Florida finally showed its youth.
Before Saturday’s dismantling of Providence College, 10 points or fewer had decided each game and the inexperienced Gators had to fight for every victory.
The Gators won four of those despite shooting under 40 percent from the field.
But that wasn’t the case Sunday.
Needing a win to clinch its second tournament title of the season, Florida (7-2) fell flat and was shocked 56-50 by Brown (3-6) in the final game of the Brown Bear Classic in Providence, R.I.
“Name an aspect of the game, and that’s where it was decided,” coach Amanda Butler said when asked to pinpoint her team’s struggles. “They shot better than us. They defended better than us. We were out-coached. We were out-hustled. We didn’t come to play.”
The loss came at the hands of a Brown team that was held to just 10 first-half points against Providence in the tournament opener.
The Gators defeated Providence handily on Saturday to the tune of 73-56, but nothing went Florida’s way on Sunday.
Shooting again was a culprit as Florida (30.6 percent) missed early and often. Brown recognized Florida’s desire to feed the low post and clogged the passing lanes inside, forcing 17 turnovers and 11 steals.
Trailing by one point at half, Florida came out and traded buckets with Brown to open the second. But after making three out of its first four attempts to open the half, Florida missed seven consecutive shots,
“Our biggest issue today was we lacked complete maturity and leadership,” Butler said. “Clearly, we’ve got to get a lot better.”
The Bears had a knack for nailing shots each time the Gators would cut into Brown’s lead and it began to manifest itself into UF mistakes.
Florida fouled Brown twice as the shot clock was expiring. And within striking distance with mere minutes remaining, the Gators’ guards seemed content to milk to clock on offense and not press the action.
A small bright spot for the Gators was the first-career double-double for freshman forward Deaundra Young (10 points, 10 rebounds) and the second in a row for Ndidi Madu (14 points, 11 rebounds).
“We’re just not very mature. It’s really disappointing in every aspect,” Butler said. “We’ll just go back, get ready to play and figure out who wants to compete.”
