David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
The No. 15 Florida Gators lost to the No. 12 Connecticut Huskies 65 – 64 in a game that saw Shabazz Napier hit a miraculous buzzer beater that led to the victory. The Gators played their best game of the season so far and will be disappointed not to walk out of the matchup with UConn with a win.
Florida may be disappointed after the loss, but it’s early in the season. They have multiple opportunities to put themselves back in top-15 contention on their extremely difficult nonconference schedule, not to mention their difficult SEC schedule.
The Gators will look to rebound against their next opponents, the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas is coming off a recent loss to the Villanova Wildcats, and the Wildcats showed that Andrew Wiggins and Kansas are not the invulnerable team many thought them to be.
Florida has a definite opportunity to pull off the upset against the Jayhawks. The key to beating Kansas is stopping Wiggins, and Billy Donovan and his Gators are very experienced when it comes to stopping talented freshmen because a lot of Florida’s starters have faced Kentucky multiple times.
If Florida can beat Kansas, expect their next game against the No. 16 Memphis Tigers to be huge. The winner of that game will get into prime position to fight their way into the top 10 before conference play begins. A strong finish to the nonconference schedule – and more importantly for the next two games – is key for the Gators if they want to try and compete for a No. 1 or No. 2 seed in the 2014 NCAA Tournament.
Taylor Sturm is a SEC Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS or add him to your network on Google.
