After successfully playing a complete 40 minutes on Thursday, the Gators were afflicted by an old problem.
No. 9 Florida (3-1) entered halftime with a 17-point lead. But when the final buzzer sounded, it had escaped with just a six-point win against Morehead State on Sunday in the O’Connell Center.
“We just stopped executing,” senior Vernon Macklin said. “We came out a little flat and they went on a run.”
Morehead State started the second half on a 22-11 spurt, which was fueled largely by senior Kenneth Faried.
Faried, the Eagles’ lone forward in a four-guard lineup, finished with 20 points and 18 rebounds.
“Faried is unbelievable, he’s a warrior,” said senior Chandler Parsons, who had a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. “We could really learn a lot from that guy — how hard he goes to the glass and how he takes a look at the game.”
After the Gators held the Eagles to just 29 percent shooting in the first half, they allowed Morehead State to shoot 44 percent in the final 20 minutes.
That charge was led mostly by Faried, who scored 14 second-half points on 7-of-8 shooting.
Faried’s 14 second-half rebounds also gave life to an Eagles team that looked overmatched in the first half, when the Gators outrebounded them 23-15.
“Faried was just the key to their team,” sophomore Kenny Boynton said. “He was a big part of their energy. …When he started getting his rebounds in the second half, I think overall as a team, that just started picking them up.”
Some of Faried’s success can be attributed to the limitations on Vernon Macklin and Alex Tyus, who had each missed significant practice time with injuries leading up to Sunday’s game.
Although some may be disappointed that the Gators were outrebounded 41-36 by a team from the Ohio Valley Conference, Faried’s status as the nation’s second-leading rebounder last season should be a mitigating factor.
“He just totally destroyed our front court,” coach Billy Donovan said. “That was an incredible performance by just a terrific player.
“He’s a Dennis Rodman-type guy.”
Another component that seemed to wilt down the stretch was Florida’s press, which was a disruptive force and caused seven turnovers in the first half.
As the game wore on, Morehead State took a page out of the Ohio State playbook, using a few of the Buckeyes’ strategies to handle the pressure with ease.
“In the first half we could run up and jump and trap them,” Boynton said. “But in the second half they started bringing men back and they just let one guy bring it down, so we had no choice but to just stay in front and keep four guys back.”
Florida’s defensive struggles were in some ways fueled by a lack of energy, which was a result of poor shooting.
After opening the season with three consecutive games of at least 49 percent shooting, the Gators shot just 39 percent against the Eagles.
“In the second half our inability to put the ball in the basket had a direct effect on our emotional level and the way we played in the second half in terms of battling through the adversity and the difficulties we had offensively,” Donovan said.
