Gators fall at No. 5 Kansas State, 64-50
A slow start was a problem again for the Gators (12-9, 5-3 SEC) in their 64-50 loss at No. 5 Kansas State (18-3, 6-2 Big 12) on Saturday night.
Kansas State jumped out to an 11-5 lead into the first timeout of the night and kept UF at arm’s length the rest of the night.
Myreon Jones was able to find some offensive success in the first half, but it was the Wildcats who went into the locker room with a 37-16 lead.
“The first half, we just let them get to us. Transition points, something Coach Golden keyed on while we were scouting them,” Colin Castleton said. “They got 24 transition points or something, and that was something that we had to key in on and didn’t do a good enough job of picking up (Markquis) Nowell, one of the fastest if not the fastest player in the country.
“He’s got so many skills, his size, his speed, his agility and being able to push the ball quickly. If you don’t sort out when they run, they have a lot of athletes and really was a deal breaker in the first half and we just had to crawl back when possible.”
The Florida defense did its part holding this Kansas State squad to 64 points on just 37.7% shooting from the field.
However, the Gators couldn’t find much success on offense outside of an early second half run led by Will Richard.
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It was the UF offense that didn’t pull its weight. The Gators shot just 31% from the field and 18.2% from beyond the arc. Those numbers simply don’t cut it on the road against a top-five opponent.
“Gotta make shots,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said. “We’re doing a better job taking care of the ball on the road. They’re obviously a very good team. They’ve won a lot of games. Just maybe a little more toughness around the rim and when you get an opportunity, you’ve got to step up and knock it down.”
Colin Castleton led the Gators with 13 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. Richard and Jones each added 11 points of their own while Riley Kugel struggled shooting but scored 7 points and a career high six assists.
Keyontae Johnson posted a double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds in the win over his former school.
Looking ahead, the Gators return to Gainesville with a big matchup ahead against No. 4 Tennessee in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center on Wednesday night. The game will tip at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
