Florida Notebook: Jacksonville's Patric Young takes Gators' loss hard

NEW ORLEANS - Saturday's 74-71 overtime loss to Butler was the final games for seniors Chandler Parsons, Alex Tyus and Vernon Macklin, but freshman Patric Young took the loss just as hard.

The former Paxon High School and Providence School standout was upset because he said he didn't play well and let his teammates down, especially the three seniors.

"I just feel so badly for my teammates, and my seniors, thinking about next year and how they're not going to be here with me," said Young, who had two points and two rebounds. "I wanted to send them out on a better note. They played their hearts out.

"I just felt I could have done something. I felt responsible, not giving my effort for the guys out there."

Young was also bothered by the fact that Shelvin Mack hit a 3-pointer over his outstretched arm that gave Butler a 72-70 lead with 1:21 remaining in overtime.

Young scored the only points UF's bench could manage. Butler's bench had 23 points.

Macklin ends up on the bench late

Center Vernon Macklin played just one minute in overtime because he was saddled with four fouls and the fact that he's UF's worst free-throw shooter.

That left the Gators without their only inside option for much of the overtime and it made things tougher for guards Kenny Boynton and Erving Walker because there wasn't a low-post option available.

"I don't know if we have necessarily a low-post offensive presence when he's off the floor," Donovan said. "When he got fouled in overtime he went 1 for 2 from the free-throw line and I knew at that point they were just not going to allow him to do what he did in the first half."

Macklin, who scored 24 of his career-high 25 points in regulation, entered the game shooting 44.3 percent from the free-throw line.

He made 3 of 5 against Butler.

"It's frustrating," said Macklin, who picked up his fourth foul with 9:02 to play in regulation. "I wanted to be on the floor. . . . I'm not that great of a free-throw shooter so I didn't want to jeopardize my teammates anyway. I think coach Donovan made a great decision [in keeping him on the bench]."

UF bottles up Howard

Florida wasn't able to stop Mack (27 points), but the Gators did do a decent job on Matt Howard for most of the game. He scored 14 points, but he went 5 of 12 from the field and 1 of 6 from 3-point range.

"We were really concerned about him getting his wide open threes off of pick and rolls but we were able to take away [those shots]," Young said. "He's still going to get his 10 points a game just without the 3-pointers just by being relentless and going to the glass. He's really physical and really determined."

Howard, who averages 16.8 points, had a chance to put Butler ahead at the end of regulation but made only 1 of 2 free throws with 30.7 seconds to play. He scored the Bulldogs' first basket in overtime to give them a 62-61 lead - their first lead since they went ahead 10-8.

michael.dirocco@jacksonville.com

Call Michael at (904) 359-4500.