Gators bounced from first round of NIT with 67-49 loss to UCF
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After closing out the regular season with two straight wins, the Gators’ postseason run quickly ended with back-to-back losses in the SEC Tournament and the NIT.
Following a 69-68 overtime loss to Mississippi State last Thursday, Florida was bounced from the first round of the National Invitation Tournament with a 67-49 loss to UCF on Wednesday.
The Gators led in the opening minutes of the game, but their last advantage was after a Riley Kugel 3-pointer with 12:11 left to play. From there, UCF went on a 15-2 run and never trailed again.
Down 35-26 at halftime, the Gators cut the deficit to seven points early in the second period but that was the closest they came. UCF stretched its lead to double digits for the final 14 minutes and led by as many as 24 points.
“These games in the postseason, you know, you have a goal of making the NCAA Tournament for so long and it’s something that you’re focusing on and talking about. Obviously, when that doesn’t happen, you have to find a way to rally,” UF coach Todd Golden said. “Any opportunity you get to play postseason, an opportunity like this, you can’t take it for granted.
“I just didn’t think we had our best tonight. This group has done a really good job since Colin’s injury of rallying and competing and finding a way. I thought we did a really good job of that the last two weeks. We didn’t do as good of a job tonight.”
Central Florida’s CJ Kelly led all scorers with 21 points, and Taylor Hendricks (17 points) and Ithiel Horton (12 points) also finished in double figures. Kugel had a team-high 13 points for the Gators, scoring in double digits for the 10th straight game, averaging 17.3 points during that stretch.
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“We just got outcompeted. Not much to it, we were just outcompeted,” Kugel said after the loss.
The Knights (19-14) shot 52.7 percent for the game, including 40 percent beyond the arc (6-for-15). Florida, meanwhile, finished 32 percent from the floor (19-for-59) and made just 16.7 percent from 3 (4-for-24).
The Gators’ 49 points marked their lowest scoring output of the year, and they committed 18 turnovers, their third most this season. UF finishes the season with a losing record (16-17) for the first time since 2014-15, Billy Donovan’s final year.
“I thought our ball security was really bad, especially in the first half, and I thought that was what really set us back in a big way,” Golden said. “Got off to a good start, but stopped taking care of the ball, allowed them to get some runouts and easy baskets. We were up 9-2, and then they were up 22-12, so a 20-3 run right there.
“I think a lot of it was spurred by those turnovers. Ball security has been an area that we’ve been elite in all year. It’s given us a chance really every game that we’ve been in, for the most part, but tonight we had 13 in the first half and (were) just really uncharacteristic that way. That was the biggest thing early on, I thought that was an issue for us.”
