In the early stages of the season, the new, fluid offense was supposed to be Florida’s strong point.
Just past the halfway point of Southeastern Conference play, those sentiments have rung true.
Compared to last season, the Gators are an offensive juggernaut.
In 2012-13, Florida averaged 70.6 points per game. Then-junior Jaterra Bonds led the team in scoring, averaging 13.1 points a game.
This year’s Gators are scoring a torrid 78.1 points per contest. Bonds is averaging 15.7 points per outing.
However, both teams’ shooting percentages are virtually identical so how is there so much discrepancy among points?
The answer lies on the charity stripe.
Florida has shown marked improvement on the foul line from last season. In 2012-13, the Gators were 11th in the SEC in free-throw percentage, shooting 66.2 percent. This season, their 71.5 percent is good for third in the conference.
However important free throws are, a team has to be in possession of the ball in order to shoot them.
A more unforeseen improvement from last year has been the turnover margin.
Last season, Florida was hovering around an even ratio. This year, it’s at +4.9 — good for fourth in the SEC.
“We like to play fast, so there’s going to be turnovers,” coach Amanda Butler said. “That’s part of what we give up, wanting to play that style of basketball. I think some of it is our opponents and maybe facing some folks that it wasn’t their objective to try and turn you over and create offense that way.
“A lot of that is attributed to the fact that whoever we have on the floor, we’ve got two point guards at all times, and that helps us take care of the basketball.”
For a small team that is dead last in the SEC in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage, as well as overall rebounding margin, the Gators find themselves in a spot where they have to get the most out of their diminutive stature.
If you cannot get the ball off the glass, take it before they shoot.
Florida is third in the SEC in both forced turnovers and steals, which arguably compensates for the dearth of rebounding.
On Sunday, however, the Gators were even with the Rebels in the battle of the boards at 42 apiece.
“That’s an area that’s no surprise that we struggle with occasionally,” Butler said. “Our goal is always just to neutralize that battle. We didn’t do that very well in the first half. I was able to go into the locker room and challenge our team’s toughness, and specifically some individuals that we needed more from, and they really responded.”
The turnover margin again favored Florida on Sunday, opening the door for it to take more shots. Fortunately for Butler and her Gators, the shots were falling, as they have been during this current winning streak.
Before the streak, that was not the case.
Florida averaged 37.7 percent shooting from the field in its recent three-game skid, compared to 44.6 percent during its current three-game run.
The shots are falling again, but the game plan has remained the same.
“We have great shooters on this team that have just continued to work hard,” Butler said. “We encourage all our kids to take good shots. Sometimes, they’re going to go in. Sometimes they’re not, and when they don’t, that doesn’t mean you stop shooting or start doubting whether you should shoot or not. You just keep shooting good shots.”
Follow Gordon Streisand on Twitter @GordonStreisand
Carlie Needles defends against Alabama on Thursday during Florida’s 75-67 win in the O’Connell Center. UF is fourth in the Southeastern Conference in turnover margin.
