Florida has not hesitated to be honest this season.
On Tuesday the honesty came from Justin Leon, whose nose was whacked by the arm of a Texas A&M defender in midair during UF’s 71-68 loss. The hit sent Leon sprawling to the court, clutching his bruised face.
Moments later, the junior was sent to the free throw line for two shots. His head was ringing.
He missed both.
"I still should’ve knocked them down," he said.
Honesty also came from redshirt senior Dorian Finney-Smith, who knocked the ball out of the Aggies’ Danuel House’s hands at half court with seven seconds left in the second half. Down by three points, UF’s Chris Chiozza caught it, dribbled to the three-point line and launched the final shot of the game: a miss.
"We didn’t lose the game because of that shot," Finney-Smith said after the loss to No. 15 TAMU. "We lost the game because of (16) turnovers."
And finally, it came from Mike White, who tried to simplify the Gators’ offensive game plan in an attempt to raise his team’s play, to bring them out of the Southeastern Conference’s statistical gutter, if only for one road game.
"(We need) zero live-ball turnovers. That’s it. That’s it," White said of UF’s focus heading into the game against TAMU. "With us, with some of the offensive deficiencies we’ve had, we thought that might help a little bit."
Florida committed 16 turnovers in the loss, its highest total since committing 19 in the season opener against Navy on Nov. 13. The turnovers led to 21 points for the Aggies.
But turnovers weren’t the most damaging aspect of Florida’s performance on Tuesday.
The Gators missed eight of their 12 free throws, a new season-low percentage, even for the SEC’s worst free-throw shooting team at 60.6 percent.
And Florida has tried fixing its low percentage from the charity stripe. It conducts free-throw drills during practice, where a miss means the whole team runs laps.
Florida’s players work overtime in the gym, shooting free throws whenever they can.
Still, the in-game results haven’t improved.
"I’m at a loss. In terms of free throws and our approach, with how we move forward, (how we) shoot it better," White said. "Maybe we'll just stop shooting them in practice altogether."
White wasn’t laughing or joking. Simply put, Florida hasn’t played up to his standards on the offensive end this season. UF struggles to get all three phases of its team working at the same time: offense, defense and free-throw shooting.
And when they do, the Gators are usually at home, like in its exhibition win against Division II Palm Beach Atlantic. The win over PBAU was one of only three UF victories in which it shot at least 40 percent from the field, 35 percent from three-point range and held its opponent below 40-percent shooting.
But even then, the Gators shot just 37 percent from the foul line against the Sailfish.
"In my guys’ defense, it's not for a lack of effort or reps," White said. "To come on the road and beat a good team in the SEC, you’ve got to shoot a higher percentage than that."
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UF forward Dorian Finney-Smith goes for a layup during Florida’s 68-62 win over LSU on Jan. 9, 2016, in the O’Connell Center.
