Without saying it out loud, Missouri’s newly turned 43-year-old coach said enough after his team’s third straight road loss to make it clear he wasn’t pleased with the whistles Saturday at Florida.

More like not enough whistles.

The Gators overcame Mizzou‘s early surge and sent Gates’ team home with a 73-64 loss, making for a winless road swing for the No. 20 Tigers. That number before their name will likely vanish when the polls come out Monday as Mizzou (13-4, 2-3 SEC) has lost three of four games and, for the first time under Gates, dropped two straight.

Just like Wednesday’s clunker at Texas A&M, the Tigers were frigid from 3-point range, making just 3 of 18 shots from deep for a season-worst 16.7%. With 6-foot-10 Florida center Colin Castleton impacting both ends of the floor at UF’s O’Connell Center, the Tigers still managed to outscore the Gators in the paint 42-26 but only attempted 15 free throws — much to Gates’ dismay.

“Now, the issue is this,” Gates said, “we have Kobe Brown, all-league player. I thought he should have went to the foul line a lot more (than six attempts). He should have been in double-digit foul shots, and he wasn’t tonight.”

With Castleton, the SEC’s top shot-blocker, anchoring the Florida defense, the Tigers flubbed 10 shots at the rim on missed dunks or layups. Asked if Castleton’s presence affected those point-blank shots the Tigers normally make, Gates said, “I have no comment on that.”

He had plenty more comments, mostly aimed at fouls and free throws. Florida (10-7, 3-2) was called for 12 fouls to MU’s 20 and attempted 21 free throws to the Tigers’ 15. Florida turned the ball over 19 times, but Mizzou managed only three transition baskets as the Gators forced the Tigers to squeeze production out of their halfcourt sets. For just the second time all season, the Tigers finished with more turnovers (14) than assists (nine), while Nick Honor, D’Moi Hodge, Noah Carter and Sean East II combined to shoot 1 of 13 from 3-point range.

“I thought our guys did execute. They did everything that I asked them to do,” Gates said. “We came away with 15 free throw attempts, and (Florida) made 15 free throws altogether and didn’t shoot 100%. So that game is won or lost on the stripe. Ultimately, we’re a physical team. They’re a physical team. There’s no way to score 42 points in the paint and come away with 15 foul shots. That’s impossible. That just does not make sense.”

Gates reinforced his point for more fouls, saying Florida played just one possession of zone defense on Mizzou’s 70 possessions

“If we go back and look, 42 points in the paint is a lot,” Gates added. “We should have had 60, by way of multiple free throws as well.”

But that wasn’t the case as the Tigers struggled to answer Castleton’s production inside. To fortify his front line, Gates played 6-10 reserve forward Mohamed Diarra a season-high nine minutes — freshman forward Aidan Shaw was available, Gates said, but didn’t get off the bench for the first time this year — but Castleton still caused problems on both ends of Billy Donovan Court, finishing with 16 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocks.

Brown led MU with a game-high 21 points, while Carter added 12 and Tre Gomillion pitched in 11. Hodge’s shooting slump continued as he matched his season-low with six points.

In their three SEC losses to Arkansas, Texas A&M and now Florida — all on the road — the Tigers shot just 16 of 68 from behind the arc for 23.5%.

“The second half, I thought we had wide-open shots,” Gates said. “I thought our guys were able to execute the offensive game plan. When you have Nick Honor 0-for-3 from 3, when you have Noah Carter 0-for-3 from 3, Sean East 0-for-2, I think that would have gave us some confidence if those guys saw that ball go in on those open shots.”

On a day of upsets around the SEC — Kentucky stunned No. 5 Tennessee and Vanderbilt tripped up No. 15 Arkansas — the Tigers raced out to an 11-0 lead, but Florida chipped away from the 3-point arc and took its first lead, 26-25, on Kyle Lofton‘s 3-pointer in the closing minutes. Carter answered with a spinning drive from the elbow and drew a foul for a three-point play, but a couple Florida free throws down the stretch and five straight defensive stops kept the score even 28-28 headed into halftime.

Mizzou had a chance to build a lead midway through the second half during a Diarra cameo. Getting his first real chance to be part of the regular rotation, the junior college transfer powered through the paint for his second field goal of the season, but after a Florida miss, Diarra whiffed on a dunk in transition. Florida went ahead on the next possession, turning an offensive rebound into Myreon Jones‘ 3-pointer from the wing, good for a 48-47 lead.

Florida stretched its lead going through Castleton and answered every shot Mizzou delivered down the stretch. With five minutes left, Brown’s deep 3 from the wing got the Tigers within four, but Jones came right back with another 3 for the Gators.

Down six with a minute to play, Mizzou opted to play out a possession rather than foul, but Lofton caught Brown on a defensive switch and drilled a clinching step-back jumper for an eight-point lead.

“The road is tough, guys,” Gates said. “We’ve got to look at and understand what the road presents. I’m not discouraged by my guys. They fought. They played well. But we’ve got to understand we’re not going to get the amount of free throws that we should. And I thought we got distracted by that.”