Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI, SFR
Begin forwarded message:
From: Shane Ford <goufgators@bellsouth.net>
Date: November 6, 2015 at 6:19:40 AM CST
To: GatorNews <gatornews@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [gatornews] [SUN]: Gators show balance scoring in exhibition basketball win
Reply-To: gatornews+owners@googlegroups.com
--Gators show balance scoring in exhibition basketball win
First-year Florida coach Michael White watches the action on the court Thursday at the O'Connell Center. The Gators beat the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish 89-42.
Andres Leiva/CorrespondantPublished: Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 9:12 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, November 5, 2015 at 9:12 p.m.
Florida coach Mike White peered down the stat sheet shortly after his team's 89-42 exhibition win Thursday over Palm Beach Atlantic and one number stood out.
"Twenty-three turnovers," White said. "That's scary."
The Gators turned the ball over 23 times, including 16 in the half, but forced 30 turnovers in the frenetic-paced win. Five Florida players scored in double figures, led by 12 points apiece from senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith, sophomore forward Devin Robinson and freshman guard KeVaughn Allen. Sophomore center John Egbunu had 11 points and six rebounds while sophomore guard Chris Chiozza had 11 points and seven assists.
On the plus side, White said he was pleased with the energy level the Gators played with against a Division II opponent. Florida won its 25th straight exhibition game, dating back to 2002.
The fast pace that Florida played with had its desired effect. Florida wore down Palm Beach Atlantic, outscoring the Sailfish 50-21 in the second half.
"A big fear is that you come out and kind of go through the motions at times and in these type of opportunities," White said. "I thought they played with a lot of maturity in that regard. They were flying around the court. They played with a lot of intensity. I thought that the press and the pressure were big factors in the game."
But turnovers were a big concern following the game, even for Gator players.
"If we turn the ball over like that against a Division I team," junior point guard Kasey Hill said, "we'd lose by 20 points."
The Gators outscored undersized Palm Beach Atlantic 40-20 in the paint and 30-16 on turnovers. Going with a starting lineup of Egbunu at center, Finney-Smith at power forward, DeVon Walker at small forward, Hill at point guard and Allen at shooting guard, the Gators jumped to a quick 9-2 lead.
White shuttled players in and out throughout the game, using 16 different players in all. But in the first half, senior forward Alex Murphy went down with a right foot injury on a drive and did not return. Murphy had to be helped off the court and will have an MRI done Friday to assess the extent of the injury.
The Gators led 39-21 at halftime, with Allen scoring 10 of the points.
"I felt he could have even been more aggressive," White said.
White said he felt the turnovers could have been jitters in playing in front a crowd for the first time.
"But some of it is decision making, not coming to a jump stop and a guy gets in front of you and takes a charge," White said. "Five or six of our turnovers were just on passes that should not have been made at all. Some of it is simple accuracy in passing, where I thought we hit the right guys but we threw it at their feet, and were bobbling balls. We had a couple of loose balls that we tried to dribble out of instead of sticking our nose in there and grabbing it with two hands and then we had our bigs handling the ball a little bit too much as well."
The Gators overcame those miscues by shooting 3-pointers over Palm Beach Atlantic's zone, going 11 for 27 (40.7 percent) from 3-point range. Robinson was 3 for 4 from beyond the arc.
But Florida's free-throw shooting woes from last season carried over into the exhibition opener as well. The Gators went 10 of 27 (37 percent) from the line.
"Coach has stressed that a lot in practice," Egbunu said. "I feel like a lot of it is just focusing when we get to the free-throw line, being patient."
FREE THROWS: Former Florida coach Billy Donovan's son, Billy, attended the game. The former UF walk-on is coaching JV basketball at Ocala Trinity Catholic. … The last time Florida forced 30 turnovers in a regular-season game was Feb. 5, 2000 against Georgia.
Sent From Shane's iPhoneGo Gators! & Skål Vikes!ALPCA #8756Europlate #1045
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Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007)
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