Billy Donovan and the Florida men’s basketball team returned to Gainesville from Columbia, South Carolina, with what he considers their best win of the season so far.
Fourteen games into the 2014-2015 season, Donovan is finally seeing his Gators (8-6, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) show up to the second half of their games and come through with clutch rebounds and free throws needed to win.
"Coach talked to us after the game about this game and he thought it was our best game of the year, basically," junior guard Michael Frazier II said.
Frazier said Donovan told the team it was the first time they had actually fought when their opponent attempted to make runs in the second half.
"When you’re playing well it’s so easy to stay engaged in the game," Donovan said in a post-game press conference. "To me, the true sign of a great competitor and a great teammate and a great player is how do you handle when it’s not going well for you."
Florida managed a few statistical wins against South Carolina. Besides the 72-68 victory, the Gators outrebounded (37-23), converted a greater number of free throws (25-23) and had more steals (7-4) than the Gamecocks.
"We did a good job moving the ball when they were trying to deny us," Frazier said. "Mostly we were able to move the ball around and kind of get in the lane, you know, to kick out shots where we were wide open and I was the beneficiary to some of them."
As for the two Gators who weren’t a part of Wednesday’s win, Donovan said senior center Jon Horford and walk-on freshman guard Zach Hodskins’ suspensions were his decision alone.
"I thought their attitude and behavior was detrimental to our team," Donovan said. "There’s a certain standard and culture you want to create inside your program and when guys aren’t living up to that standard and culture, sometimes as a coach you get forced and put into a tough situation to make those kinds of decisions."
Donovan said he left them with a few tasks to complete while the team was away that he planned on checking the status of upon his return to Gainesville. He didn’t rule out the possibility of both returning to practice on Thursday and playing in Saturday’s home game against Mississippi State (7-7, 0-1 SEC).
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa
Billy Donovan looks down the court during Florida's 65-63 loss to Florida State on Dec. 30 in Tallahassee.
