SUNRISE - After a hot early season run had Florida riding high, the Gators are starting to come back down to earth.
Instead of bouncing back from its first loss of the year to a top-10 Syracuse team, No. 13 UF (8-2) came out with no energy Saturday night, falling 56-53 to unranked Richmond (8-3) as part of the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic in the BankAtlantic Center.
The Gators controlled the game for the opening 18 minutes, taking a 32-19 lead. But the Spiders closed out the half and came out of intermission on fire, using a 27-5 run to gain a nine-point edge with 10:59 left in the second half.
After the game, the Gators searched for reasons for their team's inability to stop Richmond's run, primarily pointing to the team's complete lack of energy.
"Mainly just not coming ready to play," said power forward Alex Tyus, who led UF with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. "We can't let missing shots take away our energy from the game. Some people say a layoff, haven't played in a little while - I don't know, maybe it's the bus trip."
Florida coach Billy Donovan said he could feel it in his players' body language during warm-ups before the second half and saw the uninspired result on the floor coming.
"I can get them physically ready to play and get them to a point where we know they have legs. I think as a coach, you can tell when guys are tired and fatigued and worn out physically," Donovan said. "But they've got to get themselves mentally to understand that every game is 40 minutes."
Despite the lack of hustle and focus, UF fought back from the nine-point deficit and still had a chance to avoid the upset at the end of the game. But David Gonzalvez, the game's MVP and Richmond's best outside shooter, broke a 49-49 tie with a clutch 25-foot jumper with 1:34 to go.
The Gators struggled to defend the 3-pointer, one of their greatest strengths entering the game, letting the Spiders shoot 7 of 19 from beyond the arc. UF had no answer from outside, finishing 3 of 15, and starting guards Erving Walker and Kenny Boynton combined to shoot 5 of 23 from the field.
"I thought coming into the game we had done a pretty good job defending the 3-point line, and I thought we were about as poor today as we could have been on the one guy that we know can really shoot it in Gonzalvez," Donovan said.
Donovan also had no answer as to whether or not back-to-back losses - one unsurprising and the other disappointing - will snap his team out of its recent slump.
"I had hoped that the last two years would be wake-up calls," Donovan said. "I have no idea."
MURPHY RE-INJURES SHOULDER; KADJI BACK ON THE FLOOR: Freshman Erik Murphy aggravated an injury to his left shoulder with 8:01 remaining in the first half and did not return for the rest of the game.
In his only minute of play, the 6-foot-9 forward went up for a layup and was fouled, then left the game with his left arm hanging at his side. He left the game, spent some time with team trainers in the locker room and sat on Florida's bench for the second half.
With Murphy unable to go, Kenny Kadji saw the floor for the first time since UF beat Florida A&M on Dec. 1, recording one point, one foul and one turnover in four minutes.
The sophomore center has been struggling with a back injury since then and sat out the Gators' last two games - Jacksonville on Dec. 4 and Syracuse on Dec. 10.
