Parsons’ extra work paying off for Gators
GAINESVILLE (AP) – Chandler Parsons treated the best game of his career just like he did the worst.
Florida’s sophomore forward got off the plane and headed straight to the practice court for a late-night shooting session.
It paid dividends the first time. Parsons and his teammates hope it will continue, beginning Wednesday night against Georgia (9-10, 0-4 Southeastern Conference).
Parsons scored a career-high 27 points and was 7-of-8 shooting from three-point range against Vanderbilt Sunday, a breakout performance that followed three of the worst days of his basketball career. He missed a free throw with 3.3 seconds remaining against South Carolina last Wednesday, which allowed the Gamecocks to eek out a one-point victory with a layup at the buzzer.
“I went from crying in the locker room when I had a chance to win the game for my team to going out and playing like I did (against Vandy),” Parsons said. “It just shows how focused you’ve got to come each day and how much you’ve got to prepare for each game.”
With that in mind, Parsons went back to the gym after returning from Nashville Sunday night and shot nearly 300 free throws.
“It’s not going to be just like a one-time thing because I’m content or think I’ve got everything figured out,” Parsons said, calling the experience a wake-up call. “It’s nothing like that. It’s a process, and you have to go through it each day.”
Could the 6-foot-9 Parsons have turned a corner? Could the player coach Billy Donovan criticized for not working enough on his mechanics and letting his shooting slump – he started the season 17-of-68 from behind the arc – affect other parts of his game finally have figured something out?
Donovan hopes so.
“The normal thing for a guy like Chandler Parsons right now is to become complacent, relaxed and think he has it figured out,” Donovan said. “That would be the worst avenue he could go down as a player. He, more than anybody, should realize what it’s like to be at the free throw line and miss a free throw and come back and have a career high in points. Why is that? It’s a mental approach.
“He has an unbelievable opportunity to learn from what happened. What does he do with that experience to really grow? Human tendency, when something really good happens to you, is to let up, relax, and think, ‘OK, I’ve got this under control. I know how to handle it.’ That’s when you get humbled again, and those are the past behaviors that we’ve got to try to grow from.”
Parsons has been humbled plenty in two seasons.
He was high school teammates with point guard Nick Calathes, helping lead Lake Howell to the state semifinals in three consecutive seasons and a state championship as a senior, but found it much tougher at the collegiate level.
Parsons averaged 8.1 points and 4.0 rebounds off the bench as a freshman, shot 32.4 percent from the three-point line, 62.7 percent from the free throw line and was a defensive liability. He added about 20 pounds in the offseason in hopes of being tougher in the post, but showed little improvement through the first half of this season.
Missing that free throw, though, may have changed everything for him.