All throughout Billy Donovan’s career at Florida, his teams have followed a similar offensive formula.
Rather than having a go-to guy, UF’s squads of the past 15 years have relied on balance and an even shot distribution to achieve success.
That style was on display Tuesday against Tennessee, as five Gators scored 11 or more points and UF notched an 81-75 overtime victory in Thompson-Boling Arena.
“I thought our balance of inside and out was very, very good,” Donovan said. “We were able to go inside sometimes, we were able to get penetration and kick it out for three. … We had a good balance in the game amongst our guys.”
That spread has been a trend throughout most of the season, as top scorer Erving Walker and No. 5 scorer Alex Tyus are separated by just five points per game.
The Gators have also had five different players lead the team in scoring, with Walker contributing six leading performances, sophomore guard Kenny Boynton adding five and senior forward Chandler Parsons tallying three.
The Gators have also had four of their five starters score at least 20 in a game this year, with Parsons coming up just short when he notched a season-high 18 against Rhode Island.
“Anyone is capable of putting up 20,” Tyus said. “Any one of the five starters is very capable of scoring, and we know that. Every game is different.”
This point distribution allows the team to make up for any individual’s subpar performance on a given night, which is key on a team filled with streaky shooters.
In the team’s Dec. 5 contest against American, Boynton missed all nine of his field goal attempts, but the Gators other four starters each scored in double figures to help UF get the 67-48 win.
“Even if I don’t play well or someone else doesn’t play well, we can still get wins,” Tyus said.
The ability to put five different scoring threats on the floor has been critical to Donovan’s success in the past.
Both the 2005-06 and 2006-07 national championship teams had all five starters average in double-digit points, and neither team featured a single player scoring more than 14.2 per game.
Although this year’s starters don’t have the talent of the ‘04s, they proved last season they have the ability to replicate those scoring results. Each starter finished the year averaging in double figures, with Boynton leading the way at 14 per game.
“It’s all about what’s in the system,” Walker said. “This is just Billy Donovan’s style of play, and it’s showed that it’s worked in the past.”
