Florida Gators
Mississippi
Ole Miss Ends Gators' Win Streak in 68-51 Victory
Sunday, February 17, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Ole Miss took advantage of sub-par shooting by the visiting Gators and pulled off a 68-51 upset of sixth-ranked Florida Saturday afternoon. The Gators shot a woeful 29 percent from the field in their worst loss of the season. They never led in the game.
"I'm as disappointed as I've ever been since I've been at Florida with the way we competed," Gator coach Billy Donovan said. "I can't put my finger on it."
The Gators (19-5, 8-4 SEC) got off to a slow start, trailing Ole Miss 8-2 and 16-7. Junior forward Matt Bonner's basket tied the game up at 20-20 before the Rebels scored seven straight points to take a 27-22 halftime lead. Bonner scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the first half.
Bonner scored the first basket of the second half to cut the Gator deficit to three points, 27-24. A few moments later, Justin Hamilton made a driving layup to cut the Ole Miss lead to 33-31. That would be as close as the Gators would get. Richard Kirklin and Aaron Harper made back-to-back three's to give the Rebels a 39-31 lead. The Gators cut the deficit to six points, but center Udonis Haslem picked up his fourth foul with 10:10 to play. Mississippi then outscored the Gators 8-2 to open up a 49-36 lead.
"We did not compete at all, physically," Donovan said. "We did not have the type of toughness that was necessary to win this basketball game."
The Gators, which led the SEC with 18 assists per game, managed just nine against Ole Miss.
"It almost appeared on the offensive end of the floor that our guys wanted the easy way out," Donovan said. "They wanted to make one or two passes and get wide open looks. That didn't happen."
Bonner and Haslem were the only Gators to score in double figures. Bonner made seven of the team's 16 field goals to finish with 19 points while Haslem scored 14, including 8-of-12 free throws.
Brett Nelson was held scoreless for the first time since his freshman season, but Donovan said there was a reason for Nelson's poor shooting.
"Brett's had the flu," Donovan said. "He was really struggling last night, so I knew I wasn't going to get much out of him."
The Gators, who averaged 7.7 three-pointers per game heading into Saturday, were just 3-of-17 from beyond the arc. Mississippi, meanwhile, made 10-of-24 treys. Harper led the Rebels with 18 points, and David Sanders and Justin Reed scored 15 apiece.
The Gators are now just a half-game ahead of Georgia. Ole Miss (19-7, 8-5 SEC) snapped the Gators' four-game winning streak.
Florida returns to action Wednesday when the Gators host Auburn at 8 p.m. in the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
