The Florida Gators will have one final tune-up game against Dartmouth on Monday before SEC play begins next Saturday on the road against Missouri. Despite a feeling of gloom and doom at times during the non-conference slate this year, the Gators are still ranked 12th in KenPom and are the second-highest rated KenPom team in the SEC behind Vanderbilt.
And while most Gator fans cover their eyes anytime Florida attempts a three-pointer this season, there is another not-so-hidden flaw that has to get cleaned up for Florida to go on a run once SEC play begins.
Florida turns the ball over a lot
Florida is 339th in the country in three-point shooting percentage. That is not a shock to anyone who has watched at least five minutes of Gator Basketball this season.
But one of the other areas that has hurt Florida that hasn’t received as much attention is its ball security. Florida is committing 13.7 turnovers per game. That is 286th in the country. When adjusted for pace, it looks a little bit better as Florida is “only” 198th in turnovers per play, but that is still not a number that will make Todd Golden happy.
Golden has alluded to Florida needing better ball security, and as much as three-point shooting has ailed Florida, it was turnovers in the final minute against Duke and UConn that sealed the fate for the Gators.
Part of the issue is that while Florida’s guards have been a liability at times, it’s actually been the big men who have been the most careless with the ball. Alex Condon already has 29 turnovers through 11 games after committing 51 turnovers all of last season.
It’s also a case of “Which came first? Chicken or the egg?” because Florida’s big men have also had to handle the ball more to compensate for the lack of true playmakers at the guard spot.
Either way, Florida is going to need to do better than almost 14 turnovers a game if it hopes to navigate the SEC slate as smoothly as it did last season.