Florida State vs. Florida: 3 takeaways from the Sunshine Showdown

2. Florida could be in for a long season

Before Tuesday night’s tip, the Gators appeared to be undervalued by many. Sure, they lost talent from last year’s team (as every college basketball program does), but Jalen Hudson and KeVaughn Allen were among the returnees set to pace an NCAA Tournament team.

Not so fast.

Florida State is a great team, but the Gators faithful should be worried about how quickly this game got out of hand. Throughout the night, Florida State’s balanced attack ran rampant on Florida, who had no answer on either end of the court.

Hudson struggled immensely with his shot, going just 3-for-10, including 1-for-5 from 3-point range. When he has a bad game, it seems likely the rest of the Gators will follow suit.

Allen, meanwhile, was entirely absent from this affair. The preseason Second Team All-SEC player didn’t score a single point on the night, the only starter on either side to hold that ignominious distinction.

There were a few players who stepped up in the absence of Florida’s biggest stars. Deaundrae Ballard led the team with 13 points despite coming off the bench. Freshman Andrew Nembhard was aggressive in his first collegiate start, dropping 12 points, though he turned the ball over four times.

Nevertheless, Florida is in big trouble if their senior leaders don’t come to play night in and night out.