Tonight won’t be the first time Kenny Boynton has gone toe-to-toe with John Wall.
Florida’s freshman guard played against Kentucky’s first-year phenom before going to UF, splitting four AAU games with Wall’s team while guarding him.
“He’s faster than anybody I’ve ever guarded,” Boynton said. “If he gets the ball and gets going on a fast break, he’s so fast he’s going to go right around you. So you have to stop him before he gets it.”
Boynton will get another shot at Wall when the Gators (11-4, 0-1 Southeastern Conference) take on the No. 2 Wildcats (16-0, 1-0 SEC) tonight at 9 in the O’Connell Center.
Wall has helped turn Kentucky into one of the nation’s top teams and rocketed up NBA Draft boards in the process.
ESPN’s Chad Ford ranks Wall as the top prospect for the 2010 NBA Draft, with Boynton having fallen to No. 74. Boynton said he made a late push to try to talk Wall into joining him in Gainesville, recognizing his unique skill set and ability to get out in transition.
“When he gets the ball in the open court, he’s a different player,” Boynton said. “If we get back on defense and make him settle for a half-court game, I think we’ll stop him a lot. But after a team misses, he catches the ball and pushes it.”
Donovan compared the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Wall to a better version of former Kentucky and current Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo.
“I don’t think there’s a college point guard out there like John Wall,” Donovan said.
Wall leads the undefeated Wildcats with 17.2 points per game and 7.1 assists per game, and his athletic ability makes him a matchup nightmare on defense for the Gators.
“You definitely don’t want to be on an island guarding John Wall,” junior forward Chandler Parsons said. “That’s going to be tough. Thank God I have four guys behind me.”
Part of what has made stopping Wall so difficult so far this season has been the wealth of talent around him and his ability to distribute the ball and make his teammates better.
Junior forward Patrick Patterson averages 16.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game, freshman center DeMarcus Cousins puts up 15.4 points and 9.4 boards and freshman guard Eric Bledsoe also averages double-digit points per game (10.3) while sharing the backcourt with Wall.
First-year Kentucky coach John Calipari has already led his team to impressive victories over North Carolina and Connecticut, and UK will be the best team Florida has faced since it shocked then-No. 2 Michigan State on Nov. 27 in Atlantic City, N.J.
“We’ve been an underdog all season long,” Parsons said. “We knocked off Michigan State when they were No. 2. We’re not going to go in there scared at all.”
