PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — For a game and a half, the Florida Gators had reason to be encouraged about steps they'd taken since the first day, first game and first disappointing loss here at the Battle 4 Atlantis. 

But then came the second loss.

And a second-half offensive display that was tough on the eyes.

Whether it was Butler's defense or Florida's offense most responsible for the Bulldogs pulling away for a 61-54 win in Friday night's fifth-place game isn't important. Like most debates, the right answers rests somewhere in the middle. But there was nothing middling about UF and its offense in the second half. The Gators led by five at the break, but then went 8-for-28 from the floor after intermission, including 1-for-12 from the 3-point line, and scored just nine points over the game's final 11 minutes. 

Butler guards Kamar Baldwin and Paul Jorgensen combined to score 35 points and hit 13 of 19 shots, with 25 of those points coming after halftime — with Baldwin connecting on a couple late-shot clock daggers — as the Bulldogs hit 50 percent as a team and held the Gators to just 22 second-half points.

"We didn't have quite the same pop in our legs, but I'm sure Butler didn't either," UF coach Mike White said. "Defensively, I thought they put on a clinic."

The Gators (3-3), conversely, staged no clinics of any kind, especially with the ball. Freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard (11 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 0 turnovers), backup guard Deaundrae Ballard (11 points) and center Kevarrius Hayes (9 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) combined to make 11 of 19 field-goal attempts.  Their seven teammates combined to go 7-for-33 overall and 2-for-17 from the 3-point line. That latter group included senior guard KeVaughn Allen and swingman Jalen Hudson, in a reserve role for the second straight game, who together were 2-for-10 overall and 0-for-6 from deep for five points in 43 minutes. 

Those kinds of offensive numbers would lead to losses against teams not nearly as disciplined on defense or crisp in their offensive execution as Butler (5-1), so the fact Florida was even in the game said something about the Gators' collective effort. It was OK, just nowhere good enough to beat an opponent as sound as the Bulldogs.

And certainly not with such a horrific half scoring the ball.
 
"We're capable of being a potentially good team when we bring that certain energy we need to bring every night," Nembhard said. "We're also capable of being a very bad team if we don't bring that energy every night. We've got to work to be more consistent."

UF had a seven-point lead late in the first half, thanks to 42-percent shooting in that opening period, but more so for the 7-for-15 makes from the 3-point line. Butler, down 32-27 at the break, made three of its first five shots to start the second half, while Florida missed five of its six. 

Said White: I thought they tightened up a little bit, screwed down their defense a little bit, and their energy level was increased early in the second half probably due to the fact they were scoring early on."

There were six lead changes and a couple ties through the first nine minutes of the second half, with UF's last lead at 45-44 on a dunk by Hayes courtesy of a great no-look pass from Nembhard. But then Baldwin dropped a 3, Jorgensen drove for a layup, and Baldwin added a couple free throws to quickly push the Bulldogs out by six with just over eight minutes to go.

The Gators got no closer than four the rest of the way.

"We knew the third game on the third day would be a bit of grind," Butler coach LaVall Jordan said. "We had to outlast them."

That's exactly what happened. 

UF's energy was really good in the first half — just like it was the night before in a blowout win over Stanford, albeit for the entire game — even when the team hit a four-minute scoreless streak. They pushed through and worked themselves out of it. When an even longer drought came in the second, that same push wasn't there.

"We can't let making shots define how hard we play on defense," Hayes said. 

The Gators left Gainesville on Monday knowing they'd learn a lot more about themselves in a tough tournament setting with three games and three days. Unfortunately, what they might have gotten, White intimated, was some confirmation about themselves. 

"I didn't think we were very good coming down here," White said. "I was really at a loss offensively and probably equally at a loss about why we couldn't get this group to play at the intensity level we're trying to get them to play with. Despite going 1-2 down here, we did show signs of being a team that is capable of playing really hard, and showed spurts of being capable offensively, at times. We've got a ways to go, of course."

Of course.