The Gators have had success this season by playing balanced basketball, and they’re about to meet a team that does the same.
The rival Georgia Bulldogs (12-4, 0-3 Southeastern Conference) will travel south of the state line to face off against No. 20 Florida (14-2, 2-1 SEC) at 7 p.m. in the O’Connell Center, and they bring their own balanced style of play with them.
As far as scoring goes, the Bulldogs are led by Tiaria Griffin and her 13.7 points per game. Two other players also average double figures for UGA, with 12.6 and 11.6, respectively.
"When you have a team that has three or four or five candidates to score 20 on any given night or to have a double-double on any given night, I think it makes the challenge much greater," UF head coach Amanda Butler said about Georgia’s balanced attack. "And that challenge certainly exists."
Florida also has three players averaging double-figures in scoring, but they don’t average as many points — all of them fall between 10 and 11.
However, the Gators do feature six players averaging between six and 10 points per game, compared to the Bulldogs’ three.
While both teams manage to give multiple players the opportunity to score, one area the two teams differ is in scoring offense. Florida is the fifth-best team in the nation in that category, averaging 85.3 points per game. Georgia, on the other hand, ranks No. 123 with 67.7 points per game.
And Florida’s high-scoring offense is not a product of an easy pre-SEC schedule, either. In three SEC games so far, UF is averaging 76.3 points, still good for No. 32 overall.
Georgia, on the other hand, has struggled in SEC play so far — especially on offense.
Granted, the Bulldogs have played against No. 9 Kentucky, No. 15 Texas A&M and No. 24 Missouri. Still, their average of 54.3 points in those games could be cause for concern against a Florida team averaging over 20 points more than that in SEC games.
While the two teams may not have similar offensive outputs, they both feature one all-around player.
For the Gators, that do-everything player is freshman guard Eleanna Christinaki.
The native of Athens, Greece, leads the team in assists with 63, is second among guards in rebounds with 57 and her 9.9 points per game is good for fourth-best on the team.
Considering the team’s leading scorer is averaging 10.4, she could be first in that category with one big game.
On the other bench, Georgia senior Shacobia Barbee leads the Bulldogs in assists with 76, rebounding with 9.3 per game, steals with 40 and is second in scoring, averaging 12.6 per game.
Another similarity between the two teams is a veteran presence, with four of UGA’s usual starters being seniors and three of Florida’s projected starters being upperclassmen.
"They’re a veteran team — they have a lot of juniors and seniors that know what it’s like to compete in this league," Butler said of Georgia.
This will be the first of the annual two-game series for the 2015-16 season, with the next one taking place in Athens, Georgia on Feb. 21.
The rivalry between the schools is well documented, and in women’s basketball, the two have met on the hardwood 66 times going into tonight’s game. That’s the second-most meetings against one school all-time for the Gators.
And the importance of the rivalry is not lost on Butler.
"They understand this rivalry and just how intense it is every year," Butler said. "No matter if we’re there or they’re here or what the win-loss record look like, they’re a very good team."
Follow Ethan Bauer on Twitter @ebaueri
Women's basketball coach Amanda Butler calls out a play during the second half of Florida's 76-70 loss to Mississippi State on Jan. 3 in the O'Connell Center.
