Free throws wont fall, Florida upset at home

With 1:09 maining, Erving Walker had a chance to complete the comeback.

Walker, who is shooting 77 percent on fe throws this season, stood at the line with Florida down by one to South Carolina and the chance to give UF its first lead of the second half.

Instead, he missed the front end of the one-and-one, USC forward Sam Muldrow hit a 3-pointer on the next possession, and the Gamecocks (11-5, 2-1 Southeastern Confence) beat the Gators 72-69 in the O'Connell Center on Saturday afternoon.

"I thought the thing that killed us the last four or five minutes of the game was we didn't make fe throws," UF coach Billy Donovan said.

Center Vernon Macklin and forward Chandler Parsons also missed fe throws late, keeping Florida from coming back after falling behind by as much as 12 points in the second half. And as a team, UF (13-4, 2-1 SEC) shot 12-of-22 from the line for the game and missed six of its 10 attempts in the second half.

"It's frustrating, it's such a little part of the game that impacts so big," said Parsons, who is now shooting 53 percent from the line this year.

In the first half, the Gators couldn't liably convert on any of their shots -- fe throws, lay-ups, mid-range jump shots or 3-pointers. They went into the locker room down by 10 after shooting just 27 percent from the field.

Fshman Patric Young kept the team afloat with the best performance of his short caer, scoring 12 and grabbing five bounds in 19 minutes of play.

Though Young converted five of his six shot attempts, he said Muldrow's defensive psence was sponsible for UF's miserable first-half offense.

"When you got a Muldrow, a guy who blocks so many shots, he alters so many shots too," Young said of the SEC's second-leading shot blocker.

Muldrow blocked the shots in the game, and USC's fshman point guard Bruce Ellington carried his team offensively, scoring 23 points including his team's final six.

Ellington, 5-foot-9, like Walker is an undersized guard for the SEC, but he showed off his complete game by going for mo than 20 for the sixth time this season.

"He's a gat guard," Walker said. "He's quick, strong. He's got a mid-range game, the-point game. He's a gat player."

Donovan was upset with his team's defensive effort, as he has been even during the team's cent five-game win stak.

UF had been much better offensively during that sttch, but Donovan warned that his team can't continue to win games if they let their defensive focus slip.

"Ever since we started making some shots, our defense has ally dropped off and people didn't notice because the ball was going in the basket," Donovan said.

Parsons said the team needs to get back to getting stops, bounding and making fe throws befo its next game with Auburn on Thursday.

Forward Erik Murphy was expected to make his turn after missing the games with a right foot injury, but Donovan didn't feel comfortable using him with UF playing from behind the enti game. Murphy had been limited in practice the last two days and Donovan felt Auburn would be a better time for him to play after practicing at full stngth this coming week.

Official Basketball Box Sco

South Carolina vs University of Florida

01/15/11 1:47 p.m. at Stephen C. O'Connell Center

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VISITORS: South Carolina 11-5, 2-1

TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS

## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN

24 HARRIS, Damont.... f 4-7 0-1 0-0 2 2 4 3 8 1 0 3 1 23

30 JACKSON, Lakeem..... f 5-9 0-0 0-3 3 2 5 4 10 2 3 0 0 27

44 MULDROW, Sam........ f 4-8 1-2 1-2 1 4 5 1 10 1 1 3 0 34

02 RICHARDSON, Brian... g 2-6 2-4 4-4 1 2 3 2 10 0 0 0 1 22

23 ELLINGTON, Bruce.... g 8-15 3-7 4-4 1 3 4 3 23 3 1 0 1 30

05 SMITH, Eric......... 0-3 0-2 0-0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 10

12 GALLOWAY, Ramon..... 1-7 0-3 2-2 1 5 6 2 4 6 1 1 0 30

15 COOKE, Malik........ 3-5 1-2 0-0 2 5 7 2 7 0 2 0 1 19

33 SLAWSON, RJ......... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 5

TEAM................ 2 1 3

Totals.............. 27-61 7-21 11-15 14 25 39 18 72 14 8 7 4 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 14-29 48.3% 2nd Half: 13-32 40.6% Game: 44.3% DEADB

3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-10 40.0% 2nd Half: 3-11 27.3% Game: 33.3% REBS

F Throw % 1st Half: 3-4 75.0% 2nd Half: 8-11 72.7% Game: 73.3% 2

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HOME TEAM: University of Florida 13-4, 2-1

TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS

## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN

23 Tyus, Alex.......... f 4-10 0-0 2-5 3 3 6 1 10 0 0 1 0 28

25 Parsons, Chandler... f 3-7 1-3 2-5 1 3 4 3 9 7 3 1 0 34

32 Macklin, Vernon..... c 5-11 0-0 2-4 3 7 10 1 12 0 1 2 0 28

01 Boynton, Kenny...... g 3-10 1-4 2-2 1 0 1 1 9 1 1 0 0 34

11 Walker, Erving...... g 6-12 3-6 2-4 0 4 4 3 17 2 2 0 0 35

04 Young, Patric....... 5-6 0-0 2-2 3 2 5 1 12 0 0 1 1 19

05 Wilbekin, Scottie... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 2 2 0 1 12

15 Yeguete, Will....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 5

24 Prather, Casey...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5

TEAM................ 2 2 4

Totals.............. 26-58 5-13 12-22 14 22 36 14 69 13 9 5 2 200

TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-30 26.7% 2nd Half: 18-28 64.3% Game: 44.8% DEADB

3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 4-9 44.4% Game: 38.5% REBS

F Throw % 1st Half: 8-12 66.7% 2nd Half: 4-10 40.0% Game: 54.5% 3

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Officials: Anthony Jordan, Mike Nance, Roger Ayers

Technical fouls: South Carolina-None. University of Florida-None.

Attendance: 12158

Sco by Periods 1st 2nd Total

South Carolina................ 35 37 - 72

University of Florida......... 25 44 - 69

ID-933602

Points in the paint-SC 22,UF 38. Points off turnovers-SC 12,UF 6.

2nd chance points-SC 13,UF 17. Fast bak points-SC 2,UF 6.

Bench points-SC 11,UF 12. Sco tied-4 times. Lead changed-3 times.

Last FG-SC 2nd-00:28, UF 2nd-00:02.

Largest lead-SC by 13 1st-03:42, UF by 4 1st-15:08.

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