After repeat effort, will there be encore?

It didn’t seem like hog day for UCLA’s Arron Afflalo as much as it did Groundhog Day.

Different year, same opponent, same result, same sick feeling.

Last year it was a 73-57 loss to Florida in the national title game.

Afflalo went three for 10 from the field that night in Indianapolis, and Florida guard Corey Brewer gave him fits.

Saturday night, at the Georgia Dome, it was a 76-66 loss to the same Gators’ starting five. And Brewer had the nerve to show up again.

Afflalo made five of 14 shots this year. Brewer finished with 19 this time.

Afflalo’s 17 points were as hollow as they come. He made his first basket, a three-pointer, with 6:18 left, and it cut the Florida lead to only 13 points.

He got hot at the point he needed to be melted.

How useless could a first team All-American feel?

Afflalo was uptight from the get-go, picking up his second foul with 18:10 left in the first half, and his third with 11:26.

While Afflalo, UCLA’s best defender, was on the bench, Brewer was scoring almost a point a minute.

Someone must have pressed the rewind button.

Afflalo on Saturday sat slumped at his stool in the UCLA locker room. At one point a tear welled up in his left eye, and he flicked it away.

No, wait, maybe this year was worse.

“Yes,” Afflalo said. “I’m more of a leader this year.”

It was tougher too, knowing this may have been his last game as a UCLA Bruin.

The next step after All-American is usually the NBA.

“I don’t know,” he said of his impending decision, “that’s something I have to think about.”

He’s going to have to think hard.

After helping to resuscitate a storied program that had fallen into disrepair, Afflalo led UCLA to consecutive Final Four trips.

Why the empty feeling?

Because Afflalo said it was his “sole purpose” to lead UCLA to its 12th national title, and maybe its 13th.

“Making the Final Four is not good enough,” Afflalo said. “It’s not enough. Competing for a national championship is not enough. It’s about winning the whole thing.”

And if this was Afflalo’s last game?

“If this is his last game, he should be remembered as one of the greatest Bruins ever,” UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute said. “He came to a program that was down and lifted it up. His second year he was in the championship game, his third year he was back to the Final Four. He guards the [other team’s] best player. He’s the player who wants to take the last shot.”

If this was Afflalo’s last game?

“His legacy will stand strong,” sophomore guard Darren Collison said.

“He led UCLA back to where it used to be.”

Not quite.

UCLA used to win championships in bunches, and that’s always where the discussion starts. The Bruins won seven straight titles in one stretch.

It wasn’t enough for Afflalo to bring the Bruins to the brink.

What Bruins legend wants his career to end with two sub-par games against Florida?

To come out so jumpy against Florida that you pick up two fouls before you break a sweat. Afflalo actually started the second half on the bench because that’s what Coach Ben Howland does when a player has three fouls.

When has that happened?

“Never,” Afflalo said. “I’m a little embarrassed about it. “I was very excited to play.”

Maybe too excited.

Maybe that’s why Saturday seemed to be one of those recurring nightmares, only Afflalo is being chased by alligators.

If this was Afflalo’s last game?

Well, what a career.

And what a shame.

*

chris.dufresne@latimes.com