The Gators forged a very distinct – and successful – identity in their first seven games of the season.
Defensively, they were aggressive and stifling. They forced a ton of turnovers and contested almost every single shot. The opposing team had to execute perfectly and expend a bunch of energy just to make one basket against them.
While they haven’t shot the ball well at times, they shared the ball and executed their offensive sets at an extremely high level in the first seven games. That allowed them to get some easy baskets and overcome poor perimeter shooting.
While they’re a smaller team, they were scrappy and found a way to dominate the rebounding battle.
No matter how long of a scoring drought they went on or how many points they fell behind by, you could count on them to fight as hard as they could until there was no time left on the clock.
That hard-playing, gritty style of play fueled them to a 6-1 start that included wins over Florida State and Ohio State teams that were ranked in the preseason polls.
That’s what made how they played against Texas Southern on Monday night even more disheartening and concerning. They played completely opposite of how they played in their first seven games.
While they forced a season-high 22 turnovers, they always seemed to be too slow to react to the Tigers’ cuts to the basket. That resulted in Texas Southern shooting 54 percent and only needing to hoist 11 three-point attempts. When they did force a missed shot, they often didn’t finish the possession with a defensive rebound. The Tigers secured 14 offensive rebounds that they converted into 17 points.
Offensively, their ball movement and player movement were terrible. They dribbled the ball way too much, and it felt like everybody was out there trying to be the hero instead of letting things flow organically. They took a bunch of bad shots, which led to them shooting just 38 percent, including 21 percent (5-for-24) from beyond the arc.
The Tigers pushed them around on the glass to the tune of 46-23. Only one Gator had more than four rebounds.
All of those mistakes came down to effort. You either try to get open and pass the ball or you don’t. You’re either where you’re supposed to be on defense or you’re not. You’re either physical in your block-outs or you’re not. You either run as hard as you can and dive for loose balls or you don’t.
Texas Southern played well, but they didn’t do anything that caused the Gators to play that poorly.
“Everybody didn’t play as hard as we should have, and we’ve got to do a better job,” Florida center Colin Castleton said. “I just let everybody down. I let myself down. So, I’ve just got to do a better job.
“We just did a terrible job in every aspect.”
The Gators’ lack of effort caused them to suffer an embarrassing loss. The previously winless Tigers handed them a 69-54 butt-whooping that wasn’t even as close as the final score suggests, if that’s even possible. It marked the first time that a SWAC team had defeated a ranked SEC team since the invention of the Associated Press Poll in 1936.
Given their opponent’s record, the margin of defeat and how well the Gators started this season, it isn’t hyperbole to suggest that this might’ve been the ugliest loss in program history.
“I can just tell you it was obvious that we were disjointed, that we were focused on the wrong things,” UF coach Mike White said. “We were playing harder when we were chasing the ball and we were sprinting into a shot than we were closing out or attacking the defensive glass. We can’t hang our hat on those type of things because you can’t always control them as easily.
“To this point in the season, we had done a pretty good job of that. The culture at timeouts and in huddles, you could just see it. It wasn’t the same. We weren’t as together as this group’s been. It’s a really tight-knit group, and we weren’t tonight.
“We obviously have to play a lot harder than that, and we have in every game to this point. I’m looking forward to meeting with our guys tomorrow to see what we can come up with.”
Texas Southern (1-7) had three players score in double-figures, led by PJ Henry’s 16 points and three assists. Joirdon Karl Nicholas poured in 14 points and four rebounds on a perfect 7-for-7 shooting. Brison Gresham used his 6-foot-9, 240-pound body to bully the Gators for 13 rebounds.
Guard Brandon McKissic was perhaps the only bright spot for the Gators. He scored 15 points, made four three-pointers and captured three steals.
The Gators have strayed from their identity. They started the year as a team that was locked in on defense and rebounding no matter what. They could miss 15 shots in a row, and they would still play with just as much energy and focus on the defensive end.
That wasn’t the case on Monday night. For the first time this season, they allowed some poor offensive possessions to negatively impact their defensive performance. Instead of concentrating on the task at hand, they allowed themselves to get frustrated, which led to some defensive breakdowns and poor shot selection.
“We define ourselves on defense,” McKissic said. “We’ve been letting offense dictate, so we need to be getting back to letting defense dictate.”
While the result of the game may have shocked everybody in Gator Nation and observers around the country, it wasn’t surprising at all to White and his staff.
Since they began preseason practice in October, White had frequently bragged about his team’s maturity and consistency. Sure, they weren’t perfect in their execution, but they always gave their best effort and showed up to practice ready to get better. For the first time, that wasn’t the case during their practices over the weekend, which left White concerned entering this game.
“A couple of days ago, we weren’t very good in practice, and, yesterday, we were really bad, and it was the first time that we had a lengthy meeting after practice about how we performed in practice,” he said. “It was the first just tough practice in terms of just completely out of character. So, obviously, as a staff, we had some concern going into this one. That was not who this team is; that was not who this program is. We were thoroughly out-played, out-coached, out-everything.”
During the first six games of the season, the Gators (6-2) looked like a team that could beat every other team in the country. Against Texas Southern, they looked like a team that could lose to every other team in the country.
They need to figure out what happened to the team that physically and mentally wore down Florida State and overcame a 10-point second-half deficit to defeat Ohio State and become that version of themselves again.
“This team right now is not who we’ve been through the first seven games,” McKissic said. “We’ve got to get back to that. There’s no question about the chemistry or anything like that. There’s still no question about the chemistry now. We love each other. We’ve just got to get back to being us.”