For those wondering, Florida sophomore forward Casey Prather didn’t foul on his own with 3.9 seconds and the Gators ahead 66-63.
Florida coach Billy Donovan told Prather to foul to get Arizona forward Solomon Hill on the free-throw line in a one-and-one situation.
” He did exactly what we wanted to do,” Donovan said. “I’ve been in a lot of different situations in that when the ball got in bounded we were not going to foul because it was eight seconds and it was a lot easier, I felt, on a side out of bounds play. They were going to have to throw the ball to somebody and I felt like we could match up and get there.”
The move backfired when side judge Antinio Petty ruled that Hill was in the act of shooting beyond the 3-point line. Hill appeared to have his arms on the way up when Prather slapped him on the wrists.
” There’s a lot of interpretations and the interpretation of if a guy is starting in the act of shooting - I’ve never seen a guy start his act of shooting with his back to the basket,” Donovan said. “Now I thought Solomon Hill did a fabulous job selling it, did a great job. But clearly I don’t know if it was the right call. I haven’t talked to anybody about it.”
Hill made all three free-throws to force overtime. But Florda regrouped, outscoring Arizona 12-6 in overtime to win 78-72.
“Nobody agreed with the call but you just have to turn around and start focusing on overtime,” Florida freshman guard Bradley Beal said. “Basically, just staying composed and playing basketball.”
Other notes:
– Donovan said that freshman Florida QB Jacoby Brissett has not talked to him about walking on to the basketball team. Brissett, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard at West Palm Beach Dwyer, was a two-to-three star recruit coming out of high school.
– Donovan said junior guard Mike Rosario showed better effort defensively against Arizona, but needs to improve his footspeed on the defensive end of the floor. Donovan said Rosario is getting caught a step late off screens. “He needs to be better sniffing out what’s getting ready to happen instead of reacting to what’s happening,” Donovan said. “And then his ability to guard to dribble has got to get better, he’s got to do a better job on that for us.” Rosario provided Florida a lift in the first half, scoring 10 points off the bench and going 3-for-4 from 3-point range. The rest of the Gators went 4-for-23 from 3-point range. Rosario is shooting 48.8 percent (20-41) from 3-point range this season.
