GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida Coach Billy Donovan figures his team is “very disappointed” considering its preseason ranking.
Then again, “I didn’t rank us,” Donovan said.
Kenny Boynton scored 21 points, Alex Tyus added 19 and No. 16 Florida beat Florida Atlantic 79-66 on Tuesday night. The Gators (4-1) probably should have dominated the Owls with their size and depth, but they needed a second-half surge and some late foul trouble to pull away.
Now, after an 18-point loss to third-ranked Ohio State, a six-point victory over Morehead State and this, Donovan believes his guys - which opened the season at No. 9 - have “a long way to go to be considered an elite team.”
“We’re trying to take the next step,” Donovan said. “The preseason rankings and all that stuff, we can’t control.That’s kind of what it is, so I’ve never really evaluated or looked at ourselves as being this top-10 team. ... That’s not who we are.”
Erving Walker added 14 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists for the Gators, who showed some fatigue while playing for the fourth time in eight days.
Florida struggled early against the Owls (3-3), allowing them to shoot nearly 50 percent from the floor in the first half and giving up way too many easy baskets. The Gators, meanwhile, missed free throws and failed to make the most of their height advantage.
Florida settled down in the second half and really turned things around when Brett Royster, the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, picked up his fourth foul with 16:43 remaining.
The Owls trailed 39-38 when Royster picked up his fourth, and the Gators responded by pushing their lead past 10 points.
“He stopped playing after his fourth foul,” Florida Atlantic Coach Mike Jarvis said. “He would have been better off fouling out sooner.”
Greg Gantt scored 17 points to lead Florida Atlantic.
In other top 25 games, Kemba Walker scored 30 points and hit a key jumper with less than a minute left, helping Connecticut (4-0) outlast No. 2 Michigan State (3-1) 70-67 in a Maui Invitational semifinal in Lahaina, Hawaii. ... Jon Diebler scored 20 points and David Lighty added 11 to lead No. 3 Ohio State (4-0) past Morehead State (2-3) 64-45 to win the Global Sports Invitational in Columbus, Ohio. ... Ashton Gibbs scored 20 points and No. 5 Pittsburgh (6-0) pulled away from visiting Robert Morris (2-2) after leading by five points with 11 minutes remaining to win 74-53. ... Thomas Robinson had 15 points and Marcus Morris added 12, leading No. 6 Kansas (4-0) past Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1-4) 82-41 and setting a team record with its 63rd consecutive home victory. ... Terrence Jones had 16 points and 17 rebounds, and Brandon Knight scored 24 points to help No. 8 Kentucky (4-0) hold off No. 13 Washington (3-1) 74-67 in the Maui Invitational semifinals in Lahaina, Hawaii. ... JaJuan Johnson had 21 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 10 Purdue (4-0) beat visiting Austin Peay 87-65. ... Michael Dixon scored a career-high17 points to help No. 11 Missouri (3-0) beat Wyoming (2-3) 72-62 in the semifinals of the Cancun Challenge in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. ... Will Coleman and Will Barton each scored 20 points to lead 14th-ranked Memphis (5-0) past visiting Tennessee-Martin (2-3) 102-80. ... D.J. Richardson scored 16 points to lead No. 19 Illinois (5-1) past visiting Yale (1-3) 73-47. ... Jordan Hamilton scored 25 points and No. 20 Texas (4-1) gave Coach Rick Barnes career victory No. 500, winning 84-50 against visiting Sam Houston State (2-1). ... Steven Gray scored 20 points and No. 22 Gonzaga stopped a two-game losing streak in the third-place game of the O’Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic, winning 66-63 against Marquette (4-2) in Kansas City, Mo. .. Jimmer Fredette scored 16 points and Jackson Emery added 15 to help 23rd-ranked Brigham Young (4-0) cruise to an 86-36 victory over visiting Mississippi Valley State (0-4) in the second game of the South Padre Island Invitational. ... Tyler Zeller scored a career-high 23 points and No. 25 North Carolina (3-2) blew most of a 22-point, second-half lead before beating visiting UNC Asheville (2-2) 80-69.
In an SEC women’s game, Ashley Corral scored 15 points, including two key three-pointers, to help host Southern Cal (3-1) upset No. 17 Georgia 71-63. Jasmine James had 17 points and Porsha Philips had 11 points and a career high 19 rebounds for Georgia (3-1).
Sports, Pages 24 on 11/24/2010