As the Texas Longhorns made the program’s first trip to Gainesville in almost 30 years, the No. 5 Florida Gators chomped the Longhorns in a XX-XX victory that saw a seven-point halftime deficit reach as many as 24 points in the second half at the Exactech Arena.

If there’s any relief for the Longhorns after a brutal loss, it’s the end of the brutal start to SEC play that featured a road game against the No. 13, home games against the No. 1 and No. 2 teams, a road rivalry game, and the trip to Gainesville.

When Texas returns to Austin to play Missouri on Tuesday at the Moody Center, it will come against a program that merely received votes in the AP Top 25 poll last week.

Four players scored in double digits for the Horns, including 12 points from senior forward Ze’Rik Onyema and a team-high 16 points from freshman guard Tre Johnson, who was 1-of-5 shooting from three as Texas managed just four made threes on 16 attempts, finishing minus-12 in that category as Florida sunk eight from distance.

The biggest difference came in the paint, however — the Gators dominated around the basket, outscoring the Longhorns 44-20 in points in the paint with the help of 14 layups and five dunks.

Florida was also better in transition with a 12-4 edge in fast-break points.

The opening stretch of the game featured some ugly offensive play by both teams as the officiating crew allowed physical battles to take place in the paint — Texas was 2-of-8 shooting and Florida was 1-of-10 with five straight misses at the under-16 timeout as the Horns led 4-3. Both teams were having some trouble finishing defensive possessions with rebounds as the Gators corralled four offensive rebounds and the Longhorns turned two into a second-chance basket byOnyema.

Out of the timeout, both teams showed signs of finding some rhythm as Johnson and senior wing Tramon Mark hit threes for Texas and Florida made one of its own prior to a turnover. Johnson unquestionably found his rhythm in hitting consecutive jumpers to score nine of the first 14 points for the Longhorns.

By the time that Onyema made a layup on the final Texas possession before the second media break, the Horns had made six consecutive shots in addition to Onyema making two free throws to lead 18-13.

A scoring drought hit the Longhorns after the hot streak with the misses coming on contested shots around the rim or good looks from three as the Gators took a three-point lead and Texas head coach Rodney Terry had to use his use-it-or-lose-it timeout to slow the home team’s momentum following a layup.

But senior forward Jayson Kent had a careless turnover and another seal around the rim produced another layup by Florida as Texas went through a stretch that featured eight straight misses shots during a 15-0 run by the Gators that opened up a 10-point lead and threatened to bury the Horns.

An 8-2 response by Texas steadied the team and trips to the free-throw line by Mark and senior guard Julian Larry cut the deficit to five points. Florida took a seven-point lead into halftime after a layup, a poor, contested shot by Johnson that missed badly, and some luck for the Longhorns when a three-point attempt by the Gators at the halftime buzzer rimmed out.

Texas finished the half with only six three-point attempts, three offensive rebounds, and six turnovers as Pope, senior forward Kadin Shedrick, and senior forward Arthur Kaluma combined for two points on 0-of-7 shooting as Johnson paced the team with 11 points.

And while Onyema played well off the bench in scoring eight points, his best conference performance at Texas, but Larry, Kent, and sophomore wing Devon Pryor combined for two points and three turnovers as Pryor finished minus-10 in his three minutes on the court.

Kaluma finally scored on a three less than two minutes into the second half, but Florida kept producing quality looks against the Texas defense in extending the lead back to double digits as the Horns went into another scoring drought with turnovers a bigger problem than missed shots.

During that important stretch of the second half, Florida didn’t create more separation against Texas, but the Horns also didn’t cut into the deficit, so when the Gators hit a big three before the under-eight timeout, it pushed the margin back to 10 points because the Longhorns didn’t do better than a 5-0 run in the second half.

So when Texas missed six straight shots in a stretch of four and a half minutes without a made basket as Florida stretched the lead to 18 points on a made three in transition, prompting a timeout by Terry with 3:51 remaining and the game firmly out of reach.