Florida had the ball with 8.5 seconds remaining against No. 15 Texas A&M, trailing by three points with a chance to tie.
John Egbunu committed his fifth personal foul, turning the ball over and seemingly ending the game.
But Chris Chiozza stole the ball on the Aggies’ inbound pass and took a wide open three-pointer, which bounced just off the edge of the rim and gave Florida its second-straight Southeastern Conference road loss.
Florida fell to Texas A&M 71-68 on Wednesday night in College Station, Texas. The Gators have now lost four of their five true road games this season and are 0-4 against ranked opponents.
"I thought our guys fought, I thought they played together," coach Mike White said. "(We) played for each other and put ourselves in a position to have a chance against a team who’s leading our league on the road, and a team who’s really good."
Florida (10-6, 2-2 SEC) kept the score close with one of its best offensive games of the season. The Gators shot 44.3 percent from the field, 38.5 percent from beyond the arc and had a good night on the defensive end, but foul trouble and strong shooting performances by a pair of TAMU seniors ultimately proved to be too much to overcome.
Senior guard Jalen Jones led the Aggies (14-2, 4-0 SEC) with 26 points on 8-of-13 shooting, including three three-pointers. The other senior guard, Danuel House, contributed 22 points with two triples. The two combined for 48 of Texas A&M’s 71 points, a low output for a team that averages 80.1 points per game.
The Gators’ defense was solid all night, but perhaps a bit too aggressive.
Florida racked up 25 personal fouls compared to 13 by the Aggies. Texas A&M scored 20 points from the free throw line on 30 attempts, while Florida was held to 12 attempts, converting on just four.
The Gators’ two leading scorers, forwards Dorian Finney-Smith and Justin Leon, each finished with four personal fouls. Finney-Smith registered his third double-double of the season with a team-high 17 points and 12 rebounds, including four three-pointers. Leon scored a career-best 16 points and Chiozza added 12 along with a game-high eight assists.
"I thought we did some decent things offensively, especially from (three-point range)," White said. "If we got 39 percent every night then we probably would be sitting here with two or three less losses."
It was Florida’s fourth-best shooting performance of the year and third-best shooting percentage from beyond the arc, but turnovers and poor free throw shooting ultimately weighed down the offense.
The Gators’ 16 turnovers led to 21 Texas A&M points. Florida was only turning the ball over 10.4 times per game prior to Wednesday night.
And at the charity stripe, the Gators left eight points off the board by shooting just 33.3 percent (4-of-12) from the line.
Tuesday’s performance was a better outing than Florida’s previous SEC road game last Wednesday at Tennessee, and the Gators built on their win over LSU on Saturday, but against the No. 15 team in the country, Florida wasn’t efficient enough to take down the Aggies.
"This wasn’t one of our poor offensive performances, but just not good enough," White said. "If you go 4-of-12 from the foul line, and you shoot the same percentage and you have 10 turnovers instead of 16, then maybe we’re sitting here with a win."
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Alex Maminakis on Twitter @alexmaminakis
UF point guard Chris Chiozza drives the ball down the court during Florida’s 77-63 win against Georgia on Jan.2, 2016, in the O’Connell Center.
