Chandler Parsons’ miracle 75-foot game-winner at N.C. State on Sunday may have salvaged Florida’s Christmas break, but it didn’t hide the ugly truth from Billy Donovan.
The Gators’ outside shooting was miserable against the Wolfpack.
Before Kenny Boynton nailed a leaning three-pointer with a hand in his face from the top of the key with 14 seconds left in overtime, UF was 1 of 22 from beyond the arc.
Florida is shooting 29 percent from three-point range this season, hitting just 84 of its 287 attempts. Donovan attributed some of his team’s struggles to the shot selection of his four primary outside shooters — Boynton, Parsons, Erving Walker and Dan Werner.
“When those four guys take the kind of shots that they’re accustomed to making, they shoot a very high percentage,” Donovan said. “When they get some of their shots that are a little more difficult for them, that has really bled into some of their shooting woes.”
Boynton, heralded as a great scorer before the season, leads the team in scoring (13.6 points per game) but has been an inconsistent shooter so far. The freshman guard is shooting 36 percent from the field and 26 percent from three-point range.
Despite the low percentages, Boynton has established himself as a potential threat in crunch time.
The only three-pointer he hit against N.C. State was the difficult, contested shot in the final seconds that kept UF in the game.
“He maybe has a better ability than some of the guys on our team to make tough, challenged shots, but over the stretch of a season or the stretch of a game, his shooting percentage is not going to be very high,” Donovan said. “At the end of a game with a challenged shot, he’s got the ability to do that. Erving Walker’s also got the ability to make challenged shots.
“But if a high percentage of those shots are going to be challenged, they’re probably going to shoot a low percentage. That’s just the way it equals out.”
Walker has also struggled at times to find his shot from long range, shooting just 29 percent on the year after finishing his freshman season at a team-high 42 percent.
Part of the problem for Boynton and Walker has been the amount of responsibility put on them to score from the outside, run the break and lead UF’s press while having to lead the team in minutes due to the team’s shortage of guards.
Donovan has tried to relieve Walker recently by subbing him out for Parsons before the 16-minute media timeout, giving the starting point guard more time on the bench, but the two guards are still averaging a team-high 32.1 minutes per game so far this season.
“We got two backcourt guys basically that we’re utilizing. We have a lack of depth there,” Donovan said. “I’d like to try to keep Boynton and Walker below 35 minutes a game. I think that’s too much for them.”
Although the shots haven’t been falling for Florida, Donovan said he’s not going to tell his players to back off from the outside.
“The last thing they need to hear is me telling them to stop shooting,” Donovan said.
