TUCSON, Ariz. — No. 5 Florida’s numbing last-second loss to No. 8 Arizona was easy to explain.
Florida’s inability to
close out the end of the first of the half and the end of the game
proved costly in its 65-64 last-second loss to the Wildcats at the
McKale Center.
The Gators
were outscored a combined 15-0 in the final 1:19 of the first half and
57 seconds of the second half. During both ill-fated stretches, the
Gators combined to commit five turnovers and only got one shot attempt
to the basket.
“Turnovers
allowed them to come back in transition.,” Florida junior center Patric
Young said. “That’s what really gave them the advantage. We turned the
ball over a lot. It’s just pretty easy for a team to get some easy
baskets and allowing them to get easy baskets allowed them to stay in
the game. And they kept fighting to the end.”
With
Florida up 32-21 and 1:43 left, Arizona guard Nick Johnson stole the
ball from Young and hit a deep 3-pointer to cut UF’s lead to 32-24.
After a Kenny Boynton miss, Johnson knocked down another 3-pointer in
transition to cut UF’s lead to 32-27.
Florida
could have gone into halftime at least up by 5 and up by as many as 7
points. But Boynton dribbled the ball off his leg with 5 seconds
remaining. Arizona forward Solomon Hill stole the ball and hit a
breakaway dunk, cutting UF’s lead to 32-29 at halftime.
“Going
into the end of the first half and the end of the second half, we did a
bad job giving away seven points,” said Florida senior guard Mike
Rosario, who led the Gators with 16 points. “I guess that hurt us a
lot.”
Of the three
turnovers at the end of the second half, two came on in-bounds plays and
one came on Boynton’s inability to get the ball upcourt and break
Arizona’s press. Overall, Arizona scored 16 points off Florida’s 14
turnovers. Florida’s three seniors (Boynton 3, Rosario 3 and Erik Murphy
5) combined for 11 of UF’s 14 turnovers.
“We couldn’t handle their press that well and it cost us the game,” Young said.
