It may be early in the season, but the Florida women’s basketball team is using its performance in Pittsburgh, an 81-58 loss on Friday, as a wake-up call.
While it wasn’t a make-or-break game, the loss dropped the Gators to 1-2 on the season, and players and coaches are not going to completely disregard it.
“You have to stress the seriousness of the situation,” senior Susan Yenser said. “If it’s not corrected, you could spiral (downward).”
When UF hosts UAB today at 4:30 p.m., the Gators will be hoping to find the effort and intensity missing against the Panthers. They hope the pair of intangibles can help them get off to a better start.
“We didn’t come out with the same intensity we had at the FSU game,” freshman Jennifer George said. “We all know that we can’t come out like that again. Nothing explains why we came out like that.”
The Gators failed to set the tempo on defense against the Panthers, struggling to generate offense through steals and fast-break points. Florida forced just 12 turnovers and finished with only five fast-break points.
“The starting five got out there and didn’t set the tone,” Yenser said. “That’s still no excuse. Even the people on the bench have to be ready to come in and be the tone-changers if we have to be.”
Coach Amanda Butler pointed out how the defense has been impacted by the way the team plays offense.
Lately, that hasn’t been a good thing.
Shooting a combined 39 percent from the field in its last two games and a worse-than-expected 33 percent from the 3-point line in those two contests, the offense has been unable to put points on the board.
Butler said that may have been a reason for the lax defense against Pittsburgh.
“You become more distracted by the fact that the ball isn’t going through the hole as opposed to refocusing your energy and going ‘OK, the ball isn’t going through the hole, let’s buckle down and play some defense,’” Butler said.
The Gators may find getting buckets a bit easier back at home against a UAB team that doesn’t boast the frontcourt prowess of FSU and Pittsburgh. If Florida can establish a more formidable post game, that will take some of the pressure off the guards and the perimeter shooting.
“It’ll be nice when we finally experience that game when we’re finally shooting to our potential,” Yenser said. “Until then, we can’t let it bother us. We can’t let our shooting dictate our intensity or our demeanor.”
