As part of the SEC/Big12 challenge, Florida traveled to Fort Worth, Texas to take on the Horned Frogs. After a horrible first half, the Gators would claw their way back into it. Unfortunately, their comeback would fall just short as they fell to TCU in the end 55-50.
KeVaughn Allen led the way once again but only with 11 points on 4-13 shooting and 2-9 from deep. His shooting partner Noah Locke also had an off game with only seven points on 2-9 shooting (1-5 from deep).
Kevarrius Hayes had a very solid game, finishing with eight points (4-6) and five blocks and Keyontae Johnson dropped nine points and eight rebounds.
As a team, Florida only shot 31 percent (19-62) and 30 percent from deep (8-27). What killed the Gators the most was the Horned Frogs’ size. TCU would outrebound Florida 45 to 33.
It was an 11 a.m. start locally and it looked like the Gators had just crawled out of bed onto the court to begin the game.
Florida wouldn’t score for nearly the first six minutes of the game until Deandrae Ballard hit a three with 14:10 left in the first half to make it an 11-3 deficit.
If you thought that would ignite some offense for the Gators you were sorely mistaken. An even longer drought would ensue as the Horned Frogs extended their lead to 15.
After a drought that exceeded nine minutes, Locke finally made a jumper and then Jalen Hudson converted on a tough layup and one to make it an 18-10 game with 7:48 left in the half.
The rest of the half wasn’t as dreadful as the first 12 minutes, but it wasn’t much prettier. TCU’s size was a major mismatch and the Gators were missing open shots, let alone the tough ones when the Horned Frogs would put a hand up.
The lone bright spot, if you want to call it that, was the final two minutes of the half when Florida went on a 4-0 run to make it a somewhat respectable 32-20 deficit at the break.
In the second half, the Gators finally woke up. Johnson hit a floater and Allen hit a three in the first two possessions and the Hayes started blocking everything that came his way on defense.
Florida went on a 7-2 run to begin the half and immediately clawed their way back in the game with 15:41 left down only five, and they didn’t let up.
The Gators then forced two straight turnovers and eventually tied it up with just over 13 minutes left. The defense started locking in and TCU only scored two points in the first 7:18 of the first half.
Unfortunately, the Horned Frogs would find their stroke and regain their lead and extend it to eight behind threes from Lat Mayen and Kourat Noi and a three-minute drought from the Gators.
Noah Locke would end that drought though with a clutch three to make it a five-point game with 7:32 left.
The game would turn into a battle after that. TCU held onto the lead, but Florida was right on their heels throughout. With 4:01 remaining Allen converted a three to make it a three-point game.
Neither team would score until Florida was forced to foul with 22 seconds left and Desmond bane converted. It was a struggle offensively down the stretch for the Gators once again as they only scored four points in the final four minutes.
Although the defense held the Horned Frogs to the same amount in those four minutes, the Gators could not overcome the shooting hump (1-7 to end the game) and fell to TCU on the road to move to 11-8 on the season.
Next up the Gators head home to take on a solid Ole Miss team Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. on the SEC Network.
