Mizzou can’t preserve early lead in loss to Florida: What went wrong for Tigers...

Missouri men’s basketball once again fell short in its quest for a first road conference victory on Saturday. The Tigers fell 73-64 at Florida to drop to 2-3 in SEC play, 13-4 overall.

Similar to MU’s loss on Wednesday at Texas A&M, it was an inability to make shots that sunk the Tigers’ chances. Missouri made 42% of its shots from the field and connected on just 3 of 18 attempts from three.

“The second half, I thought we had wide open shots,” head coach Dennis Gates said. “I thought our guys were able to execute the offensive game plan. When you have Nick Honor 0-for-3 from three, you have Noah Carter 0-for-3 from three, you have Sean East 0-for-2, I think that would have gave us confidence if those guys saw the ball go in.”

D’Moi Hodge, one of the team’s steadiest shooters, went 1-for-5 from three. Mizzou’s two other made three-pointers came from Tre Gomillion and Kobe Brown, hardly known for their ability from deep.

Despite two off nights in a row, Gates said the offense would continue to run like normal going forward.

“The guys are gonna shoot the shots that they are normally accustomed to shooting,” Gates said.

Couldn’t preserve the lead

Trying to shake off a rough ending to the Texas A&M game, Missouri wanted to start well against Florida. Throughout the 2022-23 season, that’s been an important part of the Tigers’ plan, with a large early lead helping win the Illinois and Kentucky games.

On Saturday, the Tigers got out to another. Missouri jumped out to an 11-0 lead and was up 11-2 at the under-16 timeout.

“We had a great game plan, came out in the first half with some energy,” Gates said. “I thought we saw 20 straight minutes of good basketball, though we had a low shooting percentage.”

One of the architects of the early lead was Gomillion, who finished the game with 11 points and made all three of his field goal attempts and four free throws. He also chipped in three rebounds and an assist.

Gomillion had gone 0-for-4 from the field in the Texas A&M loss.

“On my mind was just to get the win,” Gomillion said after the game. “I know I didn’t do that to help us in Texas, so that was really the main thing on my mind coming into today and it’s gonna be on my mind coming into (Missouri’s next game against) Arkansas at home.”

Then, Florida managed to kick things into gear. The Gators finished the first half with four three-pointers, two of them from Riley Kugel.

Kugel finished the first half with 10 points and four rebounds to lead the Gators. Will Richard and Kyle Lofton added the other two made shots from beyond the arc.

The Tigers only managed 17 points in the final 15 minutes of the half. Kugel made two free throws with 36 seconds remaining and the two teams went to the locker rooms tied at 28.

‘The road is tough’

The Tigers knew a major part of any win over Florida would be limiting forward Colin Castleton. During a Friday press conference, Gates called the 6-foot-11 Castleton one of the top three bigs in the country.

All in all, the Tigers did a good enough job. Castleton finished the first half with just six points, though he was able to snag seven rebounds.

“I thought we were able to hold Castleton’s touches below his average,” Gates said. “In the second half you can see his passing ability, he was able to end the game with six assists.”

Missouri had been getting regularly crushed on the glass coming into the Florida game. On Saturday, things were actually better than usual, with the Gators winning the rebounding battle just 34-33.

The Tigers had 42 points in the paint compared to 26 for Florida. Afterward, Gates was miffed by his perceived lack of calls in that area by the officials after MU shot just 15 free throws.

That game is won or lost at the stripe,” Gates said. “Ultimately, we’re a physical team, they’re a physical team. There’s no way to score 42 points in the paint and come away with 15 foul shots. That’s impossible. That just does not make sense.”

Brown led the Tigers in scoring with 21 points, got six rebounds and shot six free throws. Gates said he felt the forward should have taken double-digit attempts from the foul line.

“The road is tough, guys,” Gates said. “We got to look at and understand what the road presents. I’m not discouraged by my guys — they fought, they played well — but we got to understand, we’re not going to get the amount of free throws that we should and I thought we got distracted by that.”

The Tigers will be in action again on Wednesday back at Mizzou Arena to take on Arkansas. That game is scheduled for a 5 p.m. start and will be aired on the SEC Network.

The Star has partnered with the Columbia Daily Tribune for coverage of Missouri Tigers athletics.