Midway through the first half, center Patric Young set a screen on Missouri’s Earnest Ross for freshman Michael Frazier II.
Seconds later, Young sprinted underneath the basket to block out the Tigers’ Alex Oriakhi, anticipating a rebound that never came after Frazier sunk his jumper.
Young demonstrated his athleticism and speed on the play.
However, it was one of the few positives from the Gators’ starting frontcourt on Tuesday night in Mizzou Arena.
“With our lack of depth in the frontcourt, we’ve got to be able to fight through fatigue a little bit better,” coach Billy Donovan said.
“We don’t have the same rotation up front, and obviously that wears on you when you got a guard a guy like [Tigers guard Phil Pressey] all the time.”
After the Gators shot 29.4 percent from behind the arc in the first half, Donovan wanted Florida to improve its post presence in the second half.
Unfortunately for the Gators, they couldn’t get it done.
During Florida’s (21-4, 11-2 Southeastern Conference) 63-60 loss to Missouri (19-7, 8-5 SEC) in Columbia, Mo., both Erik Murphy and Young failed to find the net on 0-of-7 shooting in the first half. The frontcourt only scored six points before halftime, all of which came from junior Casey Prather.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half for Florida’s frontcourt.
UF’s post players combined for 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting. Without Prather’s perfect shooting, they shot 26.7 percent from the field. The Tigers outscored the Gators 24-16 in the paint.
“We don’t have the same team,” Donovan said. “When they came to our place, they didn’t have the same team.
“We’ve both have had to battle through some different injuries and setbacks.”
While Young and Murphy struggled offensively on Tuesday, their defensive performance wasn’t much better.
The big men each grabbed three rebounds while turning the ball over twice. They also each picked up three fouls.
While the duo failed to gain any momentum on defense, Donovan wasn’t pleased with the Gators’ overall defensive performance during the final minutes of Tuesday’s game.
Missouri went on an 8-0 run in the last 4:19 of the first half, which featured 0-for-8 shooting from Florida, cutting an 11-point deficit to three.
Still, it was the defense in the final 8 minutes that cost the Gators the game.
Late in the second half, Pressey drove down the lane past Murphy and found an open Laurence Bowers on the low block.
Bowers took Pressey’s pass and dunked, bringing Missouri within one point of Florida’s lead with 8 minutes left in the second half.
Then with 2:47 left in the game, the Gators gave up the lead for the first time after Pressey drove past junior guard Scottie Wilbekin and redshirt senior guard Mike Rosario to make a go-ahead layup.
Wilbekin fouled Pressey, who made a free throw to complete the three-point play.
Missouri finished the game on a 10-3 run, completing a 13-point rally in the second half.
“Our defense, for the most part, did a really great job in the game,” Donovan said.
“I thought we defended them really well except for those last 8 minutes.”
Guard Kenny Boynton said: “We tried switching defenses. They scored on both of them, whether we went to two or we went man. They just converted. At the end of the game, they just converted more than we did.”
Contact Katie Agostin at kagostin@alligator.org.
Patric Young attempts a shot during Florida’s 69-52 win against Kentucky on Feb. 12 in the O’Connell Center.
