Bulldogs' "Q" Hands Gators Late "L"

Tuesday, January 15

Starkville, MS

7 PM

Florida Gators

9-7 (1-3SEC)

Mississippi State

13-3 (1-2SEC)

Florida

Mississippi State

UF guard KeVaughn Allen (5) led his team with 17 points, but the Gators needed a little more offense (from anyone) and a lot better defense (from everyone).

Bulldogs' "Q" Hands Gators Late "L"

Wednesday, January 16, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Defense has kept Florida in games this season, but it was that end of the floor that undermined an offensive output that should have been good enough to steal a Southeastern Conference road win Tuesday night.

Mississippi State guard Quinndary "Q" Weatherspoon went the length of the floor and converted a old-time three-point play with 3.5 seconds left and sent UF to a 71-68 Southeastern Conference defeat at Humphrey Coliseum. With a tie score and the game in the balance, Weatherspoon dashed to the basket with relatively (and surprisingly) little resistance against a team that has put up some of the best defensive efficiency numbers in the nation. Given that the 24th-ranked Bulldogs also bombed in nearly 59 percent of their 3-point shots against one of the league's stingiest 3-point defenses, the final moment fit the game's script.

"Our tempo press was effective for 39 and a half minutes," UF coach Mike White said after a back-and-forth affair that featured 12 ties and 11 lead changes. "It was not effective at the end of the game."

For the last two and half minutes, actually.

The Gators (9-7, 1-3), who have lost three of their first four league games for the first time since 2001, led by five, 66-61, after KeVaughn Allen (team-high 17 points) nailed a 3-pointer with 2:51 to go after an offensive rebound and kick-out pass from freshman forward Keyontae Johnson (11 points, 4 rebounds).

But on the next possession for the Bulldogs (13-3, 1-2), a late defensive rotation left forward Aric Holman open for 3-pointer late in the shot clock that pulled the home team within two points at 2:23 to go. Out of a timeout, the Gators could do no better than a late-clock drive to the basket by Allen, who in looking to draw contact had the ball knocked away, off him and out of bounds to the Bulldogs.

MSU guard Lamar Peters, who hit four 3s and scored all his 16 points before halftime, drove down the key and shoveled a pass to Weatherspoon for an easy layup to tie the score at 66-all with 1:22 to go.

On the other end, again, nothing developed on UF's possession, with freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard (13 points, 8 assists, 6 turnovers in 37 minutes) forced to take a late-clock 3 the Bulldogs rebounded. Peters' drive and go-ahead layup attempt was blocked out of bounds by Florida senior center Kevarrius Hayes (5 points, 8 rebounds, 3 blocks, 2 steals) with 30.4 seconds to go. Timeout, Mississippi State, with 10 seconds on the shot clock.

Aric Holman's layup with 24 seconds remaining pushed the Bulldogs ahead 68-66. Florida, with a chance to tie or win the game, took a quick 3 from Nembhard that was tipped by Abdul Ado, giving Nembhard his seventh miss in eight tries from distance. The ball, though, bounced around and was headed out of bounds when rebounding Bulldog Nick Weatherspoon tried to save it back in play. The ball ended up on the floor, where Locke picked it up and dropped in a 6-footer that tied the game at 68 with 10.2 seconds left.

Timeout, Mississippi State, again.

That's when "Q" took his cue.

"We were supposed to get the ball in, and then me and Lamar go back and forth with it," said Weatherspoon, whose final line showed nine points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals. "Lamar broke off the play and got out of the way, and that left me an open lane. I thought it went good."

For the home team, yes. Weatherspoon, the SEC's No. 5 scoring leader, easily sped past his defender, Locke, got downhill momentum into the UF paint and reached the block for his wide-open bunny when he was fouled by Hayes, who was late coming off his man with help. The whole sequence was very un-UF like, as far as defense goes.

Not as far as some late-game situations have gone for this team, however.

"Q made a good play," White said. "Obviously, you want to keep him in front of you, and you want to slow the tempo. You want that clock running on them a little bit, and we didn't keep them in front. He made a big play and we rotated a little late. He finished."

A desperation 3-point attempt by Allen missed at the horn, but likely left his hand too late, anyway.

When the damage was done, the Bulldogs had shot 53 percent for the game, hit 10 of 17 from distance (four by backup guard Tyson Carter in just 17 minutes), and knocked down four of their last five field-goal tries. The Gators tallied at 42.4 percent (with a solid 48 after halftime), but just 10-for-31 from deep (32.3) and missed four of their last five field goals in losing that five-point edge.

Florida forward Keyontae Johnson (11) found the interior more than a bit crowded on this first-half drive to the basket.

Like against Tennessee three nights earlier, Florida had better ball movement (its 18 assists were the second-most this season) that led to some good, open looks, but too many times they could not convert.

"If you're going to win on the road against a top-25 team, you have to convert a couple of those, one more of those, and you probably win a game," White said.

Make that five defeats of seven points or less, and six when the Gators have either led or been tied inside eight minutes. The frustration, obviously, is mounting.

"We've lost a couple at the end of the game like that," said Johnson, who had arguably the best all-around performance of his young career in going going four of six from the floor, 3-for-4 from the arc, with four rebounds in a season-high 25 minutes. "We were up most of the game, but we just have to stay aggressive and stay poised. We have to stick to our principles, and we'll be fine."

Several Gators had similar remarks after the last game. The short-term goal, obviously, is not be saying the same things after the next one.