Florida Gators prove conference dominance with blowout of Ole Miss Rebels

FloridaGamedayr | February 2, 2013 at 9:42 pm | 1 Comment

Florida Gators guard Michael Frazier II (20) reacts after making a three pointer against the Ole Miss Rebels during the first half at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. (USA TODAY Sports)

Winning games at any level in any sport is not easy. However, with a 78-64 win over the second-best team in the SEC in 2012, Ole Miss, the Florida Gators once again made conference dominance look like a breeze. In fact, the 14-point victory was actually the closest margin of victory for the Gators in conference play this season.

Florida was pitting its team-first style of play against the Rebels’ one-man circus. In the end, Ole Miss guard Marshall Henderson simply could not pull enough tricks out of his sleeve to even compete. Leading the conference in points per game, Henderson shot 8-of-15 overall and 7-for-11 from three-point land for 25 points on the evening. However, the rest of the team only put up 39 points on 38-percent field goal shooting in the blowout loss.

Outside of Henderson, only one other Ole Miss player tallied double-digit points with forward Murphy Holloway’s 15 points.

On the other hand, four Gators starters finished with at least 13 points. Forward Eric Murphy continued to dazzle as he has all season long, bagging seven of his eight shot attempts, while going a stunning 5-of-6 from long range, for 19 points and six rebounds.

Patric Young was an absolute force inside, flexing his muscle on the hardwood — literally. Young hit six of his eight shot attempts for 13 points while collecting a game-high 12 rebounds.

Guards Scottie Wilbekin and Kenny Boykin combined for a whopping 17 assists and only four total turnovers, proving their worth as one of the nation’s top backcourt combinations.

This game was over early, as Florida went into the locker room up 40-27 at halftime.

The team proved that Ben Hill Griffin Stadium is not the only tough place to play in Gainesville.

Thanks to the elite exploits of coach Billy Donovan’s stars, only Gators get out of the O’Dome alive.