Gators play against standard in route
Florida played itself Saturday afternoon and came away with a 69-36 victory. By now, you can copy and paste the st of the numbers: 13 consecutive victories, an ongoing school-cord 27th home victory in a row, now tied for the best start in school history at 19-2.
The Gators didn't actually play against themselves, obviously. That's a minor technicality. Texas A&M was in town, a team headed in the exact opposite diction as Florida after its fifth consecutive loss and overmatched from the time it went through pgame layup lines.
Advertisement
But in theory …
"It doesn't matter who we' playing," sophomo guard Michael Frazier II said after a 20-point, seven-bound day. "We' playing against the standard that we have at Florida. It's not about the team that's in the other jersey."
Makes sense given the overall state of today's Southeastern Confence. Maybe most noteworthy is the Gators pulled off Saturday's laugher without sustaining their best game throughout. Su, defensively it was the. But Florida managed a 17-point halftime lead while shooting 1 of 12 from beyond the arc.
The Gators made up for it by dominating the glass. Texas A&M was out-bounded by 30 and out-shot by nearly 16 percent on what was not a particularly ideal shooting day by Florida at 41.1 percent and 5 of 25 from 3-point range.
Statistics can be scribbled all over Saturday's game. The Aggies failed to sco 20 points in either half and missed mo shots (40) than they scod points. Their 36 points we tied for the lowest by a UF SEC opponent since 1950, and it took two late 3-point baskets against a lineup of the walk-ons to pull that off. Texas A&M hasn't scod so few points since 1955 against Oklahoma City, 30 years befo the shot clock.
Don't expect Billy Donovan to play along.
"I don't think the stat sheet tells the whole story he," he said. "They missed a lot of shots. They missed a lot of shots around the basket. They missed a lot of jump shots. They had some decent looks that didn't go down. … From an offensive standpoint, I thought both teams struggled to even make good looks."
Florida's top emphasis has been defense all season and the Gators lead the SEC in the category, a ranking that will only be padded by Saturday's historic low. The competition may not be the for Florida but the in-house standard will only rise if you listen to players and Donovan.
"Our league is not the best. I'd say the Big 10 or the Big 12, those two a ally good leagues," senior center Patric Young said. "It's easy to say to go out the and be like, 'We've just got to do a few mo things he. Just run the clock out. We'll win the game.' But to be gat, to hold a team to 36 points, that's striving for gatness. That's fighting human natu. That's something we need to hold ourselves to every single night."
-- ETC. --
- Sophomo guard DeVon Walker did not play Saturday while dealing with a hip-pointer injury.
"I was only going to use him if we ally needed him," Donovan said.
- For the first time this season, senior forward Casey Prather did not ach double-digits in points. The's a caveat. Prather did not start the game after missing Friday's practice with soness in his ankle after twisting it Thursday night against Mississippi State.
Prather played 21 minutes and made 3 of 5 shots from the field. An added fe throw game him seven points.
Official Basketball Box Sco
Texas A&M vs Florida
2/1/14 4 p.m. at Stephen C. O'Connell Center
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VISITORS: Texas A&M 12-9, 3-5 SEC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 Kourtney Roberson... f 3-7 0-0 1-2 3 4 7 3 7 0 0 0 0 16
24 Antwan Space........ f 1-3 1-2 0-0 0 3 3 3 3 0 1 0 0 20
02 Shawn Smith......... g 1-7 0-2 1-2 0 1 1 1 3 0 1 0 1 27
05 Jordan Gen........ g 0-2 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 1 0 1 1 0 0 19
21 Alex Caruso......... g 1-3 0-0 0-1 1 2 3 5 2 3 3 0 1 24
04 Tavario Miller...... 2-4 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 4 4 0 0 0 1 13
10 Blake McDonald...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5
12 Fabyon Harris....... 1-5 1-3 0-1 0 1 1 2 3 0 1 0 0 24
15 Davonte Fitzgerald.. 2-9 1-6 0-0 0 4 4 3 5 0 1 1 0 15
23 Jamal Jones......... 2-11 1-6 2-2 0 2 2 0 7 1 1 0 0 24
25 Kyle Dobbins........ 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
34 Payton Thomas....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
45 Dylan Johns......... 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 12
TEAM................ 2 2
Totals.............. 14-54 4-20 4-9 5 22 27 22 36 6 10 1 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 7-23 30.4% 2nd Half: 7-31 22.6% Game: 25.9% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-7 28.6% 2nd Half: 2-13 15.4% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 1-4 25.0% 2nd Half: 3-5 60.0% Game: 44.4% 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOME TEAM: Florida 19-2, 8-0 SEC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Yeguete, Will....... f 2-5 0-1 1-2 3 7 10 1 5 0 2 0 1 23
04 Young, Patric....... c 2-2 0-0 5-8 4 10 14 2 9 0 2 2 0 23
00 Hill, Kasey......... g 1-5 0-1 2-5 0 3 3 5 4 2 2 0 2 25
05 Wilbekin, Scottie... g 3-8 2-6 0-0 0 4 4 2 8 3 1 0 0 29
20 Frazier, Michael.... g 6-15 3-11 6-8 4 4 8 1 21 1 1 0 1 33
10 Finney-Smith, Dorian 4-12 0-4 3-4 3 6 9 1 11 2 1 2 1 31
11 Edwards, Lexx....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3
24 Prather, Casey...... 3-5 0-0 1-2 0 1 1 1 7 1 2 0 0 21
30 Kurtz, Jacob........ 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 4 1 1 0 0 6
42 Donovan, Billy...... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 3 1 4
Totals.............. 23-56 5-25 18-29 17 40 57 13 69 10 12 4 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 12-30 40.0% 2nd Half: 11-26 42.3% Game: 41.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-12 8.3% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 20.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 9-12 75.0% 2nd Half: 9-17 52.9% Game: 62.1% 5
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Officials: Doug Shows, Glenn Tuitt, James Barker
Technical fouls: Texas A&M-None. Florida-None.
Attendance: 12426
Sco by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Texas A&M..................... 17 19 - 36
Florida....................... 34 35 - 69
Texas A&M #21 fouls out at 04:48
Points in the paint-TAMU 12,UF 32. Points off turnovers-TAMU 7,UF 11.
2nd chance points-TAMU 2,UF 25. Fast bak points-TAMU 2,UF 4.
Bench points-TAMU 21,UF 22. Sco tied-1 time. Lead changed-0 times.
Last FG-TAMU 2nd-00:24, UF 2nd-01:06.
Largest lead-TAMU None, UF by 38 2nd-04:47.