Entering as heavy underdogs against Rutgers on Friday night, Florida hoped to rouse its offense with a little bit of defensive spirit.
Unfortunately for the Gators, it was the No. 11 Scarlet Knights’ stifling full-court press that hogged the spotlight and controlled the tempo.
Rutgers’ pressure on inbounds plays proved to be too much for UF (6-2), as it committed a season-high 22 turnovers en route to a 63-49 loss to Rutgers (8-0) in the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.
“Well, I just didn’t think we were sharp at all,” coach Amanda Butler said. “You know, 22 turnovers is way too many to beat a good team, especially when we only turn them over 13 times."
The defeat is Florida’s lowest-scoring effort this season and snaps a six-game winning streak.
Butler added that her team prepared for the Scarlet Knights’ full-court press before Friday night’s game, but didn’t handle it with enough composure.
“I didn’t think we did the things we’ve been doing (during the six-game winning streak),” she said. “And you have to give Rutgers credit for that. They really disrupted us.
“(We) went away from the things that make us good, and just didn’t try to execute with a lot of intensity and intent and purpose. We just got really sloppy and tossed the ball around. Some of our turnovers were just hard to watch.”
In a game where the Gators wanted balance on the offensive end, they were forced to rely on Jordan Jones as their “go-to girl” down the final stretch.
The senior guard was UF’s leading scorer, recording 20 points on 6-for-15 shooting with three 3-pointers, along with six rebounds and two assists. Thirteen of her 20 points came in the second half.
Senior guard Deana Allen added 11 points on 7-of-8 free-throw shooting.
Aside from Jones and Allen, only four other players scored for Florida, none in double figures.
Meanwhile, the Scarlet Knights had four players in double figures and two with double-doubles.
For the night, Florida just shot 31.9% from the field and was 4 of 12 from beyond the arc.
Through the first 12 minutes, the Gators stood toe-to-toe with the Scarlet Knights, exchanging leads in a back-and-forth fashion.
But a dry spell from 8:18 in the first half to 15:37 in the second doomed Florida, as Rutgers went on an 18-3 run during that span to take a 34-21 lead.
The Gators never held a lead again.
“We’ve got to get a lot better. I mean it’s real obvious,” Butler said. They are a top-10 (caliber) team, there’s no question. We’ve got to take some things from this game and learn … because definitely they were the ones in control of the ball game.”
