The Gators lost their rivalry game against Florida State on Saturday, with a final score of 73-81. The biggest story of the game was, obviously, the loss of star forward Keyontae Johnson, who collapsed unresponsive on the court and was taken to the hospital.
The Seminoles looked great throughout this game, and while the Gators were not able to bounce back from the initial shock of losing Johnson, they were able to play well for the last 12-ish minutes of the game. Unfortunately, they fell too far behind Florida State in the intervening time. Florida was clearly in no state of mind to play in the minutes after Johnson’s departure, as many players were visibly shaken up. Scottie Lewis, Tyree Appleby, and Omar Payne were even brought to tears.
Despite the cloud that hung over this game, there were substantive basketball played. Every minute played is instructive about this team’s identity because the season is still so new. Although the Gators faced a worst-case scenario, Colin Castleton played what was arguably his best game so far, but the stars of the day were Tre Mann and Scottie Lewis. Here are some things we observed during the loss to FSU.