After a rocky start to the Southeastern Conference season, Florida finally got the win it needed.
UF (12-5, 1-2 SEC) bounced back from back-to-back conference losses with an impressive 72-58 victory against LSU (9-8, 0-3 SEC) on Saturday night in the O’Connell Center.
Following two up-and-down contests, the Gators scored first and never trailed, controlling nearly every phase of the game and extended their lead to as much as 24 points in the second half.
“Any win in the conference is huge,” junior forward Chandler Parsons said. “Starting off 0-2, obviously this was kind of a must-win game. We came out here and did what we had to do.”
For Vernon Macklin, that meant staying out of foul trouble.
After combining for nine fouls and 10 points in just 33 minutes during the Gators’ first two SEC games, the junior center scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in 28 minutes. Perhaps most impressively, Macklin stayed aggressive on defense without picking up a single foul.
“I just didn’t think about it,” Macklin said. “I came out of the gate getting position and keeping my hands up and not contesting shots I couldn’t block.”
UF coach Billy Donovan attributed Macklin’s zero fouls to the less-physical big men he had to guard when LSU forward Storm Warren was on the bench with foul trouble, but he noted Macklin may have had a little more motivation to play smarter defense than he has the past two games.
“He was probably tired of me being on his back for the last two days, just working on post defense, moving his feet and not getting these fouls that were putting him on the bench,” Donovan said.
Having Macklin on the floor, out of foul trouble and in position down low allowed the Gators to play in their natural positions and limit the number of key minutes some of their reserves had to play.
“It was huge to have Vern in there,” sophomore point guard Erving Walker said. “That’s our big man right there. It would be like last year all over again without him, so we need him out there on the court.”
Macklin had plenty of help, though, as all five of Florida’s starters scored in double figures.
Parsons and junior power forward Alex Tyus had 11 points apiece, freshman guard Kenny Boynton led all scorers with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting and Walker added 14 points and six assists.
With senior Dan Werner held out due to the flu, Parsons got the start at small forward. Werner played 20 minutes after Parsons’ early foul trouble but clearly wasn’t fully healthy, recording only one point, one assist and two rebounds.
Aside from keeping his players out of foul trouble to make up for his ever-increasing lack of depth, Donovan made a point in practice this week to focus on not starting slow after halftime.
Midway through practice, Donovan had his players watch about five minutes of LSU film then get back on the court, warm up and jump back into practice again.
Although UF let up a little in the final minutes, the strategy seemed to be effective, as the Gators extended their seven-point halftime lead to a 60-36 lead with 12:53 remaining in the game.
“I think it was a good move,” Boynton said. “We came out of the second half today to play, and usually we don’t. I think we need to do that more often.”
