Eli Carter had a season-high 22 points, Kasey Hill dished out a career-high-tying 10 assists and the Florida men’s basketball team still couldn’t pull out a win.
The Gators (12-13, 5-7 Southeastern Conference) fell 63-62 to Texas A&M (17-7, 8-4 SEC) in College Station, Texas, for their fourth straight conference loss.
Florida had the chance to seal the win.
With 5.3 seconds left and the Gators trailing by one, Alex Murphy took a three-point shot as the buzzer rang.
But unlike all of Florida’s opponents who have made a game-clinching shot to close it out — most recently Ole Miss on Thursday — the shot didn’t go in.
The Gators now fall below .500 and are two games out from breaking even in conference play.
After Florida tied the game at 7-7 less than three minutes into the game, Florida went on a 2:36 scoring drought which allowed Texas A&M to go up by 11 points before the Gators cut the lead to 32-28 at halftime.
The Gators fought back in the second half, taking a 62-61 lead with 1:39 left to play.
But Aggies junior Jalen Jones sank two free throws following a Dorian Finney-Smith foul to regain the lead.
Florida missed both of its final two shots — two three-point attempts by Murphy — to seal the deal.
Jones, Kourtney Roberson and Danuel House accounted for 50 of Texas A&M’s 63 points, while Carter (22), Chris Walker (11) and Finney-Smith (11) were all in double figure scoring for the Gators.
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Eli Carter dribbles during Florida's 68-61 loss to No. 1 Kentucky on Feb. 7 in the O'Connell Center.
