The Gators have had a bad start to SEC play because of the team’s inability to do this

Score early. Score late.

It’s an attitude that Florida men’s basketball coach Mike White has had trouble getting his team to adopt during this season.

The Gators have started SEC play 1-3 for the first time during White’s tenure, and it has sparked conversation as to where they turn now 16 games into their 2018 campaign.

Florida has let winnable games slip through its grasp because its inability to finish.

That was the case when the Gators were stunned by South Carolina to open conference play, a game in which they led by 12 midway through the second half.

It was the case against No. 3 Tennessee on Jan. 12, a potential season-defining win that they fumbled away in the closing five minutes. Florida held a lead with 6:26 left in the contest and wound up with a double-digit defeat.

It was nearly the case against Arkansas on Jan. 9, when they almost let the Razorbacks come from behind for the victory after leading by as many as 16 in the second half. And it was the same story in their recent loss to No. 24 Mississippi State, a game that they were a scoring drought away from putting a much-needed checkmark in the win column.

One of Florida’s big problems has been its “live by the three, die by the three” identity. The Gators’ have relied on the deep ball all season, perhaps at times when it has been more detrimental than advantageous.

The Gators took 31 shots from deep Tuesday against the Bulldogs. They made just 10 of those shots. Mississippi State made the same amount of three-pointers on the night, but it took almost half as many attempts (17) to get there.

Florida freshman guard Noah Locke, the team’s best and most consistent scorer this season, went 1 for 4 from behind the three-point line, a stat line that has equaled defeat for the Gators all season.

Four of UF’s seven losses this season have come when Locke has hit one or none of his three-point attempts. The other three losses saw him make 50 percent or less of those shots. In the loss to South Carolina, he made five three-pointers, but 15 of his 16 shots were from beyond the arc.

But, as White has alluded, Locke has been the least of the Gators’ issues this season. He’s one of the young players who has given effort every game, a quality that has been virtually non-existent from a lot of Florida’s veterans.

“I think that’s a big problem of ours. I’m not sure we have much frustration,” White said. “I’m not sure how important it is, and if there is it’s not communicated. Trying to muster up the competitiveness … Just a really somber group, at timeouts, in film sessions. We’ve got too much apathy - not from everybody, but from too many guys.”

That has shown on the court.

It has seemed easier for Florida to drop games this season due to a lack of competitiveness and intensity rather than a lack of execution.

Against the Bulldogs, Florida dominated the offensive boards, pulling down 12 to the Bulldogs’ eight and guarded the perimeter well for the first and part of the second half.

But execution hasn’t made up for leadership and discipline, and Florida simply hasn’t had veterans like Jalen Hudson and KeVaughn Allen to emerge to rally the team.

Score early. Score late.

The Gators haven’t found a way to do that despite White preaching it all year. But the only answer much of the team sees for addressing its deficiencies, especially at the start of league play, is to take it one step at a time.

“It’s pretty much a day-to-day journey. It’s the SEC, every game’s going to be tough. None of our game’s gonna to be easy, so we know what we [are] in for,” forward Dontay Bassett said. “We just got to take it game-by-game.”