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American U.-Florida Preview

Dec 28, 2009 - 12:04 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

American University (2-10) at Florida (8-3), 7:00 p.m. EDT

It was a rough week for Florida fans.

The No. 18 Gators look to avoid matching their longest losing streak of the decade when it hosts American University on Monday.

While much of the attention in Gainesville is centered on football coach Urban Meyer's decision to take a leave of absence, Florida's basketball team has dropped three straight after winning its first eight games by an average of 17.9 points. The Gators suffered their first December home loss since 2004 with a stunning 67-66 defeat to South Alabama on Tuesday.

The game was supposed to be a break in the schedule after losses to then-No. 7 Syracuse in Tampa and to Richmond in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic, but Florida returned home only to shoot 36.8 percent. The Gators (8-3) led with less then a minute to play, but the Jaguars grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the go-ahead basket on a putback in the final seconds.

"It's never ever smooth sailing," coach Billy Donovan said. "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."

Chandler Parsons, Florida's second-leading scorer, went 1 of 8 from the floor and missed a critical shot down the stretch. Third-leading scorer Erving Walker has shot 10 of 36 during the three-game skid.

The Gators have not lost four in a row since March 1-13, 2008. They haven't endured a longer losing streak since dropping five straight in February 1998.

Florida must find a way to snap out of its offensive slump. After averaging 75.8 points and shooting 46.7 percent during an 8-0 start, the Gators are scoring 64.0 per game on 39.7 percent shooting in the last three. They've shot 29.8 percent in the second half during the losing streak.

"Coach has been talking about everyone delivering ... and for us to get to where we want to be, everybody's got to start stepping up and playing better," said Parsons, held below his season average of 11.5 points in five of the last six games. "We've got a huge mountain to climb."

While a loss to South Alabama was shocking, falling to American would be even more stunning for Florida.

The Eagles (2-10) have lost their last 15 games against ranked opponents by an average of 23.1 points. They shot 27.1 percent in a 73-46 loss to then-No. 16 Georgetown on Dec. 5.

American, which has reached the NCAA tournament the last two seasons, has only one senior on its roster. It's among the bottom 25 in Division I in scoring, averaging 58.3 points.

The Eagles lost 76-57 at Penn State last Monday despite 17 points apiece from Vlad Moldoveanu and Nick Hendra.

Moldoveanu, who sat out the first nine games after transferring from George Mason midway through last season, is averaging 19.0 points in three games.

The Gators defeated the Eagles 76-33 in 2000 in the only meeting between the teams.