It is not often that college basketball teams allow their opponents to shoot 56 percent from the floor and 50 percent from three-point range and win.
No, Florida didn’t buck that trend on Thanksgiving — it lost, 90-83, to Xavier, to fall into the consolation bracket of the Phil Knight Legacy tournament, and cost itself one of the great potential prizes of non-conference play.
And while Xavier shot it well all afternoon in Portland, Florida’s often befuddled or indifferent defense had a lot to do with that. Todd Golden threw a lot of defenders and looks at a Xavier offense that stabbed at the Gators with flex cuts and stretched it out with shooting threat Paul Nunge at center, and never quite found a solution to the problems the Musketeers posed, which resulted in all five Xavier starters finishing in double figures and guards Souley Boum and Colby Jones each contributing 22 points.