Ray Shipman is leaving the Florida Gators basketball program. His father told the Gainesville Sun yesterday that he will be leaving and the school made it official today.
Shipman is seeking more playing time and will consider heading south. Some reports have also linked him to the Ivy league.
This marks the 13th basketball transfer at Florida since 2003/2004.
The Florida Gators have followed a trend in most of their losses this season: start slow and get behind double digits, rally late and come up short.
Thursday was no different.
BYU took it to the Gators early and often, leading by as much as 13 points in the second half.
The Gators would rally, led by an incredible effort from Kenny Boynton, who scored 27 points and was more than a game defender on BYU star Jimmer Fredette.
Despite the exceptional defensive effort by Boynton, Fredette had a Steph Curry-like performance, hitting big shot after big shot from all areas on the court. He scored 37 points including a couple of big threes in the decisive second overtime.
The Gators held for the last shot at the end of regulation and the first overtime, but were unable to get a quality look on either possession.
Boynton fouled out at the beginning of the second overtime, and Fredette took it from there.
Michael Loyd, Jr. also had a huge game for BYU. Essentially known as BYU’s 9th man, Loyd Jr. scored 26 points and was huge in both overtime periods.
In addition to Boynton’s 27 points, Chandler Parsons scored 20, Vernon Macklin had 16, and Erving Walker added 12.
BYU will now face the 2nd seeded Kansas State Wildcats in the next round.
The BYU Cougars take on the Florida Gators in the first game of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday at 12:20PM.
Both teams are certainly hungry. Florida is making its first tournament appearance since winning back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. On the other hand, BYU hasn’t won a tournament game since 1993.
The match-up for this game is quite simple; Florida’s perimeter defense against BYU’s perimeter shooting.
At times, the Gators have played very poor perimeter defense, allowing teams to shoot a very high percentage from the field and beyond the arc.
BYU shoots 42% from three as a team, and has great backcourt play through Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery.
The Gators are going to get significant points in the paint and should have a handful of put-back opportunities as BYU lacks an elite rebounder.
So again, this game will simply come down to perimeter play. If the Gators are able to keep the BYU backcourt in check, they have a great chance to win. If BYU gets it going early, the Gators will be in trouble.
Who has the edge?
Frontcourt – Florida
Backcourt – BYU
Coaching – Florida
Overall – Even
Prediction – This is going to be a very competitive game. BYU is more than capable of making a run in this tournament, but I do have the Gators winning. Florida will be able to do enough to limit Fredette and will have a lot of success inside.
Stats
BYU
Jimmer Fredette – 21.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists
Jackson Emery – 12.6, 4.5, 2.8
Tyler Haws – 11.3, 4.3, 1.5
Jonathan Tavernari – 10.3, 4.5, 1.5
Florida
Kenny Boynton – 13.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists
Erving Walker – 12.6, 3.4, 4.9
Chandler Parsons – 12.1, 6.8, 2.5
Alex Tyus – 12.0, 6.8, 0.4
Vernon Macklin – 10.4, 5.5, 0.8
The Florida Gators enter spring practice with questions that have not needed answers in a couple of years.
The Gators lost a number of players to graduation and the NFL Draft, but have retooled on both sides of the ball with the top recruiting class.
Obviously, replacing Tim Tebow will be a lofty task, but that won’t be the focus during spring practice. John Brantley is ready to step in and lead the Gators just as Tebow did.
However, the defense will be a huge question mark, much as it was in 2007. The Gators will be very young on defense after losing seven defensive starters and a number of backups.
It’s only the spring, but a lot of eyes will be on the Gators returning players and incoming class, many of which have enrolled early.
If Brantley is able to live up to the expectations and the defense can quickly become a cohesive unit, the Gators should be a Top 10 preseason team, maybe even Top 5. Obviously, this is easier said than done.
Look for more news as the spring unfolds.
The Florida Gators are back in the NCAA Tournament.
After winning back-to-back National Titles in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007, the Gators have spent the last two seasons in the NIT.
That ends today, as the Gators earned an at-large bid as the 10 seed in the West region. They will play the 7 seed, BYU, in the first round.
The Gators own the longest active NCAA win streak at 12 games. The Gators have also made it to the Final Four the last two times it was held in Indianapolis (2000, 2006).
The Florida Gators needed to beat Mississippi State on Friday to avoid sweating out Selection Sunday.
After a lackluster performance and their first loss to an SEC West team this season, the Gators will be hoping to avoid the NIT for the third straight year.
Mississippi State was firing on all cylinders early and continued to play at a high level for most of the game. As a team they shot 57% from the field, 50% from beyond the arc, and 82% from the stripe. The Bulldogs lead 58-39 with 13:29 to play.
Florida would make a game of it after going on a 14-0 run to pull within five. However, the Gators would get no closer than three, and never led at any point.
All five Mississippi State starters scored in double figures, led by Barry Stewart’s 17.
Kenny Boynton led the Gators with 23, while Erving Walker added 19.
The Gators will now have to wait and hope for a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The Florida Gators knocked off Auburn in the first round of the SEC Tournament.
Led by Alex Tyus and Chandler Parsons, who combined for 45 points, the Gators beat Auburn for the 12th time in 13 meetings.
After trailing by double digits for most of the game, the Tigers cut the deficit to six with a few minutes remaining. However, they weren’t able to get any closer as the Gators traded baskets with the Tigers for the rest of the game and knocked down free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
Frankie Sullivan scored 27 points to lead Auburn in a losing effort.
The Gators are now 7-0 against the SEC West and will face the West’s #1 seed, Mississippi State, Friday night.
Three Florida Gators have earned SEC conference awards.
Erving Walker was named to the All-SEC second team, and Kenny Boynton was named to the All-Freshman team.
Joining them is SEC-Scholar Athlete of the Year, Ray Shipman.
This marks the 11th consecutive season that the Gators have earned at least one spot on the All-SEC first or second team. This also marks the third season in a row that the Gators have had a SEC All-Freshman selection.
The Gators (20-11, 9-7) will take on Auburn (15-16, 6-10) in the first round of the SEC Tournament on Thursday.
Down 18 with 4:34 to play in the first half, the Gators were desperately looking for answers.
Kentucky was scoring at will, while the Gators were giving up offensive rebounds, turning the ball over, and having a difficult time scoring.
The Gators closed the first half on a 13-5 run, to close the gap to 41-31, and gained some momentum heading to the locker room.
The Gators battled for most of the second half, eventually cutting the score to 62-60 with 5:35 to play.
However, in an eerily similar fashion to the first meeting, the Gators went cold after getting back into the game. Kentucky finished the game on a 12-6 run to knock off the Gators by eight.
Unfortunately, the Gators were plagued by poor shooting and single digit scoring from Erving Walker, Chandler Parsons, and Vernon Macklin, despite getting quality play off the bench from Erik Murphy and Ray Shipman who scored 11 points and 9 points, respectively.
Kentucky received balanced scoring, led by Darius Miller and Eric Bledsoe who scored 14 points each.
Kentucky essentially clinched a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, while the Gators will probably be left to sweat it out on Selection Sunday.
With that said, the Gators should make the dance, and despite the poor finish to the season, are a team that can make some noise. When they’re shooting the ball well, the Gators are a hard team to beat. Their biggest problem lately has been getting into a big hole early and then having to play their way back into the game.
For Kentucky, they have been stellar all season. They should make a deep run in the tournament, but I won’t be surprised if they are eliminated early. They aren’t a great free throw shooting team and they’re prone to giving up big runs when they fall asleep on defense. Cousins is still a player that Calipari has no control over, and it will be interesting to see how this team plays when they are tested for 40 minutes. Wall is a stud and will do everything he can to put this team on his back, but he can’t do it by himself.
It’s very likely that Wall, Patterson, and Cousins will leave for the NBA Draft, and Bledsoe might join them. Calipari will retool, but Kentucky fans might have to keep waiting if the Cats can’t win it all this year.
The SEC Tournament is ahead, but it’s March. The madness is beginning.
Saturday’s disappointing loss to Georgia left a bad taste in Florida’s mouth. Fortunately for the Gators, they only had to wait three days to get back on the court against a quality opponent.
Despite playing with high emotion on Senior Night, the Gators came up short 64-60.
Vernon Macklin had 21 points, but had little help from the rest of the Gator lineup. Chandler Parsons, Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker, and Alex Tyus combined for a dismal 24 points.
Dan Werner, the only senior on the Gator roster, played well and scored eight points.
Vanderbilt shot 43% from the field and 50% from three, including a 6-for-9 performance by John Jenkins.
Jenkins scored 18 points, while Jermaine Beal and A.J. Ogilvy added 13 and 16, respectively.
The Gators started slow and were down 20-8 early in the first half, but battled back with a strong run to end the half down only three.
However, for the first time this season, the Gators lost when leading with five minutes remaining.