Gators no match for third-ranked Tide
Despite almost a 30-point performance Wednesday by Colin Castleton, his effort wasn’t enough to keep the Gators competitive against No. 3 Alabama.
The Crimson Tide never trailed, built a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the game and dominated the rest of the way to the tune of 97-69.
Bama (21-3, 11-0 SEC) remained undefeated in conference play and handed Florida its biggest margin of defeat in the SEC this year. UF has now lost three of its last four.
Down 52-23 at the half, the Gators cut the deficit to 17 on a Kowacie Reeves 3-pointer with 14:18 left, but never came any closer to the Tide in the second half.
Castleton led all scorers with 29 points and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, posting his fifth double-double of the season. It also marked his third consecutive 20-point outing. Riley Kugel added a season-high 15 points and Will Richard scored all 11 of his points after the break.
But Florida had one of its worst shooting games of the season, finishing 34.9 percent from the floor (22-for-63) and 29 percent beyond the arc (4-for-14). UF has now shot less than 35 percent in all three of its losses to top-five teams (.310 at Kansas State, .302 vs. UConn).
The Crimson Tide, meanwhile, had their shots falling all night in Coleman Coliseum. They made 49 percent of their field goal attempts and 44 percent from 3-point range, led by Brandon Miller with 24 points.
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Mark Sears (19) and Jahvon Quinerly (11) also scored in double figures, and the trio accounted for 11 of Alabama’s 15 3-pointers, the most allowed by Florida this season. Bama’s bench also outscored UF’s 29-12.
After back-to-back road games, the Gators (13-11, 6-5 SEC) return home Saturday against Vanderbilt at 3:30 p.m. on SEC Network. The Commodores (12-12, 5-6 SEC) upset No. 6 Tennessee 66-65 Wednesday.
Todd Golden on the loss
“We thought this was going to be a challenging game for us. Fourth game in a four-game stretch that, we played three teams within that stretch that were ranked top-five in the country, and the other game was at Rupp Arena. So a really challenging time for us, a lot of fatigue both physically and mentally. We thought after beating Tennessee last week and then having an emotional, close loss last Saturday, this was going to be a challenging game for us, and we just didn’t play well enough.
“I thought Alabama looked fresh. Obviously, they respect us in the way they approached the game, and they played a really good game. They played a really good game. We couldn’t take away the three in the first half, and it allowed them to separate. They’re ranked top-five for a reason. They’re a really good club. Coach [Nate] Oats has done a really good job. You can see where they are in year (four) for him here that they’ve built a really good program.”
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