Too many of Wake Forest’s warts it’d shown in non-conference games were apparent when the Deacons played Florida in the ESPN Events Invitational.

That wasn’t the case for the whole game, but it was for the majority of Wake’s 75-58 loss to the Gators on Thursday at State Farm Field House.

Wake Forest (6-2) will play Minnesota on Friday at 1 p.m. to end its showing in the ESPN Events Invitational. The Gophers lost in overtime to Wichita State in the earlier game on Thursday. Florida will play the Shockers in the championship game.

Wake’s deficit was four at halftime; it was 14 before the Deacons made their first field goal of the second half.

Walter Clayton Jr. drilled a couple of 3s in the opening 75 seconds of the second half to create some separation. Wake Forest trailed for the last 21 minutes of the game.

Florida (7-0) didn’t make a ton of 3s, going 8-for-27 (29.6%).

But that was better than Wake’s 3-for-20 clip (15%). And that performance is even worse, considering the Deacons made their first two 3s.

Wake Forest trimmed its deficit as low as seven with a little more than five minutes left. That was as close as it got — the competitive portion of the game, if it wasn’t already finished, was really done when Florida scored six straight points at the free-throw line to stretch the lead from 10 to 16 with about 2½ minutes left.

The last four of those points came after coach Steve Forbes was ejected with a double technical.

Wake Forest committed 13 turnovers, which led to 21 of Florida’s points. Florida had 15 offensive rebounds; the Deacons only had 22 defensive rebounds. The Gators also had 22 fast-break points.

Wake Forest built an early nine-point lead, at 20-11, after the first 10 minutes of the game. The Deacons scored eight more points in the first half, as Florida edged in front and led 32-28 at halftime.

The Deacons made their first two 3s — a Davin Cosby Jr. corner-3 on their first possession and one by Hunter Sallis — and proceeded to miss their other 10 3s of the first half.

Wake’s only other 3-pointer was by Parker Friedrichsen in transition in the second half.

TIP-INS: Cosby and Friedrichsen were both 1-for-5 from the field, all of those being 3s. Cosby only played three minutes in the second half. … Cameron Hildreth and Sallis led Wake Forest with 15 points apiece. But they were a combined 11-for-29 from the field, and 1-for-9 on 3s. Sallis didn’t have an assist and had six rebounds; Hildreth had three assists and didn’t have a rebound. … Clayton led Florida with 21 points and Alijah Martin scored 16 in 26 minutes.