When things got tough for the Florida against the Ole Miss on Saturday, the Gators did what they’ve come to do best: fall apart.
Two free throws from starting senior guard Jarvis Summers with just 3.5 seconds left to play sealed the deal for the Rebels (12-7, 3-3 Southeastern Conference) as they defeated the Gators (10-9, 3-3 SEC) 72-71 at the C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum in Oxford, Mississippi.
Though Florida had the chance for a quick win when walk-on Jacob Kurtz inbounded the ball after Summers’ free throws, the Gators’ efforts in the less than four seconds wasn’t quite enough to get the job done.
“We got to play on, which is what we wanted,” said coach Billy Donovan. “In that situation Kasey (Hill) has to get the ball up in that glass…and to have the clock run without getting a shot up that was disappointing, but we got the ball down the floor certainly close enough to at least take a 15-footer.”
Instead of fighting back while the Rebels worked up a 12-point run, the Gators’ shots fell flat, allowing Ole Miss to gain a one-point for the first time in the game at the seven minute mark.
But then one Gator attempted to fight back for them all.
Starting redshirt junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith answered with two back-to-back three-point shots. With a regained five-point lead, the Gators drew clutch free throws and three-point shots to end the half with a six point lead over the Rebels, 36-30.
After leading for just about the entirety of the first half, Donovan said he began to see his team go down a familiar spiral at the start of the second half.
Though he fouled out of the game, Finney-Smith scored 15 points — 14 of which came in the first half.
Starting junior guard Michael Frazier also hit a season high 27 points and was a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
But Frazier and Finney-Smith weren’t enough to carry the team.
“Michael kept battling and kept all the way through there but didn’t really get a whole lot from too many others,” Donovan said.
Frazier, along with starting redshirt junior guard Eli Carter, led the Gators in rebounds with six each. Carter ended the night with a eight points.
Starting freshman guard Chris Chiozza missed his lone shot — a three-point attempt — in his 14 minutes on the court. Fellow freshman Devin Robinson was a bit more successful with five points in 11 minutes.
Senior forward Kurtz was perfect from the field with two close to the basket lay-ins early on in the first half. He finished the night with six points and two rebounds.
The biggest difference maker Saturday night was predictably, free throws. Ole Miss made 16-of-19 from the charity strip will the Gators sunk just 12 and gave up eight shots from the line.
In the entire game, the Gators and the Rebels saw the score tie six times along with nine lead changes—more than half of which were in Florida’s favor.
“This is a really good game from the standpoint of realizing what little margin for error we have in a night where you go 12-for-20 from the three-point line and you still come up short,” Donovan said.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Follow Erica A. Hernandez on Twitter @EricaAlyssa
Michael Frazier II drives into the paint during Florida's 65-63 loss to Florida State on Dec. 30 in Tallahasee.
