With 18:18 remaining and Florida up by 22 points against Mississippi State on Saturday, junior point guard Scottie Wilbekin lobbed the ball to Patric Young for a right-handed, alley-oop slam.
The dunk put an exclamation point on Young’s night.
Young scored 13 points on 6-of-6 shooting as the No. 8 Gators (16-2, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated the Bulldogs for an 82-47 win in Starkville, Miss.
His perfect night from the field propelled Florida to 55.4 percent shooting and a 68 percent clip on two-point field goal attempts.
“He got some putbacks, did a couple nice post moves and did some really, really good things around the basket,” coach Billy Donovan said.
“He gave us a great lift of energy to start the second half as well.”
Young posted on his Twitter account (@BigPatYoung4) Friday: “knees hurt so bad I can’t sleep at night.” But he showed no sluggishness on Saturday.
In 27 minutes, he recorded two blocks and grabbed six rebounds, including four on the offensive end.
On two of his offensive boards, Young followed through to score putback layups.
Saturday’s contest did not begin smoothly for Young. He went without a field goal attempt during the first 8:06. But when the Bulldogs (7-11, 2-4 SEC) keyed in on him in the post, the Gators’ perimeter opened up.
During Young’s scoreless span, UF made 4 of 8 attempts from behind the arc.
“It was hard for him when he got the ball to really do much,” Donovan said.
“He made some great passes out to the perimeter, and he got some of our guards shots.”
When Mississippi State began increasing its focus on perimeter defense, Young broke free.
As Florida closed out the half on a 21-11 stretch for a 41-19 lead, Young scored nine points — eight coming in the paint.
“Once they take one thing away, they have to worry and account for something else,” Young said.
“When our guards start knocking down shots, it opens up opportunities for me, Erik (Murphy) and Will (Yeguete) to get the ball down low, and our team just starts clicking.”
With the 6-foot-9, 249-pound junior’s presence in the paint, Florida held Mississippi State to 37.8 percent shooting on two-pointers.
“I’m just trying to anticipate and think, ‘How can I help my teammate? How can I help us get this stop?’” Young said.
Young is tied with senior guard Mike Rosario as Florida’s third-best scorer in SEC play with 11.8 points per contest. During the past six games, Young has shot 70.7 percent.
Although most of his attempts this season have come within feet of the basket, Young stepped out of his comfort zone Saturday.
With 4:39 remaining and UF owning a 75-44 lead, Young attempted a shot from the left wing with a Bulldogs defender in his face.
Surprisingly, the baseline jumper found net.
“I’ve been working on it,” Young said. “It’s about time I started expanding my game a little bit, right?”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Junior center Patric Young dunks during Florida’s 83-52 victory against Missouri on Jan. 19 in the O’Connell Center. Young scored 14 points in Florida's 71-54 victory against Arkansas on Saturday in the O'Connell Center.
