Jaterra Bonds’ desperation heave found nothing but net, cutting the Gators’ deficit in half at the buzzer.
It was one of few shots that actually found the bottom of the basket Friday.
A frustrating and sloppy shooting effort doomed Florida (0-1) in its 69-66 season-opening loss to Michigan (1-0).
Consistency was hard to come by for the Gators as they made just 23 of 69 shot attempts against the Wolverines.
UF was ultimately undone by a 10-of-27 effort from beyond the arc.
“We shot way too many threes and a lot of them didn’t make sense,” coach Amanda Butler said. “Twenty-seven threes is way too much unless you’re shooting about 45 percent, and clearly we were not.”
Especially painful were the efforts of Bonds, who managed to score eight points despite missing 13 of her 15 shot attempts.
Had it not been for her buzzer-beater, she would have finished the day 0 of 5 from 3-point range.
“Jaterra did had a tough game, and she knows that,” Butler said. “She also knows that we need her to play well.”
While outside shooting cost Florida Friday, Butler’s squad did not have much of a choice due to its lack of a significant post presence on offense.
Jennifer George, Azania Stewart and Ndidi Madu carried the brunt of paint duties for the Gators on Friday and largely disappointed.
The trio combined for just eight shot attempts, 10 points and seven offensive rebounds.
Butler attributed Michigan’s success defending Florida down low to merely “standing in the paint.”
“Defensively, they really just wanted to challenge and dare us to shoot,” Butler said.
“We took the challenge even though it wasn’t the wisest decision.”
Making matters worse was Stewart’s foul trouble, which limited her to just 21 minutes. She recorded her third foul with 18:40 left in the second half and her fourth nearly 10 minutes later at 8:42.
“It is definitely frustrating because I need to be out there,” Stewart said. “Me being on the bench doesn’t help us at all, and I really need to be smarter.”
Florida’s post play will need to be smarter when tonight’s contest with Stetson (1-0) tips off at 7 in the O’Connell Center.
“Luckily, [Michigan] was our first game and not our last one,” Butler said.
If the Gators’ offensive showing Friday is a sign of things to come, that last game could be coming a lot sooner than Butler anticipates.
