The Gators narrowly avoided what would have likely been the final nail in the coffin for their NCAA Tournament chances on Wednesday afternoon. Facing Missouri on the road in front of a small crowd after the game was moved up to 3 p.m. EST, it took everything Florida had to avoid a loss in a Quadrant 3 matchup.
It trailed by nine well into the second half, but a comeback effort was enough to hold on for a one-point win. Still, it didn’t do UF a lot of favors as it actually dropped six spots in the latest NET rankings from No. 43 to No. 49.
This is understandable. Though a win is a win, a one-point road victory against a bad team isn’t exactly confidence-inducing, especially with the way Florida has played against the tougher competition this season. It currently sits at just 1-5 in Quadrant 1 games and is 3-2 against Quadrant 2 foes. The Gators are currently perfect in the third quadrant, but they carry a bad Quadrant 4 loss, which came at home against Texas Southern.
The Gators drop below conference foe Mississippi State, who is also on the bubble, and they currently rank just behind UAB and just ahead of Davidson, two likely automatic qualifiers.
Florida certainly finds itself in a precarious spot as far as the NCAA Tournament goes, and it will likely need to avoid any more bad losses and possibly pull off a Quadrant 1 win down the stretch. UF currently has four remaining opportunities in its two matchups against Kentucky, its home game against No. 1 Auburn and its trip to Texas A&M.
The rest of the way poses a number of challenges for this team, and if coach Mike White wants to avoid missing the postseason for the first time since Year 1, he needs to get this team playing much better, even with injuries limiting its performance.
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