Nearing the end of his sophomore season, Patric Young is used to hearing he can’t consistently produce in the post.
Though he has dealt with nagging ankle and knee injuries during Southeastern Conference play this year, his recent performances haven’t done much to prove the naysayers wrong.
In his last nine games prior to Sunday’s matchup with Kentucky, Young has reached double figures in scoring twice and in rebounding just once.
With teams at the tail end of the league standings keeping him in check over the last several weeks, it came as little surprise for the 6-foot-9 center to see the top-ranked Wildcats’ focus was more on stopping the Gators’ 3-point looks than his positioning in the paint heading into the O’Connell Center.
“I feel like that almost every game,” Young said. “People still think I can’t score down low, but I`m just going to continue to do what I can to prove people wrong.”
Scoring 21 points and hauling in nine rebounds against one of the nation’s top players is a good place to start.
Young posted his second highest points total of the season while primarily guarded by Kentucky’s Anthony Davis, a 6-foot-10 freshman who is in the running for both national and SEC Player of the Year awards.
“Pat played unbelievable with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion,’’ junior Erik Murphy said. “He was doing all the things he was asked to do. He was smart on offense. When he would catch it, he would go and score right away and not let Davis change position or other guys come and help. It was smart basketball by him.’’
While Young’s 10-of-15 shooting performance wasn’t enough to lead the No. 16 Gators (22-9, 10-6 SEC) past the No. 1 Wildcats (30-1, 16-0 SEC), UF coach Billy Donovan called the big man’s effort a “bright spot” in the 74-59 loss.
In Florida’s previous defeat at Kentucky by 20 points, the Gators received 19 points from their two frontcourt starters.
“We had to have some kind of answer at the basket with Davis and [Terrence] Jones the way those two guys were performing,” Donovan said. “And I really thought Patric did about as well answering our frontcourt as possible. As much as their frontcourt played well, Murphy had 14, [Young] had 21, so that was encouraging to see.”
Though the Wildcats shot 52.5 percent and outscored the Gators in the paint by 12 points due in large part to Davis’ game-high 22 points and Jones’ 21, Donovan said the emergence of his post starters kept Florida competitive until the final three minutes.
Young and Murphy’s scoring pulled the Gators within eight points of the Wildcats at halftime and as close as four points with just over nine minutes remaining, despite Florida enduring a 6-for-22 shooting afternoon from three.
For the first time this season, none of Florida’s three starting guards in Brad Beal, Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker cracked the 10-point mark.
“If we didn’t get anything from Murphy and Patric across the frontline, we could have been in a world of hurt,” Donovan said.
Walker, who was honored before the game as the Gators’ lone senior, scored eight points on 3-of-11 shooting in his final home game at Florida.
His game-high fifth assist came at the 9:04 mark on a dunk by Young in a 59-55 game, but would be the last field goal UF scored until Walker made a layup with just 59 seconds remaining.
The scoring drought included nine straight missed shots on either jumpers or 3-pointers, with Young not getting an attempt the rest of the way.
“He played phenomenal tonight,” Walker said. “Hopefully, he can continue that. When Pat plays like that, it takes this team to a new level.”
With the loss, the Gators sealed their fate as the No. 4 seed in New Orleans for the SEC Tournament and will play Friday at 3:30 p.m.
As one of the tournament’s four teams owning a first round bye, Florida will face the winner of fifth-seeded Alabama and 12th-seeded South Carolina. The Gators beat the Crimson Tide on the road by nine in mid-February and swept the Gamecocks in two meeting this season.
“Going forward, we can look to the next tournament, the SEC Tournament, looking good because we played really hard today and moved the ball,” Young said. “I was scoring inside and I’ve been struggling with that for the last few weeks, but overall, I think the future’s looking pretty bright.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida junior Patric Young scored a team-high 21 points on 10-of-15 shooting and hauled in nine rebounds against Anthony Davis and Kentucky, but could not prevent the Wildcats from notching their 16th win in SEC play.
