No. 5 Florida's Home Winning Streak Snapped by Unranked Missouri

The Gators lost a heartbreaker in a late-night matchup against Missouri for its second loss of the season.
Jan 14, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. (1) attempts to block a three point basket from Missouri Tigers guard Trent Pierce (11) during the first half at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
Jan 14, 2025; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators guard Walter Clayton Jr. (1) attempts to block a three point basket from Missouri Tigers guard Trent Pierce (11) during the first half at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, FL on Tuesday, January 14, 2025. Mandatory Credit: Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images / Matt Pendleton-Imagn Images
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GAINESVILLA, Fla. – The No. 5 Florida Gators men’s basketball team on Tuesday dropped a late-night SEC matchup to the Missouri Tigers, 83-82, snapping a 16-game home winning streak overall and a four-game winning streak against the Tigers.

The loss, which moved Florida to 15-2 overall and 2-2 in SEC play, came down to three specific areas where the Tigers out-performed the Gators: the turnover battle, three-point shooting and free throws.
Florida committed 13 turnovers leading to 18 points for Missouri. 

“Our goal is to stay under 12 turnovers, under six a half and obviously we didn’t do that and they got some buckets off of it, so it’s kind of like giving the other team points,” UF guard Walter Clayton Jr. said. “So we’ve got to be better in that, we’ve got to be better that way.”

The Gators also gave up 11 3-pointers with over half coming from Missouri's Caleb Grill while also missing 11 free throws, four of which came from starting guards Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard.

“...we talk about three-point defense,” Gators head coach Todd Golden said. “It's less about, you know, being able to contest it – you can't let them get it up. If you want to control the three-point game, you can't let them get it up.”

There were some bright spots in this game, though. Clayton Jr. ended with 28 points, five rebounds and three steals while Rueben Chinyelu finished with a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. 

However, their efforts weren't enough to overcome what was once a 19-point lead for the Tigers in the first half.

Gators outplayed in every aspect in the first half

It would be a first half to forget for the Gators on Tuesday.

What started as an early battle through the first four minutes of the game quickly switched into a 13-point advantage for the Tigers by the 11-minute mark. Their lead was even extended to 19 points with around seven minutes remaining in the first half. 

Much of this was caused by Grill, who knocked down all four of his 3-point attempts that came in his first five minutes of action.

“I mean, Caleb Grill made some ridiculous shots, you know, and I think at least three of those four makes were relatively contested, and sometimes just got to tip your cap and stay the course,” Golden said following the loss. 

Florida did show some signs of life though, going on an 11-2 run to cut the lead to 10 points, but things, once again, began to unravel for the home team. Missouri’s offense and defense came back to life and took advantage of poor individual mistakes to push their lead back to 16 heading into halftime.

There was one positive in this initial 20 minutes for the Gators in Walter Clayton Jr., who had 18 first-half points, shooting 6-for-10 overall and 2-for-5 from deep. The rest of the team, however, struggled, and the Tigers were simply more aggressive than Florida.

“We didn't match the physicality and we just allowed them to come into our building to get comfortable, which just doesn't happen very often,” Golden said about the Tigers' physicality in the first half. 

Missouri was also efficient in shooting. The Tigers shot 54.8 percent from the field and 50 percent from three. They also made nine of their 11 free throws. 

Gators make it interesting late, but still finish with a silver medal

The start of the second half was much better than any stretch in the first. Florida opened the first seven minutes on a 19-8 run and brought the game to 58-53, still in favor of Missouri. During the run, the Gators offense was 7-for-12 overall and made two of their four threes. 

Behind some solid defense and difficult shots on offense, the Gators eventually clawed back into it and cut the deficit to just three points with 3:41 remaining after a 3-pointer from Clayton Jr. 

However, Missouri always seemed to be one step ahead, and a controversial shot eventually aided their efforts. Grill, with the Tigers up by four with 2:18 remaining, drilled a 3-pointer to extend the lead to seven. However, replay appeared to show Grill's foot on the line, which would've taken one point off the Tigers total, but the play wasn't reviewed.

"We were not made aware of it," Golden said. "I mean, I guess we could have talked to the refs. We didn't see it. I didn't see it, at least. And that's on me. But yeah, normally we would have. Just like we did with the hook and hold call, we would go talk to the officials."

Florida eventually made it a one-point game behind a 3-pointer from Alijah Martin, but the game was practically over by that point.

And, despite showing some grit in the second half, Florida’s head coach saw a pretty noticeable shift in the team’s mentality in this loss that hopes to be fixed as soon as possible.

“We are the underdogs, we have the chip on our shoulder and tonight was the first time all year that I did not feel that we competed with that mentality,” Golden said. “And that's something that we gotta get back for Saturday.”

Up Next

Florida’s next time on the hardwood will be on Saturday at 4 p.m. at home against the Texas Longhorns. This game will be televised on ESPN2. It will be the first matchup between the two programs since Texas joined the SEC.


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