From the very first possession of the game, it was clear that this wasn’t going to be the No. 14 Gators’ night at Oklahoma. After winning the opening tip, UF center Colin Castleton had the ball stolen away by Sooners guard Jordan Goldwire. Goldwire went coast to coast for a layup.
UF guard Myreon Jones committed a turnover on their second possession, which led to a Tanner Groves layup.
In total, the Gators turned it over six times in the first five minutes of the game and only attempted four shots during that span. Meanwhile, Oklahoma made six of its first nine shots to open up leads of 9-0 and 14-4.
That set the stage for what was a frustrating night for the Gators. They eventually fell to the Sooners, 74-67, to end their undefeated start to the season.
“I think that OU was just better than us,” Gators coach Mike White said. “I think they executed better. They were a little bit more sound defensively. They swarmed to the ball. We had some careless turnovers, and the crowd was definitely a factor, of course. Credit to the environment here, but I would like to give more credit to their staff and players. I thought they were good, and OU is a good team. They were simply better than us for 40 minutes.”
Florida (6-1) played about as poorly as possible on both ends of the floor for most of the game. They only shot 27 percent in the second half and went more than eight minutes without a field goal at one point. They turned it over 16 times. They went an abysmal 4-for-24 (17 percent) from beyond the arc. They allowed the Sooners to shoot 49 percent.
The Gators were stagnant on offense for large portions of the game, while Oklahoma (7-1) broke UF’s usually dominant defense down for some easy shots. OU won the rebounding battle by one.
“Credit the way they came out playing with a high level of aggression and intensity,” White said. “They definitely threw the first few punches of the game. I thought we settled in there late first half, but they came out early second half and did the same thing. We really struggled to get some stops, and we had some defensive lack of communication possessions. We forced a couple of tough ones where we didn’t get in there and get a tough rebound with five guys like we have been doing as of late.”
And yet, despite their myriad of issues, the Gators had several chances to win the game, as they tied it three times and took the lead twice in the second half.
They just couldn’t sustain any momentum, though. Every time they’d put a run together to make it a tight game, they’d either turn it over or take a bad shot on offense and then give up a wide-open basket on the other end.
The Gators’ final lead came when Castleton made a layup to put them up 52-50 with 11:38 to go. That’s when the more than eight-minute drought without a field goal kicked in, and the Sooners took advantage to build their lead up to 69-59 with 3:45 remaining.
“When you’re fighting for every inch on the court and you’re not executing, your offense isn’t running real crisply, isn’t really smooth based on some random denials by those guys,” White said. “A bunch of switching. We saw as much switching as we’ve seen this year. They’ve got some frontcourt guys that can really move laterally that stopped some of our guard penetration stuff. Sometimes, it can just throw you off rhythm, and that can lead to missing shots as well.”
To the Gators’ credit, they didn’t completely implode and lose by 20 points like it felt like they would at that point. Instead, they fought back hard.
Tyree Appleby hit a three and then stole the ball away from Elijah Harkless about 30 seconds later, which led to an Anthony Duruji layup. Phlandrous Fleming then blocked Harkless’ shot, and Appleby buried another three to cut the deficit to 69-67 with 1:58 to go.
All UF needed was one more stop, and they may have tied or taken the lead and left the Sooners reeling. Instead, Jalen Hill got behind the Florida defense, made a layup, got fouled and sank the free throw to make it a five-point game again.
A couple of missed shots and one final turnover by the Gators allowed the Sooners to run out the clock and finish off the win.
Fleming’s play was one of the few bright spots for Florida. He scored 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, hauled down six rebounds and made a couple of steals.
Castleton posted his fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds, but he also committed six turnovers as he struggled to handle Oklahoma’s double teams. Appleby and Brandon McKissic each scored 11 points.
For Oklahoma, Groves led the way with 20 points on 8-for-11 marksmanship and grabbed eight rebounds. Hill poured in 18 points, four rebounds and four assists, while Umoja Gibson pitched in 14 points and four rebounds.
While they didn’t use it as an excuse, the Gators credited the Oklahoma crowd for impacting their performance. Because of COVID restrictions last season and the fact that four of the seven Gators who played transferred in from mid-major programs, this was the largest hostile crowd that they may have ever played in front of.
The environment inside Lloyd Noble Center not only affected UF’s communication, but it also seemed to rattle them at times and create a snowball effect.
“This is a great basketball team,” Fleming said. “Tough, tough, tough road game. The atmosphere was crazy. Their crowd was really, really, really into it. We got a little out of character early on. Like I said, it was a tough road game. It was just really tough with their crowd and their atmosphere, but that’s how it is on road games. This was really our first real road-game test, and it was really tough.”
While the Gators never want to lose a game, they understand the big picture. There probably won’t be a single team in the country that goes undefeated this year, and losing on the road to a good Oklahoma team is nothing to be ashamed of, especially this early in the season. They’re going to use this negative experience to get better, but they’re not going to dwell on it.
“We’re a really good basketball team, and they’re a really good basketball program,” Fleming said. “This was just a tough, tough, tough road game. We’re going to learn from this one. We’re going to try to build on the next one and move on quickly. Getting in the film room, watch some film and learn from our mistakes, valuing the ball and just running our stuff and getting back to who we are.”