Following up a lackluster performance against Mississippi State last Saturday, the Gators made just enough shots to edge Vandy tonight in the O-Dome 65-61.  Chandler Parsons was named ESPN Player of the Game, missed a shot but followed his own miss with a rebound and big free throws to give Florida a late lead with 15.6 seconds left in the game.  Vandy spent most of the second half in foul trouble, with three in the starting five fouled out by the time the game was over.

Erving Walker hit a massive three with one second on the clock to give Florida a one point lead at the half 25-24.  Florida followed a lackluster first half up with a 40 point second half and OT.  Parsons was the lead Gator scorer with 18 points, and 13 rebounds.  “We knew we were going to get their best and we did. Its great to get this win in preparations for a big Saturday against Kentucky.” Parsons said postgame.

Kentucky comes to town Saturday night with tip-off at 9pm in the O-Dome.  ESPN College GameDay will be shown on ESPN at 10am EST Live from the O-Dome floor.

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Kenny Boynton’s 20 point performance led the Gators past Arkansas 75-43 tonight in Gainesville.

Just two nights after an ugly win against Auburn, the Gators bounced back and dominated from start to finish.

The Gators (15-4, 4-1) shot fifty percent from the field and thirty one from behind the arc. A lot better than 28 percent they shot on Thursday night. Everything went their way tonight. Shooting, passing, defense. Just everything. Florida’s defense stepped up big, forcing 13 turnovers and totaled for five block shots. They also out rebounded the Razorbacks 41-26. One of the defensive plays of the game, when freshman center Patric Young came up from behind an Arkansas player and blocked the layup against the back board which led to a fast break to Kenny Boynton that turned into an and-one play.

Florida’s shooting was also a lot better. Boynton stepped up and drained 4-of-7 from the three while Erik Murphy added one himself. I was excited to see unselfishness from the Gators. The extra pass that led into open shots came up big and horrible shooting by Arkansas sure did help. What also caught my eye tonight were the way the Gators crashed the board. They were very physical under the rim and were always crashing the boards and diving on the ground. I remember watching one possession where Erving Walker shot a three pointer and missed and was rebounded by Florida. Walker attempted another three that was unsuccessful and was again rebounded by the Gators and led into an easy bucket. If Florida wants to continue to play like this, they will need to copy exactly how they played tonight. And with a little better shooting from Parsons and Walker will be domination if they can stay hot.

Arkansas (12-6, 2-3) just couldn’t get anything to fall. They missed their first 10 three point shots and struggled a lot underneath the rim. One of the biggest things Florida accomplished on defense tonight was locking Rotnei Clark down on defense. The Gators held Clark scoreless. Boynton never had his eye on the ball when guarding Clark, he made sure to face guard him and deny him the ball the entire game.

Delvon Johnson led Arkansas with 12 points while teammate Marshawn Powell added 10.

Leading behind Boynton in scoring was Vernon Macklink with 13 points and Alex Tyus who also finished with 13 points, 2 blocks and seven boards. Patric Young scored 6 points and recorded 2 blocks while Chandler Parsons chipped in five points and five assists.

With the help from Kentucky’s victory over South Carolina earlier today, the Gators now lead in first place in the SEC east.

Florida is back in action on January 25 as they travel to take on Georgia (14-4, 3-2) at 7:00pm.

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(AP Photo/The Gainesville Sun, Matt Stamey)

The Gators are looking to get back into their groove tonight after playing the worst basketball game in the Billy Donovan era against Auburn on Thursday night.

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Even with a struggling 45-40 win against Auburn, Florida is still tied for first place in the SEC. If South Carolina loses to 12th ranked Kentucky tonight and Florida wins, then the Gators will be ahead in first place. They just need to bring their A game with them. No more 28 percent shooting from the field. We cannot have that again tonight and expect to defeat a very good Arkansas team.

The Gators have won nine of the last eleven games in this series, including the last three in a row.

Game plan for the Gators:

• Improve their shooting all around.
• Eliminate turnovers.
• Get back on defense, don’t allow easy fast break buckets.
• Shut down Rotnei Clark. He can shoot the lights out.
• Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton and Chandler Parsons need to find some confidence in their shot. Shooting 5 of 25 three pointers will not cut it.

The game may be seen on ESPN3 or if you live in the south east you should get it on your local channels. Tip off is set at 8:00pm.

Erving Walker scored five points in just over a minute that helped the Gators (14-4, 3-1) to a 45-40 victory over the Auburn Tigers (7-11, 0-4) on Thursday night.

This had to be the ugliest game I have ever witnessed. Coach Donovan has never coached anything worse than tonight. It was not only a bad night for the Gators, but for Auburn as well. The Tigers shot 1-for-8 from the charity stripe and 3-for-11 from the three point line while Florida shot 5-for-26 from the three and 15-for-53 overall which was 28 percent. It was just awful. But hey look on the bright side… Billy Donovan will be riding the bus back with a W in the win column.

Kenny Boynton nailed a three pointer with around 1:50 left that tied the game up. Walker’s three put the Gators up 43-40 with just over a minute left.

Auburn’s next possession was given up after Earnest Ross was called for a charge but Walker marched down the floor and missed a jumpshot which gave the Tigers another chance with just 20 seconds left to play. Erving Walker put the game away in the final seconds on two free throws that put Florida up 45-40.

The Gators are back in action in Gainesville as they host the (12-5, 2-2) Arkansas Razorbacks at 8:00pm.

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Freshman Patrick Young set a career high with 12 points in a 72-69 defeat to South Carolina. The loss was Florida’s first conference loss and ends the Gators five game winning streak.

Trailing by 10 late in the game the Gators went on a run to cut it to 1 but that was as close as the Gators got as South Carolina went on a 13-7 run to the end game.

Free throw shooting was a big reason for the loss as the Gators shot 12-22 from the line and missed its final five attempts. One of the key moments of the game was when Erving Walker stepped to the line with 1:07 left and the Gator trailing by 1.

Walker missed the front end of the one and one. South Carolina took the ball down court and center Sam Muldrow hit a 3-pointer to put the Gamecocks up by 4 and there never looked back from there.

“I just shot it long,” Walker said. “I can’t ask to be in a better situation at the foul line. But I just missed it.”

Bruce Ellington led the Gamecocks in scoring with points including the final six points for South Carolina.

Florida looks to rebound against the struggling Auburn Tigers on Thursday the game will be on ESPN.

Alex Tyus’s 18 points and breakaway steal for a dunk in overtime helped the Gators get past the Tennessee Vols 81-75 last night in Knoxville.

The Vols (10-6, 0-2) scored the last few points in the second half with just over a minute to go. Brian Williams tied the game up at 68 after a layup with just over a minute left in regulation. Florida had some golden opportunities to win the game before going into overtime but they hurt themselves with a couple poor passes, missed free throws late in the game and a missed layup by Erving Walker that should of been made.

Kenny Boynton struggled from beyond the arc throughout the game but towards the end he found his rhythm. Boynton drained a three at the beginning of overtime that gave Florida some momentum. The Gators ended up scoring the first six points in OT.

The Gators (13-3, 20) defense came up big this game. Tyus stepped up and made some key blocks at the end that saved Tennessee from scoring.

Cameron Tatum’s three point basket with 23 seconds left on the clock cut the Gators lead to four points but Florida sunk they’re free throws and Tennessee couldn’t hit another shot as time was winding down.

Last night was the second game that Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl missed due to an eight game SEC suspension.

Boynton finished with 17 points while Erving Walker chipped in 15. Chandler Parsons added 16 points, 6 boards and shot 4-for-5 from the three.

The Gators are back in action in Gainesville for another SEC match up against South Carolina on January 15. Tipoff is at 1:30pm.

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Erving Walker’s 18 point game helped the Florida Gators (10-3) end Xavier’s 30 game home winning streak on Friday night by the final score of 71-67.

The Musketeers went more than two years without losing at home, which was the longest streak in school history and second longest in division I, following right behind Kansas’ 66-game streak. Xavier almost had it snapped earlier this year after going into overtime two times.

Terrell Holloway led the way for Xavier with 28 points despite going 10 minutes into the second half without a field goal.

Xavier (8-4) straight up man handled the Gators on the offensive board tonight. It reminded me of the Ohio State game in Gainesville earlier in the season. Before the game started I was talking to a friend about how I have a good feeling that the Gators will keep their turnovers down this game. But you know it didn’t happen. Poor decisions and poor passing killed Florida. The Gators ended the game with 16 turnovers while Xavier only accounted for 8.

Florida’s best basketball tonight was during the second half at the 17:53 to 7:52 mark when they held the Musketeers without scoring a single field goal. They’re defense has really been holding up lately. They have held their opponents to 53.7 points in the last seven games. Now if they can get the offense more into it they can be unstoppable.

A total of four Gator players reached double figures tonight which helped Florida reach over 70 points for the first time in eight games.

The Gators began their 13-1 run early in the second half. Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker and Chandler Parsons found their shot behind the arc which gave Florida a 50-35 lead with 13 minutes remaining in regulation. But at the end when Xavier brought some full court pressure that caused the Gators to turn the ball over, the lead started to shrink right away. Holloway scored three times on drives to the hoop that cut the lead down to four with a little over a minute to go. But the Gators made 8 of 10 from the charity stripe as the game came to a close.

Parsons finished with just five points but added 11 boards while Kenny Boynton contributed 15 points and six assists. Vernon Macklin, who had a field day under the basket finished the game with 14 points and seven rebounds.

The Gators are back in action on January 3 as they host the 9-4 Rhode Island Rams at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center starting at 9:00pm.