Florida Gators
North Carolina
Gators Clang as Carolina Cruises 75-64 at Atlantis
Saturday, November 29, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- There isn't any masking it anymore.
Here are the numbers:
* In a win last week against Louisiana-Monroe, 32.7 percent.
* In a loss two nights ago here against Georgetown, 35.9 percent.
* Against Alabama-Birmingham less than 24 hours earlier, 34 percent.
* And in Friday night's 75-64 hammering at the hand's of fifth-ranked North Carolina, the No. 18-and-falling-fast Florida Gators hit just 32.8 percent of their field goals and a woeful 22.2 percent from 3-point range.
“That's who we're becoming,” Coach Billy Donovan said.
Actually, that's who the Gators (3-3) most definitely are. The bigger question facing this team is whether this is who Florida will be for the rest of the 2014-15 season?
"We honestly thought we were better than we are," senior center Jon Horford said.
Even in the glitz and glamour of this fantasyland-like resort, reality reigns supreme.
Forward Kennedy Meeks scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while guard Marcus Paige threw in 16 points, most from the free-throw, to pace all five Tar Heels (4-1) starters into double-figures in a loser's bracket game between two marquee programs at the Battle 4 Atlantis that UNC commanded from wire-to-wire.
But it wasn't what Carolina did on offense the Gators will take away from their second loss in three days. It's what they did.
Basically, nothing.
UF missed its first 10 field goal attempts to fall behind 12-0 and did not score until nearly seven minutes of clock had ticked away. The Gators trailed by as many as 18 in the first half and 39-23 when they went into halftime after a 1-for-15 shooting 3-point exhibition worthy of endorsement from a local masonry.
If it wasn't for sophomore point guard Kasey Hill's career-high 20 points, as he incrementally seems to be finding his groove, this would have been a laugher. Some may say it was.
To their credit, the Gators showed plenty of fight after halftime, cutting the lead to eight less than five minutes before the Tar Heels pushed it back to 15. UF made another charge, making it a seven-point game on a Michael Frazier (17 points, 9 rebounds) 3-pointer, but the deficit was just too large.
The shooting early on just too bad.
“One of the things that's happening -- and it's every game -- we have two or three guys that have absolutely awful shooting nights,” said Donovan, who watched forward Dorian Finney-Smith clang his way to 2-for-10 and guard Eli Carter miss all four of his shots. “I'm all for having an off-shooting night, a bad percentage where you have to try to win the game with defense, but it's beyond and to the other side now. There's no way shooting 32 percent you can even give yourself a chance to win.”
Maybe against ULM or UAB.
Not North Carolina.
The Tar Heels after being dumped into the loser's bracket on Day 1 of the tournament by Butler, responded with a second solid effort in as many nights. After Thursday's drubbing of UCLA , Carolina shot 45 percent for the game, went 6-for-12 from long-distance and made 23-of-31 free throws.
"We feel better than we did after the first night," UNC coach Roy Williams said.
The Tar Heels may even have played good defense, but with the way the Gators are shooting lately it was difficult to tell.
Yet somewhere in all this mess, Donovan believes some teaching moments, powerful lessons and opportunities for growth can emerge.
It'll be up to the Gators to see them and embrace because the alternative won't be pleasant.
“Right now, the truth is slammed in our face, which I think is great,” Donovan said. “A lot of times, in your non-conference scheduling, when you're not playing against high-level competition, it's hard to get to the truth. For these guys, what they've been exposed to with our schedule and how difficult it's been, it's bringing them closer to the truth in finding out who they are and who we are.”
The results, Horford added, speak for themselves.
“The coaches have done a great job of laying in out for us and coaching us. As a team, we have to accept it and completely buy in and put everything we have into it," he said. "I'm as stubborn as anyone, but coach is right. He's absolutely right. It's not working. If it doesn't change, then nothing is going to change going forward.”
About that "going forward" reference, on deck for the Gators, who leave Bahamas Saturday, is a trip to No. 11 Kansas next Friday. They've already matched the loss total of last season's Final Four team and a loss at KU will drop UF below .500 for the first time in 16 years.
Just another day in paradise, right?
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