Head coach Billy Donovan and the No. 20 Florida Gators have faced several games this year where turnovers and poor shooting resulted into either a loss or a victory that wasn’t by much. This week is a perfect example.

Florida, who was upset by Jacksonville earlier this week had 17 turnovers and shot 35 percent from the field. Well Wednesday was a little different but not a whole lot. The Gators did edge past Radford but they still had way too many turnovers (16) and shot 40 percent from the floor. They made ill-advised passes and couldn’t shoot worth a lick. Games like those are not going to get you far when the tournament comes around, unless they are trying to shoot for the N.I.T again.

“We’ve got to get better at valuing the ball”, coach Donovan said at a press conference.

Looking at the Gators three losses, the Ohio State game was in they’re hands and could of been won but the Buckeyes fought harder overall. Especially in the paint in the second half. On top of that Ohio State is a very good ball club, ranked No. 5 in the country isn’t that bad.

The UCF games in Orlando should have been won. Yeah the Knights are still undefeated and may have the pair of Jordan’s, but that game should of not turned out like it did. The Gators made two out of their thirteen three-point attempts, while just shooting over .500 at the free throw line. And the big one that hurt again… TURNOVERS. Florida had 14 while UCF only had 7. At the college level you should not be turning the ball over fourteen to fifteen times a game, yes that’s the average in high school but this is division I college ball.

And I don’t even have to talk about the Jacksonville game. Everybody knows why they got beat on they’re own home floor. Also if you look at the close wins Florida survived, those could of easily been turned into losses. If your aiming to play in the big dance this year you can’t be beating teams like Morehead State and FAU by six and ten points.

Florida is going to have to start playing like they are capable of playing. Averaging 14.2 turnovers per contest is just not going to cut it. Right now they are ranked 174th of 345 Divison-I schools in turnover average. They can’t keep waiting to play when ever they want. Florida will host Fairfield (8-3) on Dec. 28th and that’s another team who is looking to come into their house and put up a fight. Don’t let the name fool you. Right after that they have to face Xavier and Ole Miss then that is when the SEC play starts up. January 11 they will travel to Tennessee for the first SEC game of the season. All the way to March 5 is strictly SEC games. That is why Billy needs to make sure they all get their acts together right now.

Here is a short video where coach Billy Donovan talks about the Gators turnovers and what they struggle from.