Colleges

Gators start slow, win by 23

Billy Donovan quickly pulls four starters and UF awakens to roll to rout.

By ANTONYA ENGLISH
Published November 28, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Florida's Adam Allen, right, battles J.J. Hirst for possession. Four UF starters were pulled when the Gators fell behind 6-1.

GAINESVILLE - Less than four minutes into Tuesday night's game against Stetson, with the Gators trailing 6-1, coach Billy Donovan already had seen enough.

Sensing his team had no passion, energy or enthusiasm, he snatched four starters out of the game.

"We were sluggish," said freshman point guard Jai Lucas, the starter who remained on the floor. "It's almost like we were sleepwalking, expecting them to lay down. But in the college game, that's not going to happen."

Trailing by nine with 14:02 remaining in the first half, Florida closed the half with a 32-9 run on its way to a 71-48 victory at the O'Connell Center. Donovan said pulling the players is part of the lesson he's trying to teach about learning what it takes to be a top program. After all, it was just 10 years ago that he was coaching a losing UF team.

"When you see something that's at the bottom and you're a part of climbing that ladder ... when you get a taste, the last place you want to go is back where you started," Donovan said. "I don't want us to go back to where we started, not that we won't or it couldn't happen. But I don't want it to be because of our effort and our energy, passion and enthusiasm to play the game. And if there was one thing I was disappointed in, it was that those guys came out to start the game with that type of poor energy, passion and enthusiasm. ... I think they think I'm going to sprinkle stardust all over them and we just win. And it doesn't work like that."

Florida (6-1) rebounded from a 12-3 deficit behind a career night for sophomore forward Jonathan Mitchell (10 points, four rebounds) and 15 points, six rebounds and a career-high four blocks from Marreese Speights.

Up next for UF: Vermont on Friday at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa.

Stetson (2-5) shot 62.5 percent early in the first half, but finished at 30.8 percent. Florida ended the half on an 8-0 run, then opened the second half with a 12-0 run.

Stetson shot 33.9 percent from the field in the game, led by 16 points from Garfield Blair.

[Last modified November 28, 2007, 00:53:58]