In its second game of a weekend back-to-back, Florida faced its first ranked team of the season and was unable to keep up.
The Gators fell to No. 21 Purdue 85-70 on Sunday night in the championship game of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Tip-Off at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
At the 8:38 mark of the second half, Florida was down by just three, 63-60, but an impending 22-3 scoring run by Purdue sealed the win for the Boilermakers.
"Disappointed in our defensive effort. Offensively I thought that we played from behind probably with too much urgency, too hungry to hit home runs in a comeback situation," coach Mike White said.
"Defensively I thought a lot of it had to do with Purdue just being damn good."
A combination of poor shooting by Florida (3-1) and strong rebounding and three-point shooting by the Boilermakers led to the Gators’ first loss of the season.
The No. 21 team in the country’s talent down the stretch proved to be too much for a young Florida team to handle.
John Egbunu had 19 points and seven rebounds while Dorian Finney-Smith and KeVaughn Allen added 17 and 12 points respectively, but Florida shot just 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from beyond the arc.
Finney-Smith was named to the all-tournament team with his performance, and his 13-point game on Saturday when the Gators defeated Saint Joseph’s 74-63.
The Gators’ win in that game sent them to Sunday’s tournament championship against the Boilermakers.
Purdue had five players score in double figures, with senior guard Rapheal Davis leading the way with 18.
The Boilermakers (5-0) showed considerable long-range ability throughout the game, with six players who scored from beyond the arc.
Purdue shot 42 percent from the three-point line and 50 percent from the field. Prior to Sunday, Florida was giving up just 52.7 points per game, but Purdue was better than any team the Gators had seen.
Purdue’s size also hurt the Gators in the paint, as the Boilermakers outrebounded Florida 43-34 with 12 offensive rebounds.
Freshman 6-foot-9 forward Caleb Swanigan had 12 points and six rebounds while sophomore 7-foot-2 center Isaac Haas scored 11.
"We knew those bigs were going to get a certain amount of work done and they were going to do a certain amount of damage," White said.
"But to give up some of the other looks ... it led to other guys getting going from three, now you’ve got that in addition to those bigs and how talented they are, it was just too much to overcome."
Florida’s overall shooting performance did improve, however, from its win against Saint Joseph’s on Saturday.
In that game against the Hawks, the Gators shot a lowly 38.2 percent from the field and just 25 percent from three.
The Gators also limited their number of turnovers to seven on Sunday, while they had been averaging 14.7 per game this season.
Florida will return home with two days of practice before a Wednesday matchup with Vermont and then a Friday game against Florida Gulf Coast.
White knows it’s still very early in the season, but that there are adjustments his team needs to make now so they aren’t dealing with them later when the level of competition increases.
"We’ve just got to get better," White said. "The one thing about this team, we have potential ... but that potential isn’t going to get us anything."
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Alex Maminakis on Twitter @alexmaminakis
Florida forward Dorian Finney-Smith (10) shoots against Kentucky center Dakari Johnson (44) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarter final round of the Southeastern Conference tournament, Friday, March 13, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.
