COLUMBIA, Mo. – With his team down by just two and splendidly defending the potential game-changing possession, Florida coach Todd Golden watched Missouri guard Anthony Robinson II launch a hurried, contested, late shot-clock 3-pointer from the top of the key.
"When the ball left his hand, I was sure it was going to carom off the rim about 20 feet," Golden said later.
If the Gators had shot it, that likely would have been the outcome. Instead, Robinson's shot banked in for a five-point lead with 21 seconds to go and proved the back-breaker in the Tigers' 76-74 upset win in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams Saturday night at sold-out Mizzou Arena.
UF had one last-ditch hope to win the game, but sophomore point guard Boogie Fland's desperation 3-pointer from just inside half court did carom off the rim, like 13 of the 15 shots the Gators (9-5, 0-1) took from outside the arc in the second half on the way to another dreadful long-distance effort.
Robinson, the Florida State transfer, finished with 19 points and eight rebounds, plus five assists, two steals and just one turnover, but it was more of a team-effort win for the Tigers (11-3, 1-0), who not only out-shot the reigning national champions (not a surprise), but played them to a 37-all draw on the boards and a mere 13-11 edge on the offensive glass. UF came into the game ranked first nationally in total rebounds per game (47.5) and rebounding margin (plus-17.2), as well as second in offensive rebounding percentage (44.7).
The Gators, unfortunately, also came in with the lowest 3-point shooting percentage among the nation's 79 power conference teams at 28.2. They hit their first three from deep, then missed nine straight on the way to finishing 7-for-27 (25.9%), including 2-for-15 in the second half.
That sort of 3-point performance, minus their usual domination on the glass, reduced the UF's margin for error to next to nothing.
"If we're going to shoot like that, we have to go win the rebound battle, that's a must," said Gators junior wing Thomas Haugh, who led all scorers with 24 points to go with seven rebounds and a couple blocks. "At the end of the day, if it's even, [it] can't be that."
Mizzou forward Mark Mitchell scored 14 points, with guard Jacob Crews pitching in 13 on 9-for-10 shooting from the free-throw line. The Tigers, whose last outing was a dreadful 43-point loss to 20th-ranked Illinois, were aided by the addition of two players, forward Trent Pierce and guard Jayden Stone, who'd missed games due to injury. Pierce, making his season debut, had 10 points and five rebounds, with Stone scoring nine, including his team's first eight of the game. Missouri's bench outscored Florida's 17-11.
UF center Rueben Chinyelu, the leading rebounder on the best rebounding team in the country, found the boards tougher to come by Saturday night against the Tigers.
UF had an eight-point lead through the first seven minutes and was up six inside five minutes to go in the half when Missouri went on a 10-4 run to end the period, capped by a 3-pointer at the halftime horn by 7-foot-5 freshman Trent Burns. It was the first 3 of his career.
Might've been an omen, too.
The Tigers' run carried over into the second half, with six straight points to start the period, including a couple buckets from Robinson that pushed the home team's lead to six just 90 seconds in. At the 12:39 mark, the margin was 10 after Pierce dropped a 3, forcing Golden to call a timeout, with UF 3-for-12 from the floor to start the period versus Mizzou at 8-for-12.
"I thought we lost our tenacity; end of the first half, beginning of the second half," Haugh said. "[We] came out really strong [to start the game] and if we decided to play like that the whole game we might have won by 25. We lost our fight."
They found out, but probably too late.
Slowly, the Gators chipped away, with a couple 6-0 runs getting them within a possession and Haugh's 3-pointer with 3:35 to go giving UF a 65-64 lead. On the very next possession, Missouri missed, but got the offensive rebound; then missed again, but got another offensive rebound, with Stone putting back the third-chance opportunity to retake the lead by a point with 2:45 to go.
The Tigers made the Gators pay after a Condon missed 3, with Pierce splashing one from the wing to go up by four. Missouri never trailed again, but Florida's defense had the Tigers on the ropes, down just two, and the shot clock about to hit zero when Robinson banked in his prayer to go up five.
Mizzou was just 3-for-11 from the arc in the second half, but each one was huge. Each Florida miss was, also, including Fland's hopeful heave at the horn. Fland finished 2-for-10 for the game, including 0-for-6 from deep, to go with his seven assists. UF's four guards combined for 24 points, made nine of 27 shots and four of 17 from the arc.
The game marked the ninth game (out of 14) that UF shot less than 30% from the 3-point line.
"To win on the road, you've got to be able to step up and make some shots," said Golden, who watched Mizzou hit eight of its 22 (36.4%) from deep, none bigger than the last one from Robinson. "In tight games like this, you look back at plays like that and [know] what the difference was."
