In its last three games, the UF women’s basketball team has gone 1-2, with losses to top-10 teams Georgia and Tennessee by a combined 11 points.
The sole win in that stretch was a road win against a Mississippi State team with a 12-6 record.
“We drew great confidence from [Tennessee],” UF coach Amanda Butler said. “What we come away with is can you get up to play Mississippi State the same way you played Tennessee? Might be a little harder.”
After the tough competition last week, facing Alabama (8-10, 0-5 Southeastern Conference) tonight in Tuscaloosa at 7 may seem like a step down, but UF (10-8, 3-2 SEC) will attempt to play with the same intensity it played with against the Volunteers to avoid getting upset by the Tide.
“We’re not going to have any blowouts in the SEC,” sophomore guard Jordan Jones said. “Our confidence is high but it can’t be too high where we overlook a team like Alabama — their record may not show how good they are. We don’t want to go there, coming off a couple of good performances and have a let down.”
Part of that “good” basketball against the Volunteers meant crisper play with limited turnovers — something the Gators had trouble with on the road against Georgia and MSU, when they turned the ball over 21 times in each contest.
Butler said 14 of the 16 first-half turnovers UF had against UGA were self inflicted, saying some turnovers were a byproduct of her team’s aggressive, up-tempo style of play.
“The Mississippi State game was uglier than it had to be,” Butler said. “We do have to learn to live with a certain amount of mistakes. The thing we really emphasize is if we make mistakes, let’s make sure we’re making aggressive mistakes. We don’t want to make mistakes because we’re hesitant or passive or any of that.”
The Tide has zero conference wins this year, but Butler is weary of an improved team playing at home with seasoned players like junior Tierney Jenkins.
Jenkins is the SEC’s second-leading rebounder (9.3) and scores 10.8 points per game — one of three Crimson Tide players averaging double figures.
The guard play Butler braced her team for, featuring Dedrea Magee at point and guard Ericka Russell (10.9 points per game) took a hit on Sunday.
Junior guard Varisia Raffington, who led Alabama with 12.2 points per game, is out for the season with a torn MCL and partially torn PCL.
The Gators will look to apply the same type of defensive pressure they have their previous three games, holding opponents to 59.6 points per game and 39.7 percent field-goal shooting in that span.
Florida also wants to get out to a faster start on the road than it did in Starkville, Miss., where the team scored seven points in the first seven minutes.
“We’re still experiencing some lulls,” Butler said. “We’ve got to be hungrier for win No. 4 (in the SEC), than Alabama is for win No. 1.”
