GAINESVILLE, Fla., Sporting Alert – Junior guard Jalen Hudson admits that the state of the Florida basketball team is “as low as we can get” and reveals that “it’s pretty embarrassing.”
Hudson was speaking after the No. 5 Gators (5-3) were upset 65-59 by Loyola-Chicago on Wednesday night.
Florida won its first five games to start the season, but have since lost three straight and are desperate for changes.
UF suffered an 87-84 to No. 1 Duke last month in the PK80 Invitational tournament, but after going toe-to-toe with the nation’s best team, several college basketball experts identified the men from Gainesville as the team to watch in the SEC.
However, Mike White team’s shocking home defeats to Florida State on Monday and the Ramblers two nights later, left many over the past 10 days, seeking to come to grips with the current situation.
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“This is as low as we can get,” said Hudson. “We have to change everything.
“It’s not one thing, it’s a lot of things, and it’s on us completely. We’re not ready to play.
“We don’t start the game ready to play. We don’t finish the game. We don’t hit shots and we’re not guarding. Guards aren’t guarding, bigs aren’t guarding — no one is doing anything.”
He added: “I can’t put a word on it. It’s pretty embarrassing.
“It’s so embarrassing.”
Florida scored 100-plus points in four of its opening five games and was averaging an NCAA-best 102.6 points per game during that span.
The team’s outside shooting was also impressive in that duration, so what has been happening recently?
Led by Hudson’s 19.4 points, four Gators are averaging double-digit scoring this season.
However, no Florida player scored in double figures against Loyola-Chicago in the defeat.
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“We’re not a very accountable team, right now,” White revealed. “We’re a team that’s been told for about two months how good we are, and it’s been at an all-time high the past 10 days.
“Hopefully, we’ve been humbled a little bit. We have guys who got a lot of accolades who have scored a lot points who cannot put the ball in the basket right now, and their other deficiencies are very glaring right now. None of that is a surprise to our staff.”
