NEW ORLEANS — Let the cries of underachievers stop.
The SEC has at least one team in the Elite Eight as the Florida Gators eased past Brigham Young 83-74 in overtime Thursday night by making All-American Jimmer Fredette look very human, although he assisted with a consistently selfish game.
What was supposed to be the Jimmer Jam became the Gator guard shootout as Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker stepped up and made big baskets all night, including Boynton’s three with 3:18 to play in overtime to put the Gators on top 75-70.
Boynton and Wa lker teamed for 33 points, and the Jimmer became the Rimmer as he missed shots from near and far without ever losing his confidence.
He may have missed, but he kept on firing, and on his 23rd shot of the night, a deep three, he tied the game at 63-63 with 4:57 to play. He would have only one more field goal.
Don’t take this wrong. He’s an exciting college player who will start shooting the moment he steps off the bus, but there has to be some questions about how he’ll doon the next level.
He certainly didn’t help himself by trying to be a one-man team. As the team’s leading scorer he finished with 32 points, but as the point guard he attempted 29 shots. That included 15 threes, of which he made only three.
He had four assists and four turnovers.
Give Billy Donovan credit, too. He got his team to lay off the perimeter shots in the second half enough to use its height advantage inside, working for high-percentage shots to lead most of the way. But then a Gator would take a bad shot or suffer a turnover.
With 2:06 left, it was tied at 67-67 and the Gators had just missed two free throws. But the ball bounced off a Cougarout of bounds, and Donovan called for a timeout.
Every possession was that critical, but the play was for naught as Chandler Parsons shot an air ball. The Jimmer jacked and missed, though, and each team managed only one free throw on its next possession. With 35.4 seconds to play and the score tied at 68-68, Donovan met with his staff before drawing up the play.
Boynton missed from the corner, but Walker chased down the rebound, giving the Gators the final shot. That was perfect, because they didn’t want the ball in the Jimmer’s hands. But Chandler, the SEC Player of the Year, drove and shot short again, sending the game into overtime.
It was all Florida from there.
Donovan, who is a great coach when he has great players, started grabbing timeouts in the first half, trying to redirect his Gators when they went from hotter than a Gainesville July gala to an Arctic winter in a blink.
The Gators missed their opening shot and then reeled off eight consecutive field goals for a 20-10 lead and showed signs of blowing BYU out of the water.
On top of that Boynton wasn’t just holding Fredette, he was shutting him down as the strong candidate for the John Wooden Award missed his first five shots, two of which were blocked.
BYU, which loves its perimeter game, never panicked.
The Cougars kept firing, and while they never got hot, they warmed up. When Fredette started using his left hand for layups - three consecutive - and getting points, the Gators went flatter than an East Texas tortilla.
Florida was 10 of 12 from the field in the first nine minutes and 4 of 14 in the final 11 minutes of the first half. The 10-point lead was gone when the teams went into the dressing room at the break tied 36-36.
In the end, though, Florida advanced and the SEC has redeemed its season.
Sports, Pages 19 on 03/25/2011