While the Gators entered Saturday as the nation’s leader in made threes, they left the O’Connell Center knowing they can find other ways to score.
Despite making just seven 3-pointers – tied for a season low – No. 17 Florida (15-4, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) was able to open a 16-point lead in the second half against LSU (12-7, 2-3 SEC) before settling in for a 76-64 victory.
“We can do a lot of different things and have a lot of different options on a nightly basis,” said junior forward Erik Murphy. “If someone is off, then someone else can fill in. Really anybody on our team can score and that is really important for us.”
Murphy led the Gators with 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting, including 3 for 4 from three. He was the lone Florida player to hit more than one 3-pointer, as guards Kenny Boynton, Brad Beal and Mike Rosario all finished with 11 points.
On all other attempts besides threes, the Gators were close to perfect in their third straight game shooting over 50 percent. Highlighted by Murphy’s performance, UF was 20 for 27on shots inside the 3-point arc against LSU and also hit 15 of 20 free throws.
“In my opinion, I thought we had pretty good looks from behind the line and we didn’t shoot the ball as well as we have in the past,” coach Billy Donovan said. “But we had pretty good balance. I think that was a big difference, too."
Altogether, five Gators reached double-figures on a 56.3 shooting night to temper a 27-point performance from the Tigers’ 7-foot center Justin Hamilton, who scored 18 in the second half alone.
With his own guards hitting just 33.3 percent from three and junior Patric Young recovering from an ankle injury, Donovan decided not to double-team Hamilton in fear of opening up 3-point opportunities for LSU’s shooters.
Hamilton, junior, notched four points to key a late, 10-2 run for the Tigers that cut their 16-point deficit to eight with 7:45 left.
“We lived with him, obviously, having a huge night,” Donovan said.
Though LSU would end the game shooting 44.4 percent from the field, Donovan’s gamble paid off as the Tigers hit just 1 of 6 threes in the second half.
Senior point guard Erving Walker would finally give the Gators back a double-digit lead by scoring seven straight points on a jumper, two free throws and a long 3-pointer in the final 3:45.
“Tonight was Murph’s night,” Beal said. “He had 15-plus or whatever, so I believe our offense is really hard to guard because you have big Pat inside, you got guards who can shoot it, then you got Murphy who can go inside and step out and shoot.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
