Say this for Florida senior forward Erik Murphy, he’s not afraid to fail.
After front-rimming a hook shot in the final 10 seconds that could have tied the game in Florida’s SEC Tournament final loss to Ole Miss, Murphy said he would welcome being in that situation again if called upon.
“That’s something I’m comfortable with,” Murphy said. “If that happens again, I have to try to make the play again, whether it’s for me or one of my teammates. I want to be in that situation and it’s something I’ve accepted.”
ESPN/ABC analyst Jimmy Dykes said that Florida coach Billy Donovan told him Wednesday that the ball would go to Murphy in crunch time for a last-second shot. Donovan said Monday that was “not entirely accurate” but that he wanted to get the ball inside to the 6-foot-10 Murphy either try to draw a double team or draw a foul. Florida trailed 65-63 at the time.
“I wanted to get some action toward the basket,” Donovan said. “There’s 22 seconds to go, we’re in the double-bonus and I just felt like in that situation, Erik is a really good free-throw shooter. He’s probably our most consistent guy down inside. He got it in there and he got a shot that he’s capable of making that he didn’t make.”
The missed shot capped off a rough SEC Tournament final for the 6-foot-10 Murphy, who finished 3 of 11 from the floor and 1 of 6 from 3-point range for nine points. Murphy scored a career-high 27 points in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal against LSU, but followed it up by averaging just 7.5 points in his final two SEC Tournament games.
It’s a whole new season, so hit the reset button and play ball, Gators!
Fully agree. Our guys are healthy with this week to prepare. Long season, tough grind, now a terrific opportunity. Buckle up for a wild ride, Gator Nation!
While it may be a whole new season, the team is the same old Gators. I don’t know who blames the Gators defense for our losses when it clearly is the offense which is failing in the clutch. Multiple possessions without a basket, missed FT’s, inability to handle the opponents press defense and certainly an inability to hit clutch shots. Gators need to work on their shooting and develop an offense which features something beside the pick and roll.
William, Coaches will usually blame the defense for a loss because defense is something that can be improved by intensity and effort. If you can’t shoot from the perimeter or finish inside, there is no amount of effort that will compensate for those issues. Therefore blame the aspect of the game that is addressable—-a lesson in “Coach Speak.”
SEC Champs, #3 NCAA tourney seed, #14 in the country. I’ll take that all day and night long. No one expected this team to do what they did. However, we do have weaknesses, and good teams are starting to exploit those now. We are a perimeter shooting team, great defensive team, but not very good inside game, rebounding, and mediocre free throw shooting team, especially away from homo. The problem is you need an inside game, and free throws to close games out, which is why we have not been able to. 3’s stop falling when your tired. If they push it down to Young, they will foul him, and take their chances on the line. Murphy is a shooter, but his inside game is a little weak. It’s nobody’s fault, its what and who we are, and what we have. I would go to a taller line-up late in games, but how do you take your best free throw % off the floor (Rosario @ 90%) late in games. It is a gamble we need to take because Prather is a freak rebounder, and gets a lot of put backs. If they double Pat, Will should be open for a dunk. It’s all we have, and I can’t wait to see us try to overcome it in the tournament… Go Gators!
Lou….
Do all real Gator fans a favor, come out of retirement, & go back to work and stop trolling the gator boards.
You’re such a nattering nabob of negativity!
Take a hint by all the Gator fans that have been calling you out on the boards.
Congrats to Coach Billy for SEC Coach of the year.
Go Gators…….onward to the Final 4!!!!