Something has happened to the Florida Gators men’s basketball team – something bad. After starting out 8-0, they’ve now dropped 3 games in a row, the latest coming last night in the O’Dome. The No. 18 Gators were defeated 66-67 by the South Alabama Jaguars.

“It’s never ever smooth sailing,” coach Billy Donovan said. “Our first eight games, it was great and now all of a sudden there’s three losses. To me, it’s the resiliency, it’s your ability to fight back, it’s your ability to battle. … I think our guys are going to have to dig deep down inside and try to battle to get through.”

It’s possible that the win over Michigan State a month ago really got to their heads. Did they think they were better than they really are? “We came out hungry and I guess the rankings got to our heads,” guard Kenny Boynton said. “We played with a chip on our shoulder and then somehow we got complacent. We’ve got to play with a chip on our shoulder.”

Billy Donovan did not go to his bench last night, and maybe that’s part of the issue. Only three bench players saw action: Parsons, Shipman and Murphy. Parsons played terrible, going 1-8 from the floor.

The only bright spot (which happened to be a negative that I pointed out after the last game) is the Gators shot 21-26 (80.8%) from the free throw line. That’s a nice improvement and certainly acceptable as a team number.

The Gators return to action on Monday, Dec. 28 as they host American at 7 p.m. at the O’Connell Center.