Inexperience breeds mistakes. It’s inevitable.
Despite two victories in three games this season, coach Amanda Butler’s team has definitely made its share.
The Gators (2-1) are averaging more than 20 turnovers per game and are coming off a last-second defeat against DePaul in which they tied a season-high with 24 giveaways.
Shrinking that number will bode well for Florida’s chances of getting back in the win column against North Florida (1-2) today at 4:30 p.m. in the O’Connell Center.
Before the season there was much talk about bringing a faster pace and an aggressive mentality to UF. Couple that with the addition of six new players (four freshmen), and an uptick in mistakes was expected.
However, Butler said many of the team’s miscues are occurring during half-court sets and not in transition.
“The turnovers, we feel, aren’t coming in the up-tempo minutes. So the answer certainly isn’t to slow the ball down,” Butler said, citing poor shot selection as one of the culprits for the high numbers.
“It’s going to be a process for us, we’re not going to slow down. We feel like we’re at our best when we’re playing fast.”
A 16-3 run to end the first half against UCF and an 11-2 run against Charlotte shows the potential of pressing the action. Helping UF extend its lead both times, the fast pace also creates some security from future mistakes.
“We know we’re going to turn the ball over some, I think most teams know that,” Butler said. “But we’ve got to keep it under 20 a game, certainly against good teams, to have a chance to win.”
Apart from ball security, the Gators will likely turn their attention inside against the Ospreys.
UNF’s starting five features just one player over 6-feet tall — 6-foot-2 center Larkira Jones — and the discrepancy in size is something Butler said the Gators will look to exploit.
“They’re a much more face-the-basket type of team, even their post players,” Butler said.
“Certainly we’ll try to take advantage of that with our size and try to establish ourselves in the paint.”
UF has consistently outrebounded its opponents (133-110), while UNF’s competition this season holds a 147-108 advantage on the boards.
The Ospreys have faced a tough early season schedule, traveling to play North Carolina and Cincinnati on the road, and Butler said the scrappy team should not be overlooked.
“They’re a group that really competes,” she said. “You can’t underestimate … how hard they’re going to come in here and try to battle us and steal a win.”
