Familiar issues plagued the Gators once again on Tuesday as they were unable to get anything going offensively in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, losing to the Oklahoma Sooners by a score of 62-53. This was a game where the Gators defended well enough to win but couldn’t get anything going on the offensive end resulting in what was yet another frustrating loss, bringing their record to 7-5 to close out the non-conference portion of the season. Early in the game things went positively for the Gators who put together a 10-point lead on the back of some early points from Trey Bonham but the success was fleeting as the Gators spent much of the final 30 minutes of the game hurting offensively. Florida will now have just over a week to prepare for their SEC opener against Auburn.
Can’t Buy A Basket
Florida finished this game shooting 33% from the field and 9%, yes, 9% from three. There were certainly a few open looks that the Gators would have liked back and there was certainly a bit of bad luck but a lot of the shooting struggles have to be attributed to a lack of open looks created by an offense that hasn’t looked comfortable yet in this season outside of buy games against low and mid major opponents. Oklahoma, a conservative defensive team, was content to stay in driving lanes and not over extend and the Gators didn’t have the ability to shift them and get them into rotation. This is the third time the Gators have failed to break 60 points after scoring only 55 against West Virginia and 54 against UConn.
Lead Guards
This was a very difficult night for starting point guard Kyle Lofton who finished with 2 points and 2 assists on 1-8 shooting, following up the last high major game the Gators played where he had 0 points on 0-5 shooting. Trey Bonham was one of the few Gators who could get something going offensively finishing with 14 points on 4-10 shooting, though much of his work was done in the first minutes of the game where he put up 10 points before being quiet for much of the contest. On a night where the Gators couldn’t get a lot going offensively the long stretches of quiet play from the point guards was particularly noticeable, and the fit of Lofton playing next to Bonham didn’t always look comfortable as has been the case in several games this season. The season has not gone according to plan for the Gators this season and it might be time for them to start experimenting with different lineups and the breakdown of minutes for these two players could be something that we start to see change.
Bright Spot
Colin Castleton has had a tough couple of weeks where he hasn’t looked like himself but he was able to bounce back against Oklahoma finishing with 22 points and 8 rebounds, clearly the best player for the Gators on this night. While the Gators didn’t do a lot well offensively they were able to get some deep post catches for Castleton, the area where he does his best work. There were also a couple of mid range jumpers, something that Castleton has been working on as he tries to extend his range. Castleton is the leader of this team and it was nice to see him have a quality game entering conference play.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately for the Gators, the concerning trend of struggling against good teams has continued. They have lost to the five best teams they have seen so far this year, something that looks awfully concerning for their NCAA Tournament dreams. Oklahoma is a team that ranks very similarly to Florida in a lot of analytic rankings and playing them on a neutral floor was an opportunity for the Gators to show who they are as a team and unfortunately the opportunity did not go well. It still feels like this team has a lot to work on, and conference play starts in just over a week.