Gator Country

BLING · 02-26-2013, 11:11 PM

After being pissed at the way we closed against Mizzou, this one didn't feel nearly the same way.

Sometimes you just have too much going against you. Too many injuries, and too many guys having an "off night" shooting the ball at the same time, and then Prather gets knocked out too? Yeah....

Unfortunately another loss keeps alive the idea that we can't win a decent game on the road. Because frankly, we can't... at least according to the RPI.

Hopefully now with Yeguette possibly making back it gives UF the final push and we can pick off UK at Rupp. We are in real danger now of not winning the SEC outright. Unthinkable a couple of weeks ago. It might come down that UK game, I was affraid of that if we didn't beat Mizzou, and that's a one that I felt we really let slip away. This one it felt more like we just weren't' going to have the firepower to win, especially the 2nd half. Felt like we got manhandled on the boards (surprise surprise) and without being able to hit a shot or do anything on offense, we weren't going to win.

gatordavisl · 02-26-2013, 11:13 PM

This team is what it is. We'll see if health makes them better and the clear indicator will be the SEC tourney. It's win all or BUST there. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but they need an indicator of success away from home. W/O that, they will not perform well in the tourney, imo.

gatorev12 · 02-26-2013, 11:17 PM

Just typed it in the game thread...but the reason I was seething last week was the horrible officiating costing us the game. No less than 7-8 (at least) calls went against us and easily caused a 10-15 point swing in the final score by one-sided officiating.

Today, the calls may have slightly broken UT's way (which is typical on the road), but not to the extent that it made the difference. Tonight was on us--poor effort mixed with fatigue and questionable tactical decisions by Donovan running the press and giving Tennessee a number of easy buckets that ultimately started their run.

**JimBobTheClown** · 02-26-2013, 11:18 PM

We were very short on our bench and they played waaaaay above their heads. Not worried.

xenythx · 02-26-2013, 11:18 PM

I'm more upset with this one than the Mizzou one. The Mizzou one felt like the refs took momentum from us and we just went cold and Missouri got hot. This game felt like we were never really in it in the second half because of lack of effort, even though it was a very winnable game.

Jonas · 02-26-2013, 11:20 PM

Refs were pretty bad. Tenn's gimmick is that they are "physical" (which means they foul a lot), but we were called for more fouls than them.

TampaGatorFan · 02-26-2013, 11:21 PM

Except for that ridiculous charge call at the end, the refs were tagging both teams pretty evenly. We just couldn't buy a shot and McRae was running on deer antler or something tonight.

gatorev12 · 02-26-2013, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TampaGatorFan

Except for that ridiculous charge call at the end, the refs were tagging both teams pretty evenly. We just couldn't buy a shot and McRae was running on deer antler or something tonight.

That's how I see it too.

There were multiple horrible calls like the obviously wrong "charge" call in tonight's game that were made last week, that's the difference.

A poor call, no doubt--but I doubt it would have made a difference given how poorly we were playing. Tennessee was better than us tonight and deserved the win. Can't really say that about last week's loss at Mizzou.

InstiGATOR1 · 02-26-2013, 11:31 PM

Well it would have cut it to a one score game with under a minute left. So it may well have affected the outcome.

tommyuf21 · 02-26-2013, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InstiGATOR1

Well it would have cut it to a one score game with under a minute left. So it may well have affected the outcome.

I rarely point to ref calls as factors, but I agree on that one. It made a difference.

BengermanV · 02-26-2013, 11:36 PM

I'm the opposite. Great teams slip up now and again, but we've now fallen flat on our face the last three times we've had a remotely tough game. Tonight just further proved my theory that this team doesn't have the stomach to win close games, especially ones on the road. We must have missed 10 open layups tonight.

BLING · 02-26-2013, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BengermanV

I'm the opposite. Great teams slip up now and again, but we've now fallen flat on our face the last three times we've had a remotely tough game. Tonight just further proved my theory that this team doesn't have the stomach to win close games, especially ones on the road. We must have missed 10 open layups tonight.

Well i've also accepted that the roll we were on just wasn't sustainable. We had a few guys that were "on fire" at the same time for a stretch of games, so that made us seem like world beaters.

I think once Yeguette gets back to fill the "garbage man" role is missing right now, that we have a chance to get it back together and play the type of ball we were playing before this string of road losses.

tommyuf21 · 02-26-2013, 11:53 PM

Actually, I'm more disappointed with tonight than against Missouri. I think Missouri is a NCAA team and their home record is stellar.

The team we lost to tonight is mediocre at best. Even shorthanded, we played down to their level.

HALLGATOR · 02-26-2013, 11:56 PM

You can't go on the road and shoot 23.5% from behind the arc when you take 17 shots and have much hope of winning the game.

gatorich · 02-27-2013, 07:09 AM

Your never as good as you think you are and never as bad as you think you are. We have a good team, but probably not as good as our record indicated a little earlier. We are also a lot better than we have shown lately. Having said that, this team has the ability to beat any team out there on any given night...in other words, we have a shot. There just isn't any dominant team out there this year. Get everyone back and healthy and this is a very dangerous team.

gatorbogey · 02-27-2013, 07:17 AM

i'd be upset if we had our full complement of players and lost. well, not really 'upset', more like concerned.

but, i feel it's better to be a bit on-edge as the post season approaches. what gets me is the pitfall of over-confidence, of the inflated ego - of 'complacency'. i feel, this way, the coaches, the players, etc double their efforts in their preparation for each individual game.

tegator80 · 02-27-2013, 07:34 AM

I thought the game showed our weaknesses. We aren't physical inside and we don't have enough depth to overcome injuries. I liked the way Scottie played overall but unless we find some inside presence we are going to live and die by the three, much like years past.

Yes, Patric had a good scoring game but if Stokes gets 14 boards then something is missing and that is another big body. Maybe losing Walker wasn't as bad as losing Larson, if you think his would have evolved naturally over the span of the season. Just saying.

And if we make it to the Great 8 this year then the team's MVP has to be Yeguete.

**mrgator** · 02-27-2013, 07:41 AM

I'm also not too upset. I don't like losing, especially to the toothless hillbillies. But this is a team that is very short handed and the game last night set up perfectly for UT. I just want to get Frazier and Yugette back and see what happens here at the end. I think with a full team, we are a top 5 team. We are clearly a good but not great team when only down to 6 experienced players.

Gatorstooth · 02-27-2013, 07:42 AM

We can't keep blaming the refs. We're just not a road team and I knew that when we lost road games WITH all our players. However, this loss to the vols was predictable. Tennessee was supposed to have a good team this year and they are. Combine that with us being short handed on the road then I guess we can honestly say we were probably lucky the game was as close as it was.

SmootyGator · 02-27-2013, 07:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BengermanV

I'm the opposite. Great teams slip up now and again, but we've now fallen flat on our face the last three times we've had a remotely tough game. Tonight just further proved my theory that this team doesn't have the stomach to win close games, especially ones on the road. We must have missed 10 open layups tonight.

Seriously? By "fallen flat on our face" you mean: lost. Had one or two breaks gone our way would have won those three games. Then you probably would have said that we "play like a champion when it counts" or some B.S. way on the other side of the spectrum.

The truth is that it's somewhere in the middle. I for one thought we played pretty good at the end of the game last night. Unfortunately, Murphy was fouled out, Yeguete is still nursing that knee, and Prather got his eye slashed open, so of course we gave up a few bad rebounds. I thought the drive by Rosario was pretty clutch, but unfortunately we got kind of a crappy call on that one. We missed a few open threes at the end, but we had been missing threes the whole 2nd half so it wasn't like we got worse at the end of the game...

That being said, we were something like 2-8 in our last 10 games at Knoxville... I mean, we had some teams that were way better than this one lose at UTk, so was this really a surprise?