last night, it was suggested on air that if the Gators could sign a top flight point guard, that they would be a Top 10 team next season. That might be a little aggressive, but I would like to see that theory tested.
I’m really looking forward to heading up to Athens Saturday….
Walker does need to work on his passing game. But having such speedy guards in walker and boynton is one rare advantage that we do have over top NCAA teams, I"ll even go out and say our guards are faster than Kentuckys. They just have some key issues to work on for next season. A new PG will be great for the bench though, wich we seriously lack.
"When you argue correctly, you're never wrong."-Nick Naylor
*They are typos, get over it*
by Hook85 on Feb 24, 2010 2:36 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Oh yeah - almost forgot
WTF was up with the non-existent home crowd last night?!?! It looked like the 3rd level was nearly empty. The student section seemeed loud as ever, but geez – this team has surely earned some home court support.
two things,
One: the reason that the stands were empty, is because they thought we would lose to them again, and they don’t want to witness that again.
Two:FINALLY WE BEAT TENNESSEE IN BASKETBALL!
Not a good reason for the stands to be empty
When I was in school, we had a very difficult time beating FSU in football. However, we still set stadium attendance records when we played them at home.
Having an intimidating crowd can help the team win – especially in basketball.
No more excuses
Get in behind those gator roundballers! It has not been that long since we had back-to-back championships. How many teams across this country can say that? Go Gators! Whoop them Dawgs! All they gotta do is take it like Johnny Cash’s Cadillac, one piece at a time.
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