COMMENTARY: Gators 'nowhere near' a championship-level team

GAINESVILLE — A week removed from defeating No. 4 Auburn, Florida coach Mike White had another opportunity for a statement win Saturday against top-ranked Baylor in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. 

The game looked promising through the first six minutes, with the Gators building a 17-9 advantage. But the Bears outscored UF 31-12 the rest of the half and led by double digits throughout the second period for a 72-61 victory, their 16th in a row. 

Florida shot 44 percent from the floor and trailed by 19 points for the third time this month. 

“From a mental toughness standpoint, we’re nowhere near what it takes to be a championship-level team,” White said. “I hope everyone in our locker room is dissatisfied with where we are.”

Despite a hot start, UF finished with one of its worst performances of the season from downtown. Keyontae Johnson, who led all scorers with 20 points, and Noah Locke both connected on their first 3-point attempts. 

But after opening the game 3-for-5 from beyond the arc, the Gators made one of their last 12 from long range, finishing 4-for-17 (.235) from deep.

“I’m not sure that we were great at anything offensively in the last 30 minutes,” White said. “They showed probably the last 30 minutes of the game that they gotta be in the argument as the best defense in the country. 

“They’re on you. They've got good length, speed and quickness. They're prepared. They're able to extend because they guard the bounce one-on-one so effectively to where the other four guys can stay a little bit more attached (to their man) more so than other defenses.”

That being said, the Gators had several open looks they did not knock down. Andrew Nembhard was 0-for-4 from 3 and Locke missed his other three attempts, ending his school-record streak of 15 consecutive games with multiple 3-pointers made. 

Johnson ended Florida’s 0-for-11 drought from beyond the arc with 1:07 left and the game well in hand. UF outscored Baylor 32-20 in the paint, but it wasn’t enough production to offset the poor 3-point shooting. 

“When you’re having little success in the paint, you gotta score some way,” White said. “And then we’ve had other games where we may be struggling in one or both of those categories and we find a way to put pressure on the rim, live at the foul line and convert. 

“We missed three consecutive one-and-ones, my goodness, by good free throw shooters. To beat the No. 1 team country, you have to make some of those.”

If Locke and Kerry Blackshear Jr. converted their trips to the line, the Gators would have trailed by eight points (59-51) with 5:21 remaining. Baylor had no trouble from downtown or the charity stripe, finishing 9-for-19 from 3-point range (47 percent) and 15-for-16 (94 percent) from the line. 

“This was one of our bad defensive games,” Johnson said. “Everybody wasn’t accountable. If their big man would throw it out for a 3, we were in the wrong spots with our rotation.”

Blackshear also said the Gators lacked accountability on defense, but White took it a step further. He criticized himself for not managing the rotation better, but also called out his players for lacking the tenaciousness that Baylor defends with. 

“Accountability is probably first and foremost (the issue),” White said. “The more that we can grow our bench defensively, the more we can hold our starters more accountable. Some of it is at times playing a couple guys that we rely on pretty heavily extended minutes maybe too often. And that’s on me. 

“But we’re an immature team right now. We're casual. We're soft. At times, we lack the discipline that the best defenses in the country, like Baylor, have. That’s what we’re striving for. Do I see a big jump in maturity lately with this, in their defense, very young team? No. Gotta get more mature.”