Following Tuesday’s loss to the Buckeyes, a rough patch of poor weather waylaid the Gators’ chances of a timely return to Gainesville.
While the squad was able to catch a new flight the next morning, coach Billy Donovan is now trying to ensure Florida’s preparation for a quick turnaround game tonight at 8 against North Florida won’t also run late.
“This is a real high-level character game for us,” Donovan said. “North Florida is a physical, hard-playing, competitive team. With our flight situation coming back, having today to get ready … this is an opportunity to see what kind of resolve we have and what our character and makeup is.”
The No. 7 Gators (1-1) came away from Columbus, Ohio, and their 81-74 defeat to the third-ranked Buckeyes with a couple of glaring issues — namely 16 turnovers and a 61.9 percent free-throw percentage — to correct in just one practice before hosting the Ospreys (1-1).
Donovan said even though his players had to battle their emotions while trying to claw back from a 16-point deficit in the second half Tuesday, there’s no reason they won’t be ready both physically and mentally Thursday.
“The hard part is when you get a one-day prep like this, there’s a balance between how much prep work you do and how much you try to work on yourselves,” Donovan said. “Then you also have to look at the minutes that certain guys logged during the course of the game (and) the travel.”
Florida’s leader in time on the court and scoring against Ohio State was freshman guard Brad Beal, who finished with 17 points in 34 minutes but was hampered by a 6-for-16 shooting performance.
In his first matchup against guards from a ranked team, Beal committed a game-high five turnovers.
“For him as a freshman, going through this was a good experience,” Donovan said. “He has a lot of growth to make just in terms of the physicality, the speed, the quickness of the game — just how competitive it is in that kind of environment.”
Ohio State sophomore point guard Aaron Craft, who scored 13 points and led both teams with three steals, harassed Beal all game.
Along with seven assists and three rebounds, Craft blocked Beal’s first shot attempt and stripped the ball from the freshman as he was driving down the lane late in the first half.
“He dominated all of us like coach Donovan said,” Beal said. “Everybody from Craft to (William) Buford to Lenzelle Smith, all the guards off the bench, everybody contributed in some type of way. We were caught off guard at times where we weren’t guarding the ball well enough and they just really played better than our guards.”
Though the Gators are unlikely to see the same kind of pressure tonight, the Ospreys caused more turnovers than they committed in a 62-57 win against Savannah State and a 20-point road loss to Alabama.
“(Tuesday is) over,” Donovan said.
“The biggest thing for me right now as a coach today is what did we learn? What needs to be learned? … Try to understand that (it’s a) different team, quick turnaround, what kind of mental approach are we going to have going into this?”
Contact John Boothe at jboothe@alligator.org.
Florida freshman guard Brad Beal (left) struggled against Ohio State on Tuesday, making just six of his 16 attempts from the floor and turning the ball over five times in the 81-74 loss to the Buckeyes.
