It won’t take the Tennessee men’s basketball team long to diagnose what went wrong in another competitive loss.
The Volunteers simply couldn’t get enough defensive stops down the stretch on the road against 24th-ranked Florida.
The Gators shot 70 percent (16-of-24) and KeVaughn Allen scored 16 of his 23 points in the second half as Florida turned a tight game into a comfortable 83-70 Southeastern Conference win Saturday at the “O-Dome” in Gainesville.
Allen hiti four of his team’s seven second-half 3s during the final nine minutes when the Gators outscored Tennessee 27-14.
“It’s very tough,” Vols forward Admiral Schofield told the Vol Network after scoring a season-high 18 points and grabbing a career-best 10 rebounds. “All week we prepared very hard and put a lot of hours in focusing on Florida and getting this win. Especially how we came out against them last year, we wanted to make a statement on the road against a Top 25 team.
“In the second half we just couldn’t punch them back. They came out punching, and we just couldn’t answer their call. The biggest thing is we’ve got to be more aggressive and got to get everybody playing their best for 40 minutes.”
The Vols (8-7, 1-2) led by late in the first half and took a 39-34 lead in the opening minutes of the second half after Jordan Bowden hit a pair of 3s.
Then the defense disappeared.
Florida made nine straight shots to regain the lead, and after Tennessee battled back to tie the game at 56 with 8:57 to go, the Gators took control with a 10-3 spurt capped by back-to-back triples by Allen, who was recruited heavily by Tennessee during Donnie Tyndall’s lone season.
Allen had another dagger for Tennessee with another trey after Jordan Bone, who returned to the starting lineup in his third game back following a nine-game injury absence, made it 66-63 with less than five minutes remaining, and the Vols never threatened in the final four minutes.
“They’re going to make some shots,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes told the Vol Network, “but that’s not what beat us. What beat us is we weren’t on edge the way we had to be. They’re a good team, a Top 25 team, and we had our chances.
“I still felt like our turnovers were a big part of the game, too. We had too many unforced turnovers and allowed them to get out in the open court. You’re not going to turn the ball over 19 times on the road and win.”
Florida (12-3, 3-0) scored 25 points off Tennessee’s turnovers, which ruined the Vols’ 50-percent shooting performance.
“We didn’t get a great day from everybody,” Barnes said. “I thought Admiral Schofield was terrific, and I thought Kyle (Alexander) did his job well today. Those two guys, I thought, really were locked in with what we wanted to do, but overall we had too many times where we didn’t finish possessions.”
Schofield had shown signs of life with seven points and six rebounds in the midweek loss against Arkansas, but his first career double-double was unexpected. The sophomore spent the first weeks of the season in Barnes’s doghouse and scored just 39 points all season.
“This year hasn’t been the most delightful year for me,” Schofield said. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but I think the biggest thing is Coach Barnes has been behind me and rooting for me. All the coaches have stood behind me and pushed me. The biggest thing is to come out and show them that I care and give them everything I’ve got tonight.
“I think they’re proud of me for responding with the tough year I’ve had, but from here on out we’ve really got to focus in on getting these wins, because we work too hard and we have a way better team than we had last year.”
Schofield was suspended for three games and missed another with an injury, but he’s trying to let his defense and rebounding dictate the rest of his game.
“In the last week and a half, he’s really been locked in,” Barnes said. “I think he’s buying into what we need him to do. I thought he was terrific today, and we need him to keep it going, but we need everybody. We had too many guys today that didn’t give us what we needed.”
Bowden also broke out of a slump with 15 points for his first double-figure scoring game since the loss at North Carolina in mid-December, but all seven Vols who played more than 20 minutes had at least two turnovers.
Robert Hubbs III and Detrick Mostella combined for 17 points and seven turnovers, and freshman Grant Williams scored just six points before fouling out.
“I just can’t get 19 turnovers out of my head,” Barnes said, “because we can’t do that.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.