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Gators rout William & Mary in basketball opener

 
Published Nov. 15, 2014

GAINESVILLE — Following Florida's exhibition game last week, coach Billy Donovan declared the Gators a long way from their lofty No. 7 ranking.

In the regular-season opener Friday night, Donovan was a little more pleased with what he saw.

Dorian Finney-Smith scored a game-high 15 and had five rebounds to help lead the Gators to a 68-45 victory over William & Mary in front of 10,861 at the O'Connell Center. He suffered a sprained left wrist and was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.

"Our whole team got better from last week," Donovan said. "I saw some growth individually, and I saw some growth collectively."

Florida led 42-18 at halftime after closing the final eight minutes on a 21-4 run.

The Tribe was scoreless for 7:07 down the stretch in the first half, while the Gators shot 55.6 percent (50 percent from 3-point range).

Tribe guard Marcus Thornton, who entered the game as the NCAA's active scoring leader, was held to 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

Florida's impressive first half gave way to a lackluster performance in parts of the second half. The Gators hit just 10 shots and were outscored by one.

"We have mixed feelings," said senior Jon Horford, who had 11 points and five rebounds. "There were flashes of what we need to do on a consistent basis, but we know that's not what we need to do if we want to play at the highest level."

Donovan said he felt like the Gators became careless and lazy in the second half.

"I'm anxious to see the film," he said. "We obviously don't have a lot of depth right now, but we have to come out better if we want to be a good team.

"We weren't very good on offense or defense — they outscored us by one in the second half and that was a bit discouraging.''

Contact Antonya English at aenglish@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3389. Follow@TBTimes_Gators.