Miami struggled to find the bottom of the basket in Jacksonville against the reigning national champions, marking the team’s first loss of the 2025 season.
In addition to shooting an abysmal 33.8 percent from the field and 27.8 percent from three, the team also had issues at the free throw line, hitting just 15 of their 27 attempted free throws.
Even with these inefficiencies, Miami still found themselves in striking distance midway through the second half down three, but a Florida 23-9 run flipped the momentum of the game and the Gators never looked back.
Forward Malik Reneau led the Hurricanes in rebounding and scoring with 11 boards and 22 points respectively, but was not absolved from the team’s shooting deficiencies with a field goal percent of under 35 percent for the game.
Miami guard Tre Donaldson only hit four out of 16 shots but racked up six assists, while his backcourt partner Tru Washington had a relatively efficient six for fourteen shooting performance on a day where it seemed like the Hurricanes couldn’t get anything to fall.
The game opened up tightly contested, tied at 19 a piece at the nine minute mark of the half.
However, sparked by an Alex Condon three pointer from the top of the key, the Gators scored a late flurry of buckets while locking up defensively to finish the half with a 39-29 lead.
The Hurricanes started the second half strong by riding the offensive efforts of Donaldson, who had 12 points in the first eight minutes of the second half to narrow the gap between the two Florida squads.
However, the Gators began to slowly extend their lead in the later stages of the second half, regaining control of the game flow while stifling the Miami offense.
Florida put the ’Canes to bed off of a deep Urban Klavzar step back three, extending their lead to 16 with just 2:04 left in the game to set up a 82-68 victory.
Miami never led in the second half.
The Hurricanes’ poor shooting has been an issue throughout the first four games of their season, shooting over 35 percent from three just once this year.
It will be up to new Miami head coach Jai Lucas and the rest of his staff to figure out how to get their team’s shooting from behind the arc on track, especially in a modern era of basketball where the three ball has become imperative to offenses.
Aside from shooting the ball poorly, UM was also outrebounded on the glass, with the Gators recording 42 rebounds in comparison to Miami’s 34.
