STORRS, Conn. — Through four games, very little about the Florida basketball team has played out as forecast in the hyped-up, run-up to the 2019-20 season. The Gators' inability to shoot the ball at even a sub-standard rate — an unfathomable development for those witness to practice every day — has undermined the high standard of defense on which the program has built its reputation.
Such was the case again Sunday in the the club's first road test. Defensively, UF was good enough to beat Connecticut at rocking Gampel Pavilion, and even the best offensive half of the season kept the Gators on the wrong end of a 62-59 final score.
Connecticut senior guard Christian Vital's two free throws with 17.3 seconds gave the Huskies a three-point lead. UF had two chances in the closing ticks, with point guard
Andrew Nembhard driving to attempt a quick 2 that caromed off the rim, but back into his hands for an offensive rebound. Nembhard, in traffic, kicked the ball out to
Keyontae Johnson at the top of the key. Johnson bypassed a tying 3-point try, opting for the extra pass to
Noah Locke on the left wing. The pass, though, was tipped and picked off by Vital, who raced downcourt and dribbled at the clock.
"That wasn't the play that lost the game. There were so many plays before that one," said Nembhard, who helped keep his team in it with 14 points, five rebounds, seven assists and just two turnovers. "But we let it come down to that, and that's what happens sometimes."
The Gators (2-2) let it by shooting just 31 percent in the first half, clanging 10 of their 11 attempts from the 3-point line, and trailed, 25-20, at the break. Yes,
20 points. The second-half numbers were much better, 48 percent for the period and 4-for-9 from the arc, but Florida expended a lot of energy trying to rally from deficits that three times reached eight points in the second half. Nonetheless, the Gators were right there — a stop here, one there — from maybe stealing the game, even after star forward
Kerry Blackshear Jr. (15 points, 8 rebounds) fouled out with 4:37 remaining and his team down by five.
"I have to do a better job for my team of staying out of foul trouble," said Blackshear, who hit six of his eight shots, went 1-for-2 from deep and knocked down both his free throws. "I put us in a bad spot."
On that front, it was a team effort.
Florida's five perimeter players combined to make only 10 of their 37 field-goal attempts (that's 27 percent). To compound matters, freshman guard
Tre Mann was knocked out in a second-half scrum, left the game and was placed in concussion protocol.
Afterward, UF coach
Mike White — in what is becoming a post-game routine — again lamented his team's inability to put the ball in the basket, especially when afford open looks. The Huskies, a long, athletic bunch that likes to play fast, didn't allow a ton of them, but the Gators definitely had their shots.
They just didn't make their shots. At least, not enough of them.
"They have to shoot it better than they shot it, and I've got to figure something out with how to get them better looks — and then they have to shoot it with confidence," White said. "Obviously, I don't have the right answer. Look at their numbers. We're going through some trial and error process. Maybe they didn't shoot very well because the first one [he] took wasn't very good, so now with [his] second maybe [he's] overthinking. Now, you're into a situation where you're thinking about shot-selection too much. I don't know. Each guy is different. We're still learning each other."
And yet, the Gators had their chances, cold-shooting hands and all.
Three times inside the final three minutes, UF was on defense in a one-possession game, needed that allusive stop. First, with the Huskies up by a point, 6-foot-11, 260-pound center Josh Carlton (13 points, 8 rebounds) got free on a pick-and-roll for a layup to take the margin to three, 56-53. Nembhard hit two free throws to bring it back to one, but Carlton drew a foul and made both free throws at the 2:15 mark. Again, the margin was three.
Nembhard drove and dumped off to freshman center
Jason Jitoboh, on for Blackshear, for a layup that made it 58-57. Next time down, it was guard Alterique Gilbert (10 points, 4 assists) pulling up to swish a shot from the elbow, making it 60-57. Johnson put his head down and powered to a layup with 45 seconds to go, once again slashing the UConn lead to just one — and then the Gators, finally, got a stop when Polley missed a 3 and UF pulled down the rebound.
But with 25 seconds left, Nembhard was off on his jumper, a 12-footer just outside the paint, the Huskies rebounded, and Vital, who also four rebounds and five assists, was fouled to set up the finishing sequence.
"We were locked in defensively," UConn coach Dan Hurley said. "We had long possessions on offense, but we weren't just going to take quick shots."
UConn came into the game averaging 88.0 points and shooting 39 percent from distance, but ended up 26 points below their average (on 35.6 percent shooting) and hit just four of 22 long balls (18.2 percent).
For the Huskies, though, this was a one-game offensive outlier. The Gators have now dug themselves into an offensive rut and they're the only ones who can climb (or shoot) their way out of it.
"It's basketball," Nembhard said. "I don't want to say I'm not worried, but I'm really not worried. The shots will go down in time. We're just in a slump right now."
The season's numbers: 38.4 percent from the floor, 24 percent from the 3-point line.
"These guys, we'll figure it out," White said. "We've had some practices where I've said, 'My gosh, this team has a chance to be really good offensively.' We shot the heck out of it [Saturday]."
Then came Sunday.
Back to work Monday.