Florida coach Mike White watched No. 5 Duke seize the lead with a 15-3 run going into halftime.
After a sequence of sloppy fouls and questionable passes, the flustered coach succinctly addressed why Florida was struggling to defend the Blue Devils.
“They’re really good. We’re not as good," White said. "Hopefully we’ll be as good in the second half.”
But White and the Gators never quite narrowed their deficit at the Jimmy V Classic on Tuesday night, as No. 21 Florida lost to Duke, 84-74, at Madison Square Garden.
Sophomore Luke Kennard might as well have been in his high school gym. The Duke sophomore scored 29 points on the Gators, making 5-of-7 from three-point range.
“Once you see a couple go in, I mean you feel a little confident,” Kennard said after the game.
“It felt good tonight, I’ll admit that.”
Sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen led Florida on offense with 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting.
The Gators found themselves in an unexpected position early: in the lead. Florida outshot and outrebounded Duke, and hadn’t committed a foul through most of the first half.
But as Florida (7-2) began to rest its starters, the Blue Devils (9-1) began to capitalize on UF’s mistakes. Duke scored on turnovers from second-unit players Chris Chiozza and Keith Stone. Canyon Barry — whose dad scored 57 points in the Garden against the Knicks during his NBA playing career — couldn’t buy a three.
By halftime, Florida had nine turnovers.
“Turnovers are just killing us offensively,” White said at the half. “Playing with jitters, playing a little bit too fast. We’re killing our defense.”
The second half wasn’t any easier on the Gators. Duke went from shooting 48 percent in the first period to 61 percent in the second.
Florida’s big men couldn’t slow down forwards Amile Jefferson or Jayson Tatum, who scored 24 and 22 points, respectively.
In addition, Duke had three players score 20 points.
Each time the Gators tried to climb back into the game, Duke went on a scoring run. Florida cut the lead to seven points halfway through the second, only to have Kennard hit a three followed by an open layup for Tatum on the next possession.
“I thought we shared the ball,” Kennard said.
“Defense leads to great offense for us and overall it was a really big win.”
A television broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Matt Brannon at mbrannon@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @MattB_727.
UF guard KeVaughn Allen attempts a layup during Florida's 61-55 loss to Alabama on Feb. 13, 2016, in the O'Connell Center.
