The arena fell silent after Me’Arah O’Neal went crashing to the ground, gripping her right knee with a grimace. While she lay on the court surrounded by training staff, it sounded as if not a single fan was in the stands.
Despite this, Florida continued to fight. The Gators tied the number of buckets made in the second quarter after being outscored by 10 points in the first.
Ultimately, the Aggies capitalized on the Gators’ defensive weaknesses. Texas A&M (8-4, 1-2 SEC) defeated Florida (12-6, 0-3 SEC) 74-66 in an electrifying contest in the Exactech Arena in the Stephen O’Connell Center.
The Aggies relied on a relentless help defense that mugged any ball-handler who came near the paint. In comparison, Texas A&M scored 38 points from the paint while Florida scored 26.
“They did a good job of protecting that paint,” said Florida head coach Kelly Rae Finley. “We knew that this was going to be a battle of the paint, and we lost that battle by 12 points.”
This temporarily shut down Florida’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Liv McGill, who had zero points for the entire first quarter and the majority of the second quarter.
However, as soon as McGill got her first bucket off a fastbreak layup, she found her rhythm. She ended the night with 16 points, seven rebounds, five assists and one steal.
During her scoring drought, another player stepped up. Junior guard Laila Reynolds headed the Gators’ offense at the beginning of the game. In the first quarter, she tallied half of her team's points with eight. On the night, she tied her career record for most points in a game with 21. She also logged five rebounds and two steals.
The Aggies found offensive success by spreading the floor. With its players on the wings, Texas A&M skipped the ball across the court or cut backdoor for quick hitters. The team ended shooting 44% from the field and 21% from the three. The leading scorer for Texas A&M was junior forward Fatmata Janneh, who had 22 points and nine rebounds.
At the end of the first half, the crowd booed the referees after a costly foul call that sent junior guard Salese Blow to the line. She sank both of her free throws, putting the Aggies into a double-digit lead (39-29).
However, this didn’t give the Aggies momentum coming out of the half. Florida reentered the court with a newfound energy and put the pedal to the metal in the third quarter. With sophomore guard Me’Arah O’Neal back on the court for the Gators and McGill heating up, Florida started to make a comeback.
During a fourth-quarter push that had Florida fans on their feet, the Gators came close to winning it. But, missed field goals were the Gators’ Achilles’ heel. The team shot for 36% on the night and went 7-23 (30%) from the three. During crucial moments, the ball seemed to just not be a fan of the Gators and rolled around and out of the rim.
It was a close game in the fourth, but the Gators missed 11 field goals that could’ve made the game. In the final 12 seconds, O’Neal hit a triple that made the crowd roar, but it was too late and the deficit was too large.
“The deficit in the first quarter was just too much to overcome,” Finley said.
Finley expressed how the season is still early and that there is still a lot of basketball ahead despite the loss.
Florida will move on to battle Auburn (11-6, 0-3 SEC) in Alabama on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Neville Arena.
Contact Isis Snow at isnow@alligator.org. Follow her on X @isis_snoww.
Isis is a junior sports journalism student and is the volleyball beat reporter for fall 2025. This is her third semester with The Alligator. She enjoys reading, playing basketball and weight lifting in her free time.
