Home-court advantage can never be underestimated in college basketball.
For UF, the orange-and-blue court has certainly paid dividends this season.
The No. 12 Gators (18-2, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) are a perfect 11-0 in the O'Connell Center so far and have won 12 straight games at home dating back to last season.
They will have a chance to extend their unbeaten streak tonight at 7 against Kentucky (12-8, 2-3 SEC) while looking to keep pace with Auburn and Vanderbilt at the top of the SEC standings.
Playing at home has brought the Gators a new energy that has come full circle.
The team started winning games and drawing larger crowds, and the crowds have spurred UF to more wins as a result.
"I think that we play hard at home," guard Sha Brooks said. "We're starting to bring in a lot more fans, and we get a lot of our energy from the fans and from each other."
A lot more fans, indeed.
UF has already notched the third- and eighth-largest crowds in school history in just two of its first three its SEC home games (against Mississippi State on Jan. 8 and Mississippi on Sunday, respectively).
"Obviously you're doing something right if that many people are coming in," junior Steffi Sorensen said.
Sorensen has noticed fans beginning to trickle in an hour before tip-off, and said her friend has had trouble finding a parking space and had to wait in long lines to enter the O'Connell Center.
"Look at our (home) record," Sorensen said. "We're undefeated."
UF coach Amanda Butler attributes her team's success at home so far this season to a few different things, including a change in attitude.
"Whenever you have any kind of streak, it speaks to your consistency as a team," Butler said. "You're talking about the amount of pride that a team has in their home court."
Butler has obviously found the right formula for success.
Her teams are 51-9 at home, while UF is 25-5 during its coach's first year and a half at the helm.
The importance of taking care of business on their home court seems obvious, but Butler takes understanding the magnitude of winning SEC home games to the next level.
"The teams that have won our league, the teams that will win our league don't lose ballgames at home. It's that important," Butler said. "So if you want to be in that conversation, then you cannot lose ballgames at home."
Brooks, a senior, said she has never played in front of crowds this big unless it was on the road at a place like Tennessee's home court of Thompson-Boling Arena.
Now, she's loving every moment of it on her home court in Gainesville.
"It's showing that our hard work is starting to pay off, that more people are starting to come and enjoy watching us play basketball," Brooks said.
