With the UF men's basketball team suffering through another sluggish start, guard Nick Calathes took over Monday night and left all his demons behind.
After the Gators trailed 14-12 early to Jacksonville, Calathes scored 8 points and dished two assists during a 15-point run that put UF (8-1) up 13 and ahead for good in the 88-72 win.
Calathes just missed a double-double, tallying a season-high 24 points in addition to nine assists and five steals.
"I was just hitting my shots, and my teammates were finding me and good things happened," Calathes said. "I'm just glad we're winning."
Calathes seems to have hit his stride following disappointing performances in back-to-back games against Florida State and Stetson last week, when he scored 14 points combined. He has scored 45 points in the two games since.
The game-changing run was highlighted by two flashy passes from Calathes, the first hitting a streaking Walter Hodge on a no-look bounce pass and the other a one-handed lob to center Marreese Speights for a dunk.
Discounting the 15-0 run, the Dolphins played the Gators stride for stride. The Dolphins never trailed by double digits from halftime on, but they hung around and were down just 13 with 4:32 remaining.
UF coach Billy Donovan said the game was a good teaching tool for the Gators.
"I think it was great the way they attacked us on drives, attacked us physically," Donovan said. "They went after loose balls. They went after rebounds. It reminded me of an SEC game. … I hope it's a wake up for our frontcourt."
Although the Gators outrebounded the Dolphins 33-25, Donovan said his team was manhandled in the contest.
"Anybody who watched the game would be surprised we out-rebounded them," he said. "If anyone asked who the more physical team is, I think everyone would say Jacksonville."
Speights, who had 16 points and seven rebounds, was at the center of Donovan's criticism. Donovan said Jacksonville's Marcus Allen got the best of the Gators' big man and that his numbers on the night are deceiving.
"I'm not going to be disappointed or upset with Marreese, but it is what it is with him," Donovan said. "I don't think it's Marreese's personality to be a smash-mouth player and go in there and bang. … He's a great teammate - he's a piece to the puzzle. But I don't think as a sophomore he's a guy that you can sit there and say, 'Wow, we're going to put the house on his back and let him carry us up the mountain.'"
Hodge added 9 points, and Chandler Parsons turned in an impressive 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting.
The crowd, among the smallest so far this season, was relatively quiet during most of the game until a questionable technical foul was given to Parsons for hanging on the rim after a dunk.
"I talked to the ref and told him to just watch the replay," Parsons said. "I pointed to the board up there. I did kind of hang on the rim, but I thought he saw that I was trying not to land on somebody. It happens, I guess."
