Mississippi State ousts UF from SEC tournament

<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Florida had a chance to seal an NCAA Tournament at-large bid with a win Friday night against Mississippi State.</p><p>Instead, the Gators will be left waiting and wondering until Selection Sunday following a 75-69 loss to the Bulldogs in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.</p><p>"I personally think we should be there," Florida junior forward Chandler Parsons said. "I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. There's nothing we can do about it at this point. It's out of our hands."</p><p>It was a night when the Gators started awful and rallied late, a pattern they showed in three straight losses to close the regular season.</p><p>"They really kind of jumped on us early, and we were back on our heels most of the first half," Florida coach Billy Donovan said.</p><p>Florida (21-12, 9-7 SEC) allowed Mississippi State to hit 16 of its first 19 shots from the floor to build a 15-point first-half lead.</p><p>"That's just unacceptable on our part," Parsons.</p><p>Freshman Kenny Boynton led Florida with 23 points, with point guard Erving Walker adding 19 points. But Florida's frontcourt, dominant against Auburn, couldn't do the same damage against a better Mississippi State frontline. Parsons had 10 points and 7 rebounds, but center Vernon Macklin was held to three points and forward Alex Tyus had five points and four turnovers.</p><p>Macklin had 20 points in his first meeting against Mississippi State. He was double-teamed early and never got in an offensive flow. Donovan said he expected the Bulldogs to double-team Macklin coming into the game.</p><p>"We had probably a tough night from the power forward spot, Dan (Werner) and Alex. Alex had four turnovers and Dan just didn't shoot it well."</p><p>Barry Stewart led five Mississippi State scorers in double figures with 17 points. Senior center Jarvis Varnado added 15 points and four blocks to extend his NCAA career record to 546.</p><p>A Varnado dunk gave Mississippi State its biggest lead, 58-39, before Florida started its late comeback. The Gators went to a mix of press and zone defenses to go on a 14-0 run, cutting Mississippi State's lead to 58-53 with 7:43 remaining.</p><p>"The zone, I think helped us get back as well as the press," Donovan said. "The press didn't really cause a lot of turnovers, it caused a couple but not a lot."</p><p>Florida senior Dan Werner's three-point play cut Mississippi State's lead to 68-64 with 2:58 left. Twice, the Gators had a chance to cut Mississippi State's lead to two points. But with 2:15 left, Boynton didn't get a call on a drive to the basket where it appeared there was contact.</p><p>Then, down 70-66 with 47 seconds remaining, Walker heaved a full-court pass to Werner, who was open in transition. But the ball sailed through Werner's hands and out of bounds for UF's critical 12th turnover of the game.</p><p>"I started running before the ball came," Werner said. "I guess I kind of misjudged it."</p><p>Florida missed its first four attempts from the floor, not scoring until Walker hit a floater in the lane with 16:11 remaining. On the other end of the floor, Mississippi State made five of its first six shot attempts to built a 10-0 lead.</p><p>Mississippi State played like the team more desperate early, disrupting the passing lanes and keeping Florida from attacking the basket.</p><p>"We came out with a lack of intensity," Boynton said. "It happened so fast. They wanted it more than us."</p><p>The Bulldogs continued to build their lead, making six of their first nine 3-point attempts. A Dee Bost 3-pointer followed by a Varnado dunk gave Mississippi State its biggest lead of the half, 26-11, before UF started chipping away.</p><p>"The problem wasn't our offense, because we shot 54 percent from the field in the second half," Donovan said. "The problem was our defense."</p><p>Boynton, who made four of six 3-point attempts in the first half, cut Mississippi State's lead to 34-24 with a 3-pointer with 4:51 remaining. Another Boynton 3-pointer with 59.3 seconds left cut Mississippi State's lead to 39-28 at halftime.</p><p>Florida committed eight turnovers in the first half while allowing Mississippi State to shoot 7-of-11 from 3-point range in the first half. For the game, the Bulldogs shot 10-of-20 from 3-point range.</p><p>"When you allow a team like that to get off to a good start shooting the ball, tough shots become easier shots," Donovan said.</p>