Coach Amanda Butler has the utmost respect for FSU’s inside game.
But it’s not something she’s trying to mimic for the UF women’s basketball team (1-0) when it hosts the No. 15 Seminoles tonight at 7 in the O’Connell Center.
Butler praised FSU’s post players Jacinta Monroe — a 6-foot-5 preseason All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team selection — and 6-foot-4 Cierra Bravard but said she’s not necessarily using them as a blueprint for what the Gators’ post game should look like.
Monroe scored 18 points in 34 minutes in UF’s 72-57 win in Tallahassee last year.
“As talented as Jacinta and Cierra are, we don’t really have any players that look like them or play like them or their games are like them,” Butler said. “Certainly we talk about the challenges that what they’re able to do pose for us, but we also have to talk about the things we do well and the challenges that poses for FSU.”
To combat a Seminoles defense that allowed just 10 first-half points to UNF on Saturday, the Gators may go with a smaller and quicker lineup — as opposed to trying to out-physical their opponent — and rely on perimeter shooting.
In its 85-63 season-opening win against Stetson, UF freshman Jennifer George showed flashes of being a force to be reckoned with in the paint, leading the team with 21 points and adding five rebounds and two steals.
The Seminoles (1-0) should prove to be a tougher test for George than the Hatters, and the challenge will be taking Saturday’s performance and building off it against the much more physically gifted FSU frontcourt.
The team will be relying on its ability to generate offense off turnovers, as Florida recorded 14 steals against the Hatters.
And while UF finished Saturday shooting 50 percent from the field, the team will be looking to play even more to its shooting strengths.
“We didn’t even shoot that well against Stetson, so I feel sorry for Florida State (tonight) because I’m pretty sure we’ll be on fire,” center Azania Stewart said.
Stewart played against Monroe in Belgrade, Serbia, at the 2009 World University Games and said it’s more exciting for her to play against high-quality post players like Monroe.
Stewart will also be fueled by the motivation of what was in her eyes a subpar performance against Stetson.
“To be honest, it wasn’t a good game,” Stewart said. “I can’t dwell on that. I have experience here. I’m only a sophomore, but I played well against them last year.”
Last season, in the Gators’ road win in Tallahassee, Stewart tallied six points and four rebounds in 12 minutes of action.
She has advised George to establish her presence early and not let herself get caught playing defense too close to the hoop.
The team can say goodbye to first-game jitters, but the intra-state rivalry will certainly field a different atmosphere than the season opener.
“It’s the biggest game so far, so there’s a different nervousness that comes with that,” guard Susan Yenser said. “We are just going to go out there and focus on executing what we want to do instead of catering to what they want to do.”
Florida will hope to repeat its success of a year ago.
The then-unranked Gators defeated a ranked Seminoles squad, but the biggest contribution came from now-departed guard Sha Brooks, who led UF with 24 points in last season’s upset.
Senior forward Sharielle Smith had the team’s second-highest output last year, scoring 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
