Mark Schmidt had said in his preseason interviews that he didn’t need Matt Mobley to be Marcus Posley.

Figuring, and rightfully so, that he would be putting too much pressure on his new starting shooting guard, the 10th-year coach said he simply wanted Mobley to be himself, to bring the same kind of scoring prowess that made him a second-year standout at Central Connecticut State.

If Thursday night’s game in Lakeland, Fla., is any indication, however, Mobley is on his way to being just that: the new Posley.

The junior guard essentially picked up where his predecessor left off, scoring a career-high 28 points and making 6-of-12 from 3-point range in the Bonnies’ 73-66 loss to Florida inside the Lakeland Center.

Like Posley often did, Mobley shone brightest when it mattered most, netting 17 of those points in the second half, including 15 in the eight-minute stretch in which the Bonnies went from down 15 (60-45) to tied at 66 with 1:38 remaining.

“Second half, he played really well,” Schmidt said. “I thought he and Jay (Adams) were guys that were aggressive, played the game.”

For the second-straight contest, the 6-foot-4 guard got off to a bit of a slow start, though he did have 11 points at the break, but just as with the Saint Francis game, he got hot in a hurry down the stretch, making a pair of 3-pointers to pull the Bonnies to within 2 and 1, and then finishing off a 3-point play to tie it at the end.

The only thing that he didn’t provide was the go-ahead basket late, as his 3-pointer with 38 seconds left and Bona trailing by two fell short.

Mobley and the Bonnies fell to 1-1 with their latest close loss to a “power conference” opponent on Thursday night, but here was the good news to come from it:

The Central Connecticut State transfer already appears to be the real deal, collecting 21 and 28 points in his first two games. That’s the best two-game start by a Bona player in the Schmidt era, topping Chris Matthews’ 39 points across his first two games and Posley’s 38.

And just like last year — which was the plan when they signed Mobley in the spring of 2015 — the Bonnies appear to once again have the backcourt that will give them a chance in almost every game this season in Mobley, who is averaging 25 in the early going, and Adams, who went for 23 against Saint Francis and 22 vs. Florida.

– Bona has now lost 10-straight games to “power conference” schools dating back to 2010 and 14 of 16 overall in 10 years under Schmidt. In that stretch, the Bonnies have had a chance in just about every game, losing five by seven points or less, one in overtime and two in which they held the lead at halftime.

Their lone BCS wins under Schmidt came in 2008 against Rutgers and 2010 against St. John’s, both on the road.

– For as good as the their two top guards were, the Bonnies got almost nothing from their big men, a component that will have to be better if they’re going to continue to win going forward.

Against Florida, starting center Chinonso Obokoh and backups Amadi Ikpeze and Josh Ayeni went a combined 1-for-6 from the field with five points and six rebounds.

On top of that, all three were in foul trouble throughout, playing only between seven and 19 minutes. Obokoh has gotten off to a rough start after transferring from Syracuse, collecting seven fouls in 23 minutes played with just two points and four rebounds.

– Bona committed 11 turnovers in the first half, most of which helped the Gators get out to an early 12-point lead and bring a six-point advantage into the break.

It did a much better job of taking care of the ball in the second half, giving it away only four times until the final minute of the game when two big ones — from Mobley and Ayeni — helped Florida seal it.

The Bonnies finished with a manageable 17 turnovers on the night, but Schmidt wasn’t particularly pleased with that aspect.

“We gotta do a better job,” he said. “We turned it over too many times in crucial situations.”

– Liberty transfer David Andoh may be further away from making an impact than originally believed.

Despite all the foul trouble to the Bonnies’ frontcourt, the senior forward played just seven minutes, scoring two points on 1-for-2 shooting. Bona has said that Andoh is continuing to work his way back into basketball shape following an offseason foot injury.