GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -Florida coach Billy Donovan isn’t sure how his team will respond to its first loss of the season.
The Gators (5-1) were physically dominated by Florida State, losing 65-51 Friday and then dropping out of The Associated Press college basketball poll three days later.
“I’d prefer as a coach to learn through winning,” Donovan said Monday. “This is the first time I’ve experienced this with them. I haven’t seen this team respond yet to a loss and how they come back.
“That’s going to be another learning process for me as a coach with these guys. … I don’t know if I necessarily have a feel for them right now because it’s my first time (losing) with them.”
The two-time defending national champions lost for the first time since Feb. 27 at Tennessee and dropped a home game for the first time since Feb. 22, 2006, also against the Volunteers.
Donovan hopes the experience will benefit his inexperienced squad that includes a junior, three sophomores and five freshmen. Florida hosts Stetson (2-4) on Tuesday.
“It’s OK to be a confident basketball team, but I don’t like when there’s not a level of humility,” Donovan said. “We need to have a level of humility of how hard we have to play and how well we have to play and have a respect for winning. I don’t know if we respected winning being 5-0.
“I’m hoping after what happened Friday there will be a level of respect of what winning is and how hard it is to win.”
The Gators were outrebounded 39-28, outmuscled in the post and outhustled all over the court. They gave up 11 offensive boards, 36 points in the paint, 14 second-chance points and 15 fast-break points.
Donovan called his team “soft” Monday, a word he never used when big men Joakim Noah and Al Horford were around.
Forward Dan Werner agreed with Donovan’s criticism, saying he planned to use it as motivation.
“They were bigger and stronger than any team we played, so it was kind of a wake-up call,” Werner said. “I don’t like being called soft, but you’ve got to recognize your strengths and weaknesses.”
The Gators immediately started working on their biggest weakness in practice Saturday. Donovan attached a plastic bubble to the rim that stopped shots from falling and created countless rebounding opportunities.
“We have to go out and play tough,” guard Nick Calathes said. “We let them push us around, and I don’t think that’ll happen again this season.”
Donovan isn’t as certain.
He knew his team would have to camouflage its lack of size with solid defense, up-tempo offense, perimeter shooting and unselfish shot selections.
The Gators did none of that against FSU, shooting 39 percent from the field and finishing 4-of-23 from 3-point range.
“When our shots are falling, we can beat any team in the country,” Calathes said. “But that’s what we’ve got to learn: when our shots aren’t falling, we’ve got to get some stops on the defensive end.
“It humbled our team. Our team was probably a little cocky out there, 5-0 and in the top 25.”
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