As Gators Get Healthier, So Does Their Record

Dorian Finney-Smith scored a career-high 25 points in Sunday's rout of Jacksonville. (Photo: Jim Burgess)

Article By SCOTT CARTER GatorZone.com Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Little by little, some of the pieces are starting to slide into place.
As they do, the wins are starting to add up.
The Gators made it three in a row on Sunday afternoon with a 79-34 walloping of Jacksonville in front of an announced crowd of 10,123 at the O'Connell Center.
It wasn't perfect.
“We didn’t come in with the right approach,'' Gators coach Billy Donovan said. "It was a little bit of fool’s gold to start the game."
The Gators never trailed and jumped to a fast 12-4 lead thanks to a 4-for-4 performance from 3-point land as Michael Frazier made a pair and Dorian Finney-Smith and Devin Robinson connected from long range.
You got the idea that this one could be over quickly.
However, instead of running away and hiding from Jacksonville before halftime, the Gators led only 18-17 with 9:21 left in the first half following a bucket by Jacksonville's Kori Babineaux.
No one knew it at the time, but with more than 29 minutes left to play, the Dolphins had already scored half their points in the game.
The Gators closed on a 16-7 run to end the first half and grab a 34-24 halftime lead.
And then as he is known to do -- especially this season and with this team -- Donovan challenged the Gators at halftime.
During their 3-4 start -- marking the first time in 16 years Florida dipped below .500 -- the Gators had trouble finishing strong, most notably watching their 18-point lead at Kansas on Dec. 5 disappear and turn into the young season's most disappointing loss.
There was no such problem Sunday.
"Coach challenged us to come out with more passion and more fire after halftime,'' said Frazier, who finished with a season-high 22 points and six 3-pointers.
How did the Gators respond? Well, how does 45-10 sound? That was the second-half score.
The Gators came out early for the second half to loosen up as they have of late. Someone should have told the Dolphins not to bother coming back out.
In a span of 5 minutes, 7 seconds, Florida's 10-point halftime lead was 20 (46-26) following Frazier's 3. The lead was 25 (51-26) after a 3-pointer from Eli Carter less than two minutes later.
The lead grew and grew and grew from there.
The Gators never let up and doubled the Dolphins at 62-31 when Finney-Smith connected for a 3-pointer with 10:44 left in the game. The 28-7 run to open the second half erased any doubt whether Donovan's halftime message got through.
"It feels good. It's a step in the right direction,'' center Jon Horford said. "Guys are really buying into the process."
The 45-point win is Florida's largest margin of victory this season and the dominant second-half performance was a good way to launch into a five-day break from games. The Gators don't play again until Saturday against Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl Classic in Sunrise, Fla.
They will use this week to finish finals and try to build on their modest three-game win streak by improving at practice.
"We certainly did a better job with our intensity level [after halftime],'' Donovan said. "I was really disappointed in the first half."

Much like he has been forced to all season due to various injuries, Donovan had to adjust the starting lineup due to point guard Kasey Hill's stomach bug. Hill (photo, left) did not participate in the pre-game shootaround and his status remained uncertain until less than two hours before tip-off.
Freshman Chris Chiozza started in Hill's place and according to Donovan, looked a little nervous at the start of the game. Chiozza did not score in 29 minutes but added four assists and four rebounds. Meanwhile, Hill played 21 minutes and chipped in two points and three assists.
Finney-Smith was the leader of Florida's pack on Sunday, scoring a career-high 25 points. He made 10 of 15 shots, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. He added six rebounds and played with the same aggressiveness he did a year ago when he was the SEC Sixth Man of the Year.
Finney-Smith missed two games and has been slowed since suffering a pair of hairline fractures in his left non-shooting hand.
He looked like his old self against the Dolphins, exactly one month after suffering the injury on Nov. 14 in the season opener against William & Mary.
"I can say it's getting better,'' said Finney-Smith, whose previous career high was 22 points. "I couldn't do things I usually could do [after the injury]."
Now, Finney-Smith said he is playing with a "free mind" and can "let it go."
"For him, every day that goes by it gets a little bit better,'' Donovan said. "He is at least moving to a point of being healthier each day.”
The same might be said of the Gators.
They are expected to have Duke transfer Alex Murphy available soon -- perhaps as early as Saturday's game against Wake Forest -- which provides Donovan with another weapon.
Little by little, the pieces are adding up. The wins should too with more performances like Sunday's.

Rookie Robinson Leads Balanced Box Score in 75-50 Win over Texas Southern

Article by Chris Harry GatorZone.com Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Billy Donovan has the pulse of his team and with it a firm grasp on the relativity of Florida getting its first two-game winning streak of the season against a pair of mid-major programs after looking so dismal at times offensively in losses to marquee opponents Miami, Georgetown, North Carolina and Kansas. 

In other words, he can take some pleasure -- and see some encouraging signs -- in the steps the Gators made this week; most lately in Friday night’s 75-50 defeat of Texas Southern at the O’Connell Center.

Freshman Devin Robinson, who a week ago woke up in Kansas with more airballs (9) than field goals (8) in his brief time playing at the collegiate level, scored a career-high 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the floor to lead five UF players into double-figures. Sophomore center Chris Walker had 12 points, including a sicko, rim-rattling alley-oop dunk in the final seconds, while junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith had 11 points and seven rebounds.

Just four days after hitting 63.8 percent in a 38-point blowout of Yale, the Gators (5-4) shot 54.4 percent against the Tigers (1-7) and tallied a season-best 19 assists.

“I understand the level of competition ... [but] you can only go off how we’re playing and what we’re doing. Our ball movement is very good and we’re taking shots that I like to see us take,” Donovan said. “Overall, I thought we’re trying to play offensively the right way. They’re getting better at it.”

Sophomore point guard Kasey Hill had another solid game running the team. He scored just six points, but dished seven assists and only turned the ball over twice. Senior center Jon Horford had 10 points and six rebounds, guard Michael Frazier pitched in 11, and combo guard Eli Carter, out the last two games and hampered by a left foot sprain since Nov. 20, returned to action and scored six points.

“We’re at our best when we pass the ball around,” Robinson said. “This is how we should play every night.”

The Gators will have a better chance to do so if Robinson continues to develop like he has in just the last week. After an abysmal start through his first six games (8-for-32 floor, 3-for-18 from 3), Robinson has gone 13-for-25 from the field and 5-for-9 from deep after Donovan and his staff cleaned up the youngster’s overall footwork and shooting mechanics.

“He’s getting better each game and playing a big role for us,” Finney-Smith said. “I think he’s handled adversity really well and I’m proud of him. I hope he keeps getting better.”

Ditto Walker, who also has shined brighter the last three games, combining to go 17 of 28.

Donovan credited some of the low moments both Robinson and Walker experienced in starting the season to their growth the last few games. 

"Both of those guys made the biggest jump after the first four or five games when they admitted it was harder than they ever anticipated it would be," Donovan said. "When young players get to that place, they become very coachable."

In turn, they're more likely to get better. And have more fun. 

Walker sure looked to be doing so when he took a wide alley-oop pass from walk-on Lexx Edwards, gathered it with his left hand and smashed it through the basket in the closing moments.

“That was for the people who stayed for the last 20 seconds or so,” Walker said.

The 19-plus minutes before that were for Donovan, who certainly will find plenty to pick at; like a near-stalemate on the glass (34-32) against an undersized opponent; a poor showing at the free-throw line (6 of 11, including 0-4 from Finney-Smith); or watching Texas Southern take -- and granted, miss -- a bunch open shots.

The Gators opened a 9-0 lead out of the box, moved it out to 15 with just over eight minutes to took it as high as 19.

In the second half, the Tigers cut the lead to as few as 13 when the tandem of guard Deverell Biggs (18 points) and forward Chris Thomas (15 points) were responsible for a 9-0 run. But a 3-ball by Carter and driving layup by Kasey Hill got the Gators back and gear and set up their teammates for closing time.

“We’re getting a better understanding of how to play,” Donovan said.

If it took some tough, growing experiences to get them to this place, the UF coaching staff will take it.