KNOXVILLE, Tenn.— After a year and a half of criticism, struggle and doubt, Kenny Boynton looked like he was on his way to yet another poor outside shooting night.
But the sophomore refused to be rattled and would not quit shooting, bouncing back from a 1-of-5 start from beyond the arc to hit both of his three-point attempts in overtime, propelling Florida (13-3, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) to a 81-75 win over Tennessee (10-6, 0-2 SEC) on Tuesday night in Knoxville.
“I just put everything that happened earlier in the game behind me,” Boynton said.
Boynton finished the game with 17 points, including the first three of overtime. With 45 seconds remaining, he drained another basket, stretching UF’s lead to a near-insurmountable seven.
“I knew it was cash,” senior Chandler Parsons said. “He has ice in his veins.”
The win was Florida’s first in its last five tries in Knoxville, allowing seniors Parsons, Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin to avoid ending their careers without a win in Thompson-Boling Arena.
“That’s huge,” Parsons said. “I’d never won here. That was real important to me. It feels good to win here.”
The Gators got the best of what turned out to be an offensive shootout. Each team connected on more than 47 percent of its shots for the game.
Florida continued its recent trends of ball movement and strong three-point shooting, connecting on 8 of 16 attempts from beyond the arc. The Gators amassed 14 assists to just 11 turnovers in a hostile road environment.
“We came in and knew they were going to play tough and physical and try to deny,” Parsons said. “Coach has been emphasizing making good decisions with the ball in our hands and that’s what we wanted to do tonight.”
Parsons continued his recent hot streak, scoring 16 points on 4-of-5 three-point shooting. He also added six rebounds and two assists.
With the game tied and 42 seconds remaining, Tennessee’s Cameron Tatum missed a midrange jumper and Tyus was fouled while going for the rebound.
After Tyus missed the front end of the one-and-one, Brian Williams missed his chance to give Tennessee the win.
Macklin grabbed the rebound, and UF called a timeout with 5.8 seconds remaining.
That only left enough time for junior Erving Walker’s last-second heave, which missed by a comfortable margin to send the game to overtime.
Florida continued its efforts to get Tyus involved in the offense early on, as he scored the team’s first seven points on his way to 18 for the game.
“We always want to establish our bigs early,” Parsons said.
A first half of runs ended with Florida taking a one-point lead into the break.
The Volunteers used a 6-0 run to grab the advantage before UF responded with six straight points of its own to take a 15-14 edge.
After UT bounced back with a 9-0 stretch, the Gators scored 11 consecutive points to grab the lead they would take into the break.
After allowing the Volunteers to sink 11 field goals in the game’s first 14:14, the Gators yielded just a single field goal the rest of the half.
The Gators are now 1-1 in overtime games this season.
