It had been too long with no words — of encouragement, of substance, of anything — and so Mike White had to speak.
After Florida’s home loss to Vanderbilt on Feb. 23, White finally addressed the NCAA Tournament with his players and how it applied to a struggling Florida team who had just lost two straight games and was sitting on the edge of postseason eligibility.
Simply put, White told them they had to finish the season strong.
And then the Gators lost to LSU.
And then they lost to No. 22 Kentucky on Tuesday, 88-79, for their fourth-straight defeat, and their future never looked more muddled.
“I try to stay positive, but it happens,” redshirt senior Dorian Finney-Smith said. “We just got to find ways to get wins now.”
Yes, they will try. Against Missouri on the road on Saturday, against the Southeastern Conference field in the league's’ tournament next week.
But it may not matter.
There was a sense of finality surrounding Florida on Tuesday.
There was a finality to Finney-Smith, whether it was during his pre-game Senior Night ceremony, where he was honored before the last home game of his career with an orange Gators’ jersey framed in a black plaque.
Whether he was putting an arm around redshirt sophomore John Egbunu and sophomore Devin Robinson, calming them down after a rebound they both fought for rolled out of bounds late in the second half, leading to a turnover that Florida simply couldn’t afford.
Whether he was joking with an official on the sideline after the referee knocked the ball out of Finney-Smith’s hands, afraid Finney-Smith would pass it in before a Kentucky sub was made.
There was also a sense of finality to this season. And while in no way was Florida ruled out of the NCAA Tournament, and in no way was a nine-point loss to Kentucky something that Florida was embarrassed by, Florida believed it could have played better.
“Our backs were against the wall,” White said. “We (had) to play with desperation.”
Now, after four straight losses, UF’s postseason fate is likely out of its hands.
Yes, they can help by making a run in the SEC Tournament. But if Florida somehow manages to advance far, and it is forced to play teams like first-place Kentucky, second-place No. 20 South Carolina and third-place Vanderbilt, teams which Florida owns a combined 0-5 record against this season, there won’t be much optimism from Florida that it can win.
“We take the show on the road to the conference tournament, and we see what happens,” White said. “That’s all we can do at this point.”
For a Florida program that was as synonymous with the NCAA Tournament over the last decade as Billy Donovan was with perennial success, missing the Big Dance two years in a row will sting.
That’s why, if they hope to make it to the tournament, they can’t lose again.
“It was the hand that we were dealt,” Finney-Smith said. “We gotta do something about it.”
Contact Ian Cohen at icohen@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @icohenb
UF's John Egbunu (15), Lexx Edwards (14) and Justin Leon (24) walk off the court following Florida's 88-79 loss to Kentucky on March 1, 2016, in the O'Connell Center.
