MANHATTAN, Kan. — Not that the Florida Gators needed any further reminders that it was not going to be their night shooting the basketball (again). Sophomore forward Alex Fudge stepped to the line for the first of two free throws late in the first half of Saturday night's road game at Kansas State. 

Fudge's attempt wedged between the rim and backboard and got stuck there. 

The moment came about a minute after sophomore wing Kowacie Reeves threw a dunk attempt off the back of the cylinder. Neither play likely would have mattered in the eventual outcome. By then, the Gators were getting buried by the fifth-ranked Wildcats, thanks to making just six of 26 shots in the opening period, in what played out to be a 64-50 loss at Bramlage Coliseum in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge that was not as close as the score might indicate. 

The storybook Keyontae Johnson game did not materialize. The much-anticipated reunion with the former UF standout forward turned out to be pretty much just hugs and handshakes and not much action between the lines. Who knows what would have happened had the game been more competitive, but Wildcats point guard Markquis Nowell never let it get to that on the way to flirting with a triple-double in positing 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. All of the latter came in a first half that the Wildcats (18-3), off to their best start in 11 years, ran away with. Johnson was a factor, too. He got off to a slow start — even missed a run-out dunk that would have blown the roof off the place deep in the second half — but still managed a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds over 34-plus minutes. 

K-State, though, still became UF's 10th opponent over the last 11 games to shoot under 40 percent (37.7), but was never really threatened — the Wildcats led wire to wire, including by as many as 21 in the first half — because Florida (12-9) shot just 21.7 percent in the opening period and 31.0 for the game. 

"Obviously, being able to hit shots is the thing," said fifth-year forward Colin Castleton, who had 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. "You don't win basketball games without hitting shots and it feels like it's something that's happened a lot this year." It was only 10 days ago that UF went to Texas A&M and hit a measly two of 26 shots in the first half (and just 26.6 percent for the game) on the way to scoring only 12 first-half points in what turned out to be a two-point loss. Earlier this season, the Gators shot 33 in the first half in a nine-point neutral-site loss against Oklahoma and 36 through the first 20 minutes in a three-point loss at Auburn.

This one was along those lines, but without any late-game drama.

"I thought we got some looks. I know we got some looks," UF coach Todd Golden said. "I thought we should have shot the ball a little better than we did, but it's been something of an Achilles heel for us on the road. … If you want to have a chance to beat good teams on the road you have to step up and make some shots, especially from the perimeter."

Florida went 4-for-22 from the 3-point line (18.2 percent), the ninth time the Gators have failed to hit at least 27 percent. Myreon Jones (11 points, 5 rebounds) was 2-for-7, Will Richard (11 points, 6 rebounds) was 1-for-6, Riley Kugel 1-for-4, point guard Kyle Lofton 0-for-2 (and 1-for-7 overall), with Reeves 0-for-3 from deep (0-for-5 overall).

But take the 3-ball out of the equation and UF was still just 14-for-36 from the 2-point area (38.8 percent). That was well below its season average of 50.4 to start the day.

"I think it affected our defense," Castleton said. "We're missing some open shots and we weren't running back as hard as we should have [on defense] or talking as much as we should have." 

The Gators had been pretty good about not allowing bad offense to open the door to bad defense. Not this time. The Wildcats made the Gators pay in transition. The final stat sheet showed KSU with 12 fast-break points, but it also showed 32 points in the paint, with Nowell very much in command, running his team's stuff and getting his guys touches around the basket. It started pretty much from the jump.

K-State scored the game's first five points and led 22-8 at the eight-minute mark, as UF was going through an 0-for-8 spell that only a few minutes later gave way to an 0-for-6 drought over the final 5:21 of the period that sent the Wildcats into halftime up 37-16.  Florida scored the first 10 points of the second half and three times pulled within 11, the last at 41-30, but got no closer. The margin was 13 when Lofton drove for a layup with 11 minutes left — plenty of time to mount something — but over the next nearly seven minutes, the Gators missed all six of their field-goal tries and turned it over six times, rendering K-State's 31-percent shooting after halftime moot. 

The Wildcats built their advantage to as high as 23 with five minutes to go before the Gators made things look closer during a sloppy home stretch. 

All that was left were the post-game hugs for Johnson and his handful of former teammates.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime memory," Johnson said. "You'll never get that moment back." 

It was definitely a better memory for Johnson and his teammates in purple. The guys in blue? They just as soon forget about their trip to the Midwest. Specifically, how they shot the ball (again) and how their defense, especially in tending to Nowell, let them down this time. 

That had not happened in a close to two months.

"I feel like some of those other games we made more timely shots and put ourselves in better position," Castleton said. "But this game? Coach put it on the board, No. 1, no transition points. … We have to pay attention to details more."

And, yes, make more shots.