Given the fact they were returning five starters, the Gators didn’t expect teamwork to be an issue.
But over their last two games, the team has been plagued by selfishness and poor decision making.
Those are areas No. 18 Florida (5-2) will look to improve when it travels to Washington, D.C., to take on American (5-2) Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Last year, the starting five collectively recorded a 1.2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Through seven games of 2010, they have combined for 69 assists and 75 turnovers.
Those numbers come primarily from players’ struggles making decisions with the ball in their hands, something coach Billy Donovan has been stressing for weeks.
“We’re not getting the best available shot for our team,” senior Chandler Parsons said. “We’re not understanding our personnel. If I have a good shot and Kenny Boynton has a better shot, he has to get the ball.”
Instead, the Gators have wasted many offensive possessions by pushing the ball up the floor too quick, often resulting in a turnover or wild shot attempt.
Alternatively, Florida has also forced itself into a lot of desperate and contested looks by simply passing the ball around the perimeter until late in the shot clock, at which point it doesn’t have time to generate a quality scoring opportunity.
“It’s not that they’re being selfish,” Donovan said. “It’s more like they want to do well but their mind is not clearly focused on what’s going on.”
Donovan says his team needs to do a better job of using its talents and getting the ball to whichever players are performing at a particular moment.
As an example, he referenced Wednesday’s 57-54 loss to UCF, when the team failed to get the ball to senior Vernon Macklin despite the fact that he was 10 for 11 from the field while the rest of the team was shooting just 28 percent.
Boynton called that “selfish” play.
“Our older guys are less focused on what they can be doing to help the group get better,” Donovan said. “A great player makes everyone else around them better. We have a bunch of guys on the floor that make nobody better.”
A potential solution to this problem is to find more minutes for the team’s freshmen, who have combined for a 1.7:1 assist-to-turnover ratio this season.
But Donovan’s ability to use the freshmen extensively has been limited by their lack of scoring, as they collectively average just .21 points per minute.
Seniors, on the other hand, average .38 points per minute.
“The younger guys really carried our team in the second half of that Florida State game, but they don’t have the offensive ability because they’re young right now,” Donovan said.
In the final 20 minutes against FSU, lineups with four or five starters were featured for just 2:44. During that span, they failed to score and allowed 10 FSU points.
For the vast majority of the half, the Gators used lineups of three or fewer starters. Those units collectively outscored the Seminoles by five, allowing UF to hold on for the 55-51 win.
“I guess we had things going right, things were clicking,” freshman Patric Young said of the younger unit’s play. “Coach Donovan is all about strategy and he knew exactly what he was doing. I guess we were exactly what he was looking for.”
