Washington's Jon Brockman squeezed between two Florida players, tracked down teammate Isaiah Thomas missed free throw and flipped up a fadeaway from the corner at the buzzer. It came up just short -- and Florida's bench let out a collective sigh of relief.

For Washington it was an improved effort against one of the top teams in the country despite the loss. The hard lessons learned the night before against Kansas obviously made an impression. Washington was much better against Florida, going through the post to get easy shots inside and along the perimeter. The Huskies were 14-for-24 from the floor in the first half and shot 60 percent overall.

After trailing by 10 points with just under five minutes left, the Huskies chipped away, tying it at 81 on two free throws by Brockman with 1:23 left. Walter Hodge followed with a 3-pointer from the corner to put Florida up by 3, and then Thomas hit two free throws with 50 seconds left.

After Calathes and Allan Chaney each hit 1-of-2 free throws to put the Gators up 86-83, Florida fouled Thomas with 2.5 seconds left. Thomas hit one free throw and Brockman got the rebound when the freshman purposely missed the second, but his fadeaway from the corner hit front rim at the buzzer.

"I thought it was going, but sometimes you come up a little short," said Brockman, who had 22 points and 11 rebounds. "I thought the team responded really well from yesterday," Brockman said. "I think we executed our offense a lot better. Yesterday was a one man show with four other guys watching and tonight all five guys were working together to score."

Washington has lost 11 of its last 13 games against ranked opponents, including four straight.