Within the first four minutes Tuesday, the Gators jumped out to a 12-0 lead.
That was about the only thing that made coach Amanda Butler happy.
UF (3-4) lost to Florida A&M 72-71 and has yet to win consecutive games this season.
“We played a lot more hopeful than tough,” Butler said. “Hope is not going to win ball games. Tonight, we didn’t deserve to be wearing Florida uniforms.”
In the team’s fourth game in a week, Butler said fatigue wasn’t a problem at all. The problem was effort, or lack thereof.
“We shouldn’t even use that word (effort) in reference to how we played,” Butler said. “If we’re going to talk about effort, then we need to talk about FAMU. Their intensity exceeded ours.”
The Rattlers (4-2) outran the Gators and scored, more often than not, on transition buckets. The quick tempo kept UF guessing and FAMU shooting.
“We practice transition defense and they’re a very good transition offense team, but it just didn’t matter enough to us to get back,” Butler said. “FAMU shot the ball very, very well tonight, but I felt like they were open.”
The first shot the Rattlers hit was a 3-pointer, and it was ominous.
Once the first bucket was in, they steadily chipped away at the Gators lead and took a 25-23 lead.
Trading scores the rest of the first half, UF took a lead into halftime.
The first four minutes of the second half were a complete reversal of fortune for the Gators, who saw their lead diminish as they fell prey to a decisive 14-2 run that gave the Rattlers the lead.
No matter how close Florida came to tying, FAMU always seemed to come up with a basket when it was absolutely crucial.
Coming within three points three different times in the second half, the Gators failed to come up with a game-changing defensive stop when they needed it.
When Lonnika Thompson hit her two free throws to cut the deficit to 58-55, the Rattlers answered with a 6-0 run.
With less than a minute remaining in the game, A&M’s Bianca Cordero hit two free throws that seemingly put the game out of reach at 72-60.
Then the Gators teasingly scored the next 11 points in a row, capped off by a Jordan Jones’ 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds remaining.
There just wasn’t enough time.
Rattlers coach LeDawn Gibson said in those waning moments, she only wanted to see one thing.
“Can I please see three zeroes on that clock? That’s the longest 20 seconds I’ve seen,” she said.
