Forty-six seconds were all coach Billy Donovan could handle.
In the opening minute of Florida’s 61-57 road loss to Kentucky on Saturday, Florida fell behind 4-0 after a series of mistakes. Unhappy with his group’s effort, Donovan called a timeout after UK’s second basket.
Despite Donovan’s early cry for more intensity, the Gators struggled in the first 1:22 of the second half, allowing the Wildcats to begin another 4-0 run.
Again, Donovan called a timeout.
“I am disappointed in our team’s fire. I don’t see it,” Donovan said Monday. “It is pretty evident if you look at the way the Kentucky game started. … Erik Murphy gets pushed out of the way on an offensive rebound by a (Alex) Poythress, layup. Then he goes down into a post move and Willie Cauley-Stein blocks his shot out to halfcourt.”
No. 13 Florida’s lack of “fire” is a trend Donovan saw in practice the past three weeks. The Gators have a 3-3 record during that span.
Florida averaged 75.4 points in its first 12 SEC games. But in their past six contests, the Gators have scored only 62.6 points per game.
“We are not playing with fire and passion right now. Not like we did against Marquette or Wisconsin or some of these games we have played in our league,” Donovan said.
“I don’t think it is about making shots or missing shots or any of those things. I just think that our perseverance, our resiliency needs to continue to get better. They have to enjoy the struggle a lot more. They have to enjoy the struggle in practice and those kinds of things.”
Added forward Will Yeguete: “The way we started games the past couple games, I think we should do a better job just coming out and being excited and being ready to play. We’ve been missing that the past couple games.”
Florida’s rebounding numbers have dwindled. The Gators have been outrebounded in five of their past six games. In their first 12 conference games, they outrebounded eight of their opponents.
Even with Yeguete (right knee) and Michael Frazier II (concussion), two of UF’s best rebounders, back in the rotation, Florida has not been as aggressive on the glass.
Donovan questioned center Patric Young and the frontcourt’s effort on the boards on Monday.
“That’s a major problem,” Donovan said.
“If there’s one thing, like I was saying a little bit before about a fire, a passion, to me that’s it on the glass. … When you see our starting center with two rebounds in 24 minutes of play, that clearly, to me, is an effort issue.”
No. 1 seed Florida (24-6, 14-4 SEC) will hope to get its edge back when it begins postseason play against ninth-seeded LSU (19-11, 9-9 SEC) today at 1 p.m. in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
LSU withstood a late rally by No. 8 seed Georgia to win 68-63 on Thursday afternoon. The Tigers began the year as one of the better rebounding squads in the SEC, but have been outrebounded during three of their past four games. Georgia outrebounded LSU 45-31 on Thursday.
Florida defeated LSU 74-52 in Baton Rouge, La., on Jan. 12 and won the rebounding battle 53-34. Donovan hopes his team can provide that same type of effort on the boards against the Tigers.
“We’ll have to get back to rebounding the ball because I don’t think we’re a bad rebounding team, but we have been a bad rebounding team,” Donovan said. “In these situations, you have to be willing to do things that are very, very uncomfortable that a lot of people don’t enjoy doing in order to move on, advance and win games.”
Junior center Patric Young (right) attempts a hook shot during Florida’s 66-40 win against Vanderbilt on March 6 in the O’Connell Center. .
