GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Making free throws is hardly a strong suit of the Florida basketball team. The Gators came into Tuesday's home game against Mercer ranked 300th in the nation at just 63.5 percent from the line. They were better against the Bears, making nine of the 11 freebies over the final 1:22 to hold on for a 71-63 win at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center.
UF needed those free throws badly because its defense, which came in ranked ranked sixth in the nation, had some slippage on a night when the Gators' search to find answers for their offensive woes rolled on.
Freshman guard Noah Locke equaled his career-high with 18 points, burying five 3-pointers along the way, and senior guard KeVaughn Allen, benched from the starting lineup for the first time this season, added 15 points, including four very big late free throws to allow the Gators (6-4) to stave off the badgering Bears (4-7), out of the Southern Conference. UF led by 16 points with just over five minutes to go, but Mercer scored 10 straight — while the Gators were missing four shots and turning the ball over three times — to make things a little uneasy in the O'Dome.
"Definitely wasn't our best night. Very average, actually," said senior center Kevarrius Hayes, who scored eight points, grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds, equaled his career high with five blocked shots and led his team in end-to-end energy. "We had a great couple days of practice. We went hard, and then we came out here and it's not the same. That can't happen."
Senior center Kevarrius Hayes made his presence felt on both ends of the floor Tuesday, on his way to eight points, a career-high 11 rebounds, plus a career best-equaling five blocked shots. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
In the 10 days since losing Dec. 8 at home to Michigan State, Coach Mike White definitely worked his players feverishly on the practice floor; maybe more so than any stretch in his four seasons at UF. The effort expended in those practices might have bled over to this game, and not in a good way. Not that the Gators have been blowing up scoreboards this season, but shooting 42.1 percent overall, hitting just 12 of 33 from the 3-point line (36.4 percent), and barely out-rebounding (38-34) and being outscored in the paint (28-22) by a low-major opponent at a considerable size disadvantage just might have been a byproduct of those grueling seven practices on the way to this one.
Afterward, White considered as much.
"We were very demanding on them, physically and mentally. We wore them out for 10 days," he said. "I think you probably could see some side effects of that. Some of that 12-for-33 [from distance] is on me. I thought we looked a little heavy-legged. I don't ever want to give my guys excuses, but that's just the reality of it."
Locke did not look heavy-legged. He went 6-for-13 from the floor and five of 11 from the 3-point line to go with four rebounds over 33 minutes. White started swingman Jalen Hudson over Allen in hopes of jump-starting his offensive woes, but Hudson, the fifth-year senior, was just 1-for-7 and missed all four of his 3-point tries in 14 minutes. Allen, meanwhile, went 31 minutes off the bench, canning four of his nine shots, three of six from distance, all four of his free throws, plus dished three assists.
Even better, he took the lineup switch in spirit it was intended.
"You never know who's going to start each game," Allen said.
Or who will finish it.
Or how it will finish.
UF led 60-44 after a 3-pointer by freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard (10 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 turnovers, team-high 35 minutes) with 5:18 to go, but the Bears hit their next four field-goal tries — all of them layups — plus a couple free throws while the Gators went nearly four minutes clanging their shots and throwing the ball away. The lead was 60-54 with 1:22 when Nembhard hit two free throws, then 64-54 after he knocked down two more at the 1:08 mark.
Senior guard KeVaughn Allen hit some big shots during the game and some really big free throws at the end of it. (Photo: Tim Casey/UAA Communications)
The two teams swapped buckets, keeping the margin at 10 inside a minute remaining, but a Mercer layup, missed free throw by Locke, and 3-pointer by Jaylen Stowe (13 points, 11 rebounds) made it a five-point game, 66-51, with 28 seconds to go. Two free throws by Allen were answered by a Mercer bucket that kept things at five with 19 seconds to go.
"Really poor finish. We didn't defend at the same level we'd been defending all year," said White, who credited Mercer's multiple actions for getting UF's defense out of whack. "I thought we were a little step slow to the basketball. Thought we were a little heavy-legged with the basketball and watched the clock a little bit the last five minutes waiting for it to run out."
Luckily, they also watched Allen, again, get fouled, and again make two free throws, taking the lead to seven with 18 seconds to go.
That was enough.
"We have to be better than that," Locke said.
No question. In the bigger picture, this wasn't good enough. Not even close.
"Coming into the game we were sixth in the country in defensive efficiency. I bring that up because I'm negative about some other things and open about our deficiencies offensively and in other areas," White said. "Are we as disciplined [on defense] as we need to be? No. Why do I harp on it so much more with this team than any other that I've had? Because I haven't had a team struggle to score this much."
