After hitting 52 percent from beyond the arc at Ole Miss Sunday followed by two days of focused and intense practice, the Florida Gators thought they had overcome the shooting slump. Thursday night against Vanderbilt, Amanda Butler’s team showed that they haven’t found the answers.
The Gators (12-10, 5-4 SEC) shot just 4-17 from 3-point range and 41.5 percent from the floor in a 66-58 Southeastern Conference loss to the Commodores (17-6, 6-4 SEC) at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
“Shooting at home, you kind of expect that to be a little bit better, but we just didn’t knock down shots,” Butler said after the game. “Vanderbilt put us in a lot of shot-clock situations where we had to settle for shots instead of taking the shots we were looking for. And when we had opportunities, we just didn’t knock them down. And I think the shots that are more concerning to me are the missed free throws. That’s something we’ve been able to do consistently well.”
The Gators were just 10-18 from the foul line.
There were miscues and offensive issues for the Gators from the opening tip. Florida had three turnovers in the first three minutes, and Vanderbilt opened up a 6-0 lead.
Senior point guard Lonnika Thompson turned the ball over five times in the first half and only came back sparingly in the second. Florida’s slow start proved to be a precursor for the rest of the game.
“I always tend to look toward frontcourt play, and I don’t want to put that all on her, but [Thompson] didn’t give us her best effort tonight,” Butler said. “I expect a champion and a senior’s response on Sunday because she’s crucial to our success.”
The Gators were able to work their way back into the game slowly in the first half, eventually leading by one, 15-14, off of an Azania Stewart layup with 11:40 left on the clock.
During the first half and in the halftime locker room, Butler tried to find new ways to establish her post players. They had a size advantage and were playing well, but getting them the ball consistently was an issue.
“That was certainly part of our adjustments we were trying to make — trying to get a few different ways to get the ball inside, and consistently do that,” Butler said. “Again, we just weren’t sharp with the ball. We didn’t do a good job tonight of taking things from the huddle to the floor. We just weren’t sharp tonight, and it’s hard to come up with a good answer why.”
After that 15-14 Florida lead, Vanderbilt didn’t look back, building an eight-point lead heading into the locker room.
Stewart led the Gators in scoring with 13 points on 5-7 shooting. She was also the only player to hit all of her free throws (3-3), and collected eight rebounds and blocked five shots along the way. Freshman forward Jennifer George added 9 points on 4-5 shooting from the post.
After several shots, Stewart tried to rally her teammates along, but the offense still sputtered.
“That’s just how I play,” Stewart said. “Just like Steffi never stops hustling, I am an energy player. I feed off that, and so does my team. For me, I just try to play hard and establish the low block. It’s very disappointing.”
Butler said that the a lack of effort didn’t hurt the Gators, but she didn’t think her team’s toughness was on par with Vanderbilt’s. Senior Steffi Sorensen, who is known for her scrappy play and toughness, agreed.
“I like physical, and I like games like that,” Sorensen said. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t do a good job of being tough enough. They were getting loose balls and that was pretty much the game right there.”
The Commodores’ second-half lead was as large as 16 points with six minutes left. A late Florida 10-4 run brought the loss into single digits.
“Vanderbilt set the tone and we adjusted to the tone,” Butler said, “and we just don’t play well in that type of game.”