Florida Gators

SUNRISE, Fla. — This one looked an awful lot like another game against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent this season. No, not the ugly and one-sided showing against Florida State, but the one the Florida Gators let slip away against No. 1-ranked Duke last month in Portland, Ore. 

The ending (more specifically, the final minutes) was especially similar. The outcome, too. 

With a nine-point lead on Clemson with less than five minutes to play, the No. 22 Gators went into ice-cold mode, while the Tigers made the plays and the baskets — from both the floor and free-throw line — to rally for a 71-69 victory in the MetroPCS Orange Bowl Classic at BB&T Center. 

In losing for the fourth time in five games, Florida (6-4) missed nine of its final 10 field-goal attempts, while Clemson (9-1) connected on three of its last six shots and seven of eight free throws to send the Gators up the turnpike and back to Gainesville with just their third loss in 19 appearances in the OBC event. 

"We couldn't get stops the whole second half and they drove us at will and lived at the free-throw line," said Florida coach Mike White, whose team blew a 10-point lead in the final four minutes against Duke just three weeks ago. "We played and looked decent at times. We had some looks that didn't go down for us. … But, again, we are a team that when we're not scoring at a high rate our defensive deficiencies can be exposed. Are we taking [positive] steps? I think so, but that's just who we are."

Unlike previous losses when UF was eaten up by opposing big men, this time guards that Gator-killers. Marcquise Reed and Gabe DeVoe combined for 41 points (16 above their average) and met little resistance when they drove the ball into the teeth of the Florida defense and either converted shots or got to the line. The Tigers hit just under 56 percent from the floor in the second half, while also making 17 of 24 free throws after getting in the bonus with nearly 15 minutes to go in the game. 

"We made one of the keys to the game winning the free-throw battle," Clemson coach Brad Brownell said. 

And they did that in lopsided fashion, with the Gators going just 9-for-17 from the stripe (53 percent), including 2-for-6 after halftime. They came into the game making 77 percent as a team for the season.

The Tigers took the lead for good inside a minute remaining when Reed gathered a rebound off an airball from UF guard KeVaughn Allen (12 points) and fired a baseball pass to the opposite free-throw line. Waiting there was forward Elijah Thomas (4 points, 10 rebounds, 3 blocks), who caught it for an uncontested dunk to go up 69-68 with 36 seconds left, part of a 12-2 run by Clemson over a four-plus-minute span. 

"We didn't sprint back the way we were supposed to [on that play]," said Gators guard Jalen Hudson, who led his team with 23 points, four rebounds and 4-for-8 shooting from distance. "[Thomas] leaked out before anybody had secured the rebound, which was a risky play by him, but it ended up going in their favor."

Normally, UF would have had a player rotate to the top of the defense on that shot to provide defensive balance going the other way.

This time, nobody rotated.

"Everyone has floor balance rules and we know what ours are," White said. "In the locker room, the guy whose job it was raised his hand and said, `Coach, my bad.' I'd rather not say who that is."
 
With the ball and a chance to retake the lead, again it was Allen from the 3-point line with nine seconds left.  

"I felt confident shooting it," Allen said. 

Again, it was a misfire, this one with nine seconds to go. Reed hit a pair of free throws at the other end with four seconds left for a 71-68 edge. 

The Tigers didn't give the Gators a chance to tie the game with a 3, choosing instead to foul Hudson with two seconds left to put him at the line. Hudson made the first, then intentionally missed the second in hopes for an offensive rebound, but Clemson gathered the ball and secured the outcome. 

"Obviously a terrific win for our team," Brownell said. "For most of the game, it felt like Florida was in control. We did a good job in a couple instances of battling back."

UF forward Egor Koulechov (8 points, 9 rebounds) nailed a fall-away 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to give the Gators a seven-point lead at the break. They stretched it to as high as 12 early in the second period before Clemson chipped away and trimmed the margin to two, mostly from the free-throw line, Florida took the lead back out to nine twice, the first time with just over seven minutes left and the last time when Hudson hit a driving bank shot off a baseline out-of-bounds play. 

At that point, the Gators were 11-for-22 from the floor in the second half. Their next and only field goal came after a go-ahead 3-ball by DeVoe with 1:44 remaining to give the Tigers their first lead since four minutes into the game. That make came after a  miss by Hudson was rebounded by Thomas, but Chiozza swiped the ball and laid it in the goal with 1:26 left and a 68-67 lead. 

The UF defense came up with a big stop at the other end, but milked the clock and relied on Allen's rushed late-clock 3 on the ensuing possession that led to the length-of-the-court pass and Clemson's for-good lead. 

And then the long bus ride home. 

"We are not the most mentally tough team," White said. "We need to grow in that area." 

Soon. Southeastern Conference plays is two weeks away.