Outside shots help Gators — or opponents


Like all good outside shooters, Florida's Lee Humphrey subscribes to a simple philosophy: If you miss, try again.

In the first half of Florida's NCAA Tournament-opening game against Jackson State, Humphrey went 0 for five on 3-point shots. At halftime, Florida coach Billy Donovan told Humphrey and fellow guard Taurean Green to keep shooting, that the shots eventually would fall. Not that anyone needs to tell that to Humphrey, who is known for his willingness to shoot from almost anywhere on the court.

That's what he did in the second half. Florida led by six points at the break in an unexpectedly tight game and opened the second half with a 14-3 run that included two 3-pointers by Humphrey. Humphrey finished the game with 12 points, all in the second half.

"When Humpty is shooting like that, it gets ugly," teammate Joakim Noah said after the game.
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Welcome to the feast or famine world of Humphrey, whose shooting figures to be devastating to one team or the other this weekend at the Midwest Regional at the Edward Jones Dome. While No. 1-seeded Florida's big front line of Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer attracts most of the attention, the outside shooting of Humphrey, a senior from Maryville, Tenn., plays a big part as well. If he's not hitting, it limits what Florida's offense can do.

Last season, Humphrey set a school record for 3-pointers with 113, including 22 in the NCAA Tournament. In the two games at the Final Four, he scored 34 points, starting with 19 in the semifinals against George Mason. He broke open the championship game against UCLA in the second half with a series of 3-pointers and was named to the All-Final Four team.

In the SEC tournament this season, Humphrey made 47 percent of his 3-point tries as he took advantage of opponents trying to stop Florida's big men. Then against Jackson State, his first 3-point try of the night hit the side of the backboard, and he missed his next four.

"It's tough to say why it's been that way,'' Humphrey told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "I shoot well in practice, (and) I've had games where I shot well, like in the SEC (tournament). But it's not been consistent."

Humphrey also struggled in Florida's second-round game against Purdue, making just two of six 3s, but one of them was a key 3 with about six minutes to go that put Florida up by five.

He has showed a knack for hitting key shots at key times. Humphrey is one of the best 3-point shooters left in the tournament. Only Josh Carter of Texas A&M, who led the nation at 50.3 percent, had a better percentage on 3-pointers among players whose teams are in the Sweet 16. Humphrey ranks 13th nationally.

And with an inside threat like Florida's, the danger a hot 3-point shooter poses is obvious. Bring out defenders on Humphrey and it creates more chances for Noah, Horford and Brewer.

"When we have Lee knocking down 3s like he's been doing, teams have to focus on him,'' Green told the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post. "It just opens everything up for the guards, for the bigs, and makes everything a whole lot easier."

Humphrey's teammates are pulling in All-SEC and All-American honors, but he's pulling in accolades of a different kind. He was named an Academic All-American by ESPN the Magazine and for the second time was selected as the SEC's scholar-athlete of the year for men's basketball. Humphrey, an applied physiology major, has a 3.68 GPA.

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