Matt Bonner and Florida came to to play at the Whittemore Center 16 years ago this month.
Insider: The Night Matt Bonner Led The Gators to Town
11/18/2017 7:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball, UNH Insider
DURHAM, N.H. – Then, like now, the University of Florida boasted one of the best men's college basketball teams in all the land.
Then, like now, the Gators had a lineup packed with speedy and talented players, some of whom were destined to play in the National Basketball Association, coached by an up-and-comer likely headed to big things.
Once again, the University of New Hampshire is taking on the biggest of challenges when it plays No. 8 – and likely rising – Florida under coach Mike White on Sunday at 6 p.m. in Gainesville.
The game will be televised on the SEC Network, which can be reached at www.unhwildcats.com.
There is one big difference between the last time the University of New Hampshire and Florida met on the basketball court, though.
Sixteen years ago this month Billy Donovan – now the coach of the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder - brought his No. 6 Gators to Durham to take on the Wildcats.
The teams met on Nov. 28, 2001, not at Lundholm Gymnasium, but in the Whittemore Center across the street.
Concord's Matt Bonner and the Gators attracted the largest crowd – 7,272 - to ever watch a UNH home game.
"We got to the gym and the student section was already packed two hours before the game," Bonner said from Texas this week. "It's not every day a Top 10 team in the nation comes to play a true road game at UNH. I think the people around the state were pretty excited."
Excited especially, to watch a Top 10 team featuring a home-grown talent.
Bonner made the trip happen.
The best basketball player to come out of New Hampshire and retired now after playing a dozen seasons in the NBA didn't schedule the game or book the airline tickets: But he might as well have.
He was the reason Donovan was more than willing to take his high-powered team into uncharted waters.
A 6-foot-10 smooth shooter and scorer, Bonner led his Concord High School team to three straight Class L championships - winning title games in both the Whittemore Center and Lundholm - and along the way announced he was signing on with Donovan and was going to take the next step in his career at Florida.
By the time he enrolled in Gainesville, the Gators had a three-game contract in place with UNH.
The first two years the Wildcats went to Gainesville.
Year three, the Gators did the traveling.
"I remember coach Donovan asking where we should stay," Bonner said. "I said we've got to stay in Portsmouth. I always loved that town and I thought the team would appreciate seeing a quintessential New England town, which was cool."
He remembers the bus ride to the game itself.
"It was pitch black out and it was, I don't know, 4:30 or so," he said. "It's not like that in Florida. The guys were saying, 'Where are we, Alaska?' I thought that was pretty funny."
Bonner was more nervous than usual before the game.
"Obviously a lot of people were there basically because of me," he said. "I was thinking, 'I hope I don't have a bad game.'"
Bonner and the Gators had a good one. He made three of his five three-point shot attempts and finished with 15 points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes.
Florida won, 108-56, its third victory in three years against the Wildcats.
Bonner, 37, looks back on his Florida years, and in particular the trip to Durham, fondly.
He had played against Austin Ganley and knew head coach Phil Rowe and Ryan Hurd, an assistant coach during that time, and other Wildcats and appreciated greatly the chance to come back and play in front of family and friends.
"We never came to New England besides that," Bonner said. "That was really special."
Bonner spent a couple of years with the Toronto Raptors to start his NBA career and then spent 10 seasons with coach Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, helping them to two NBA championships and wrapping up his career with the 2014-15 season.
These days he does television work on pregame and postgame shows for home games with the Spurs, mostly for FoxSports Southwest, and also works with the team in player development.
"For now, I love what I'm doing," Bonner said. "I have an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old and I can be around the kids while they're young and also can help out with the team. It lets me keep learning from coach Pop and the rest of the staff."
An added bonus: The schedule lets him bring his family back to New Hampshire for a couple of months in the offseason.
XXX
The Gators and Wildcats meet again Sunday at 6 p.m. for the first time since the Whittemore Center.
This is a one-game deal as part of the Phil Knight Invitational/PK 80 presented by State Farm.
The Wildcats were selected to play in the event, which was established to celebrate the 80th birthday of Knight, the founder and chairman emeritus of Nike.
UNH played at Texas on Tuesday as part of the tournament. The Wildcats also play a pair of games next weekend in Nashville – against Furman on Friday and Utah State on Saturday – as part of the event.
UNH plays a home game against American University on Tuesday night at 7.
Individual and group tickets for all home games are available at www.unhwildcats .com.
Allen Lessels
@UNHInsider
Allen.Lessels@unh.edu
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