As Kentucky’s lead swelled in Rupp Arena and Florida’s missed shots mounted, Brad Beal could feel the disunity building on the court.
His teammates were not just falling behind in a critical Southeastern Conference game on Tuesday, they were also losing touch with one another.
“You could see it in other guys’ faces,” Beal said.
“You have guys who are like afraid of missing shots, so they won’t take another shot or they’re so worried about the shot not going in that we all forget about the rest of the game on defense and rebounding and getting back in transition.”
A frequent concern for the three-heavy Gators this season is how they react when their shots aren’t falling.
Along with a 5.7 percent drop in 3-point shooting, UF has been out-rebounded 177-176 and is averaging 15.6 turnovers per game in its five losses.
With just two days to prepare for a second meeting against Tennessee (12-12, 4-5 SEC) on Saturday at 4 p.m. — a team No. 8 Florida (19-5, 7-2 SEC) lost to by 11 points on Jan. 7 — coach Billy Donovan is imploring, once again, for his team to have a short memory.
“We went into the (Kentucky) game with fractured minds,” Donovan said.
“And what I mean by that is nothing to do with adversity or anything else, I think we went in there where each guy wanted to do his part and to play well, and what happened is you’re playing the game as a group of individuals.”
Though Beal said the Gators’ 41 misses from the field clearly affected their focus, he doesn’t think the 20-point drubbing UF experienced in Lexington, Ky., will carry over into this weekend. Florida has yet to lose back-to-back games this season and is 14-0 in true home games.
On an individual level, Beal, a 6-foot-3 guard, learned firsthand how to bounce back from a miserable performance following the Gators’ first matchup with the Volunteers.
“That’s our biggest issue: our mental approach to the game,” Beal said.
“Basically, and not being able to move past adversity and trying to fight through it.”
Heading into January’s road trip to Knoxville, Tenn., Beal was mired in a four-game freshman slump that culminated with him going 4 for 12 from the field, 1 of 5 on 3-pointers and committing five turnovers to one assist against Tennessee.
Three days later while hosting Georgia, he bounced back by scoring 17 points on 4-of-8 shooting and hauling in 10 rebounds. Beal also had just one giveaway.
“Yeah, [the Tennessee loss is] in the back of our mind right now,” Beal said. “We’re going to move on, we have to come out more aggressive than we did. Tennessee really put the throttle on us and just really hurt us down the stretch, as well.”
While the Volunteers have added a new player to their roster since the Gators last played them in freshman forward Jarnell Stokes, who is averaging 8.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, Donovan said the familiarity with Tennessee’s methodical offense and physical defense will help Florida on Saturday.
The Volunteers’ frontline dominated the Gators in the paint with a 32-20 advantage, while also grabbing four more defensive rebounds.
“I don’t think that going into the game they’re not going to necessarily be ready to play,” Donovan said. “I don’t feel that way. I think they’ll come out and they’ll battle and they’ll fight and try to make corrections from our last game and try to make corrections from the last time we played Tennessee.”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida freshman guard Brad Beal scored nine points and committed five turnovers in a loss to Tennessee in January and said the Gators must be more aggressive Saturday.
