It was a scrappy, back and forth performance but 24th-ranked Mississippi State was too much for Florida. The Bulldogs earned their first conference victory on Tuesday night, after beating the Gators 72-68.
UF is now off to its first 1-3 start in conference play since Billy Donovan’s first season in Gainesville in 1996-1997.
KeVaughn Allen led the way in scoring for the third straight game with 17 points on 5-12 shooting (3-7 from deep). The three freshmen all stepped up as well.
Keyontae Johnson threw in 11 points, Andrew Nembhard contributed 13 points and eight assists, and Noah Locke finished with 12 points on 4-9 shooting.
Once again, Florida showed flashes and at times completely controlled this game, but big droughts throughout the night, and the inability to finish did them in once again.
The Gators started off ice cold after Allen hit the first shot, going 0-6 over the span of the first five minutes, while the Bulldogs pushed the ball inside to take the quick 7-2 lead.
Later in the half Mississippi State guard Lamar Peters put on a three-minute clinic with an 11-0 run of his own to go up six. As the half came to a close, Florida was able to claw its way back and was only down two at the break after Johnson hit a three at the buzzer.
In the second half, the Gators came out very aggressive on both ends of the floor in the first five minutes.
Johnson and Locke both converted on threes, meanwhile Kevarrius Hayes started converting shots inside on a couple of buckets and did a great job on the offensive glass for second-chance points - something the Gators needed all of in this game.
The Bulldogs would answer with a run of their own though, tying it up at 45 with 13:17 remaining at the same time that the Gators went on a cold stretch for close to four minutes.
The rest of the game would be a dogfight. Both teams started executing on offense and hitting their shots. Over the final 8:16 the largest lead was four and there were five lead changes.
One again though, the Gators could not close it out. With 2:56 they held a five point lead, but would only score two more points by the final buzzer. The Bulldogs, however, would hit four of their last five en route to the 71-68 win.
This team simply cannot get out if its own way when it matters most.
Florida’s defense was solid once again, and the offense was much better than it had been, shooting 42 percent for the game (25-59), but the major problem around this team is that no one wants to step up in the big moment.
Whether it is fear of messing up or inexperience from the youth on this team, until head coach Mike White finds his closer, games like this will continue.
