The Florida men’s basketball team’s game against Mississippi State was a microcosm of its season.
Mississippi State three-point spurts, offensive lapses and an eventual late collapse leading to defeat.
Ongoing loops of quick runs and scoring droughts characterized Florida’s 71-68 loss to No. 24 Mississippi State in Starkville, Mississippi, on Tuesday as the Gators dropped their third SEC matchup of the season.
UF (9-7, 1-3 SEC) made its first field goal — a jumper from senior guard KeVaughn Allen — less than 15 seconds into the contest. It then missed its next seven shots, all but two of which were from three-point range. The other two shots were missed jumpers from guards Jalen Hudson and Noah Locke.
Freshman guard Andrew Nembhard ended the drought with the team’s first make from deep, stopping a 9-2 MSU run. Allen and forward Dontay Bassett got a couple shots to fall to give the Gators a rhythm.
A 9-0 Bulldogs run followed.
Guard Lamar Peters was responsible for all nine of the Bulldogs’ points during that span, nailing three from beyond the arc.
But Florida, a team whose offensive identity is built around the deep ball, continued to rely on those three-point shots. Seven of the Gators’ first 12 attempts were from three-point range, and they shot 10-for-31 on the night. Mississippi State (13-3, 1-2 SEC) also made 10 threes, but it took them almost half as many shots (17) to get there.
When the Gators did get those three-point shots to fall, it usually sparked a small run that allowed them to either cut into MSU’s lead or take a lead of their own.
After missing six straight shots, Florida closed out the first half on an 8-2 run thanks to a pair of threes by Keyontae Johnson, one at the buzzer.
The second half started the same way.
It was a 9-0 burst headed by Johnson, Nembhard and Locke, that gave Florida a 45-40 advantage by the under-16 media timeout.
And it was succeeded by a drought that saw the Gators make just one of their next seven field goals.
Still, Florida remained within reach of a victory until the very end, as has been the case for every one of its conference losses this season.
The Gators pulled down 12 offensive boards compared to six by MSU, scored 21 points off turnovers to the Bulldogs’ 12 and guarded the perimeter well for most of the game.
But their inability to make consistent shots caught up with them as the time diminished, and the Bulldogs, who shot 53.1% on the night, took advantage of Florida’s notorious inability to close out games.
Follow Alanis Thames on Twitter @alanisthames and contact her at athames@alligator.org.
UF guard Keyontae Johnson dropped 11 points during Florida's 71-68 loss to Mississippi State.
