Nick Calathes looked a lot more like his old self Wednesday night.
The sophomore scored 19 points and dished out six assists as UF (24-10) rolled to an 84-62 win against Jacksonville (18-14) in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.
The All-Southeastern Conference point guard struggled down the stretch in conference play.
In UF's final three games of the season, he scored in double figures just once (11 points against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament) and turned the ball over 16 times.
"I've been in a shooting slump, and it felt good hitting a few shots," Calathes said. "And to be honest, it felt good winning."
Though forward Chandler Parsons was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Erving Walker (11 points), he notched his second double-double of the season, scoring 17 points and grabbing a career-high 14 rebounds.
"When he takes it to the glass and runs the floor like that, he's a different player," Calathes said. "I think he changed the game for us."
UF coach Billy Donovan said the change to the starting lineup is something he plans to stick with in the coming weeks.
"Chandler played 18 minutes (per game) last year. Sometimes guys have a hard time adjusting to an expanded role. They put more and more pressure on themselves," Donovan said. "I thought it would be an opportunity to try and help Chandler a little bit."
The 6-foot-9 swingman has started all but six games this season.
"As long as I'm out there playing, I don't care," Parsons said.
Alex Tyus (13 points) scored UF's first 7 points and the Gators went on an 8-0 run early in the first half. They held the lead for the rest of the game.
The Gators played some of their best defense of the season, holding the Dolphins to just 37 percent shooting from the field and 26 percent from 3-point range.
"I wish we would have started doing this a little earlier, but I think we have been playing decent defense all year," Werner said. "It wasn't like last year when we were awful."
With 14 seconds left to play in the first half, Jacksonville forward Lehmon Colbert knocked forward Ray Shipman to the ground as he was going for a layup.
"It was a real hard foul," Shipman said. "I could have got up and retaliated, but I knew that wasn't the right thing to do. I laid down, gathered myself. My instinct, I wanted to get up and attack him. I just got my head right, looked around, knocked my free throws down."
Five UF players scored in double figures, and the Gators led by as many as 27 points.
Freshman forward Eloy Vargas' 11 minutes was the most playing time he saw all season, but he failed to get on the scoreboard.
UF will now play host to Miami on Friday night in the tournament's second round.
"It's an in-state game. They obviously had a big-time year. It will be intense," Parsons said. "Jack McClinton, he's just an animal."
