The Gators entered Monday’s game riding high after their biggest win of the season and expecting to cruise to an easy victory.
But what No. 20 Florida (8-3) left with was its most disappointing loss of the year, as it fell 71-68 in overtime against Jacksonville (7-3) in the O’Connell Center.
“Honestly I thought we were going to come out and just kill this team,” sophomore Kenny Boynton said.
The Gators were flat and unfocused on both sides of the ball, turning it over 13 times in the first half and allowing JU to shoot 45 percent for the game.
What made the performance especially shocking was that it came on the heels of a 57-44 win in which UF held then-No. 6 Kansas State to just 27 percent shooting.
“We came out flat,” junior Erving Walker said. “They hit some tough shots and our defense wasn’t as strong is it’s been the last couple of games.”
On the offensive end UF was consistently stifled by Jacksonville’s pressing man-to-man defense, which plugged all the passing lanes and forced the Gators to abandon the plays they were attempting to run.
The Dolphins’ relentless effort forced UF’s guards to play one-on-one and drive the ball on their own, something that became increasingly difficult as Jacksonville refused to go away.
“We weren’t expecting them to keep coming back at us and scoring, so I think we just panicked,” Boynton said. “We went to everyone trying to play one-on-one games.”
On paper, the Gators should’ve been able to dominate an undersized Jacksonville team on the interior. But that plan never materialized.
Although JU didn’t feature a player taller than 6-foot-7 for more than 10 minutes, UF centers and power forwards combined to shoot just 31 percent.
“There was nothing they did to really guard our post,” senior Vernon Macklin said. “Me and (Alex Tyus) just missed a couple shots, and we have to give our guards more confidence. When they pass the ball in there, we have to make more shots.”
Florida has come out flat before, and in many of those cases it could rely on its bench to come in and provide a spark.
But UF’s previously stalwart reserves were nowhere to be seen on Monday, as the freshman class and sophomore Erik Murphy combined for just four points on 1-of-10 shooting with six turnovers in 60 minutes of action.
“It was the first game where I didn’t feel like our freshman had great energy,” coach Billy Donovan said. “That hurt our team tonight.”
But Donovan said there was plenty of blame to go around, adding that he and the rest of the coaches deserve criticism for not having the team ready to play.
He also noted his squad’s inability to handle prosperity and come out willing to battle against lower level competition.
“If you’re a competitor, it doesn’t make a difference who you’re lining up against,” Donovan said. “That’s that internal makeup, and I don’t know if you can, all of a sudden, instill that in guys.”
Monday’s game was a back-and-fourth battle from the outset, as it featured 14 ties and 16 lead changes.
With 6:58 left in the second half it appeared the Gators were on their way to survival, as Erving Walker hit a 3-pointer to put the team up by seven.
But UF followed with a 10:43 stretch without a field goal, allowing Jacksonville to notch the come-from-behind win.
Walker had contested 3-point looks at the end of both regulation and overtime, but neither was able to fall and the result was the season’s worst loss.
“We sabotaged ourselves in this game,” Donovan said. “We got up by seven, and there was nothing they did to get back in the game. It was everything we did.”
