Florida is searching for answers on offense.
Four of its remaining six regular-season games will be played away from the O’Connell Center, beginning tonight in Georgia.
Improving the offense has been a season-long task for coach Mike White and the Gators, and now the fixes will have to be made on the road.
Florida (16-9, 7-5 Southeastern Conference) faces Georgia tonight at 9 in the Stegeman Coliseum in Athens.
The Bulldogs (14-9, 7-5 SEC) have been on a roll, winning three of their last four games and five of their last seven conference games.
Georgia and Florida are part of the four-way tie for fourth place in the SEC standings, along with Texas A&M and Vanderbilt.
But perhaps the most daunting statistic facing the Gators tonight is the Bulldogs’ 12-3 home record.
UF is 2-6 in true road games this season and 1-4 in SEC road games, as if its shooting woes weren’t enough to overcome.
"In this league, you have to go into survival mode and really hope you can play well enough to have a chance," White said on Monday.
"That’s my biggest concern right now. Not the league standings, not our RPI numbers. It’s how the heck do we score at Georgia?"
In Saturday’s home loss to Alabama, the Gators shot a season-low 28.6 percent from the field (18-of-63) and just 14.3 percent from three-point range (3-of-21).
Florida will need to improve its offense while dealing with a strong Georgia defense on the road.
The Gators’ defense will also have to deal with four Bulldogs who average double figures in scoring.
White and guard Chris Chiozza both said neutralizing Georgia’s guards — J.J. Frazier (15.4 points per game), Kenny Gaines (12.5) and Charles Mann (11.0) — will be a huge key on Tuesday.
Additionally, forward Yante Maten leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 16 points and eight boards per game.
"Their guards are explosive scorers. The offense really starts with the guards," Chiozza said. "They’ve got three veteran guards in Mann, Frazier and Gaines. They get the offense going, so it’s going to be a huge key for us defensively."
Meanwhile, Florida’s guards have been the opposite of explosive.
Over the last four games in which the Gators have gone 2-2, Chiozza, Kasey Hill and KeVaughn Allen have combined to shoot 31.6 percent from the field (31-of-98) and 20 percent from three-point range (9-of-45) while committing 17 turnovers.
Chiozza knows the play of Florida’s guards has been sub-par, and he said the unit will need to improve as the season winds down to give the Gators a chance to win games.
"Our guard play has been awful the last few games, and especially with this road trip coming up, it’s going to be huge for us to be leaders on the court," Chiozza said.
"I’ve been trying to figure that out. I think it’s mental and just, I wouldn’t say a loss of focus, but just tired mentally.
That’s not an excuse, though. I’ve just been playing uncharacteristically of myself lately."
For Florida to steal a win in Athens tonight and earn just its third road win of the season, the Gators cannot afford mental lapses.
The Bulldogs are fighting for a postseason berth just as much as Florida is at this point, and the Gators will be facing yet another tough atmosphere away from home — all while coming off their worst shooting performance of the year.
"I don’t foresee us going to Georgia and scoring 80 points. I just don’t," White said.
"Defensively, if we’re not on it and you’ve got three very talented veteran guards that are all capable of getting 20 apiece, if they do that we’re in trouble. We probably have no chance."
Contact Alex Maminakis at amaminakis@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @alexmaminakis.
Florida's Chris Chiozza shoots the ball during UF's 61-55 loss to Alabama on Feb. 13, 2016, in the O'Connell Center.
