OXFORD, Miss. — At this rate,
Mike White may be checking to see if his trainer or strength coach have any eligibility left.
The Florida Gators went into Saturday's game against Ole Miss down three frontcourt players and without a reserve guard. When the fouls began mounting and another "big" was forced from the mix with a concussion, the host Rebels drove the ball, posted it and shot it as well as they have all season in a 78-72 win at the Pavilion that handed the Gators their first Southeastern Conference loss.
Forward Bruce Stevens scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds, while guard Deandre Burnett had 20 points and six assists, but it was Mississippi's shooting in the second half that paved the path to victory. The Rebels (10-7, 3-2) hit only 30.3 percent in the opening 20 minutes, but blistered the UF defense after intermission by making 15 of 25 field goals (60 percent), including four of eight from deep, plus 13 of 16 free throws.
"Both teams battled. I thought Ole Miss battled a little harder," said White after his second return (and first defeat) to the place where he starred as a point guard for four years during the mid-1990s. "They played with great edge, great physicality, great character. They won the majority of the 50-50 balls in the second half, especially down the stretch. They wanted it a little bit more."
Florida (12-5, 4-1) managed just 37.7-percent shooting out of the locker room, as its six-game winning streak was snapped, despite career highs from third-year sophomore
Keith Stone of 23 points, eight rebounds and 35 minutes. The loss, coupled with Auburn's win at Mississippi State, dumped the Gators out of first place in the league standings.Â
UF grad-transfer forward
Egor Koulechov (11 points, 11 rebounds) hit a basket with 7:49 remaining to tie the game at 60. From there, the Gators missed 12 of their final 13 field-goal attempts, while the Rebels knocked down four of their final six shots or got to the free-throw line where they went 10 of 12 in those final minutes.
"We just couldn't stop them," Koulechov said. "We couldn't string together a few stops when we needed them. That's the result."
Some of Mississippi's late makes (like a slew of others over the course of the game) came on point-blank post drops or layups in the block where the Gators were limited with their wall-up answers, what with junior center
Kevarrius Hayes (2 points, 1 rebound) limited to just 15 minutes due to foul trouble and backup center
Gorjok Gak out after suffering a concussion in the first half. And when UF tried to trot out its small-ball scoring lineup, with Koulechov at the "4" and backup guard and leading scorer
Jalen Hudson at the "3," Hudson had trouble staying on the floor due to foul trouble.
He played just 19 minutes before fouling out late. Normally, freshman
Deaundrae Ballard would have spelled Hudson, but Ballard did not suit up for the second straight game due to an illness.
"It made it difficult with the fouls and Gak going down. Made us have to play different guys at different positions," Stone said. "It was tough on us, but once we get back [home] and [see] the film it will probably show some minor mistakes we can fix pretty easily."
The issue of bodies won't fix easily. Fifth-year graduate center
John Egbunu and freshman forward/center
Isaiah Stokes already have missed the entire season recovering from reconstructive knee surgeries and currently are on the back end of their rehabs. They could be available in the next several weeks, though neither one is close to being cleared for contact. Freshman forward
Chase Johnson has not played since Thanksgiving Day after entering concussion protocol.
And now Gak.
"I'm really concerned," White said when asked about his post depth four days before facing Arkansas and a week away from a trip to Kentucky "I don't know how we're going to practice the next several days. … We're beat up on the front line."
And, in turn, got beat up Saturday.
The Rebels, though usually at their best playing five guards, out-rebounded the Gators 44-35 and worked for 32 points in the paint.
Florida led 52-44 inside 13 minutes remaining when Ole Miss needed just three possessions to go on an 8-0 run to tie the game on 3s from Markel Crawford (17 points) and Burnett, then a pick-and-roll layup by Marcanvis Hyman (6 points, 9 rebounds). Twice more, the Gators worked to go ahead by three points, but both times the Rebels got the margin back to even or took a one-possession lead.
The last tie was at 64, on the Koulechov bucket. That when Stevens and Terrence Davis (8 points, 8 rebounds) scored consecutive baskets to put Ole Miss ahead by four, and for good with five minutes to go. Little went right (or well) for UF the rest of the way.
"We have to bring an edge," White said. "Not that we were flat, I'm not going there. But Ole Miss had more edge than we did."
More bodies, too.
