Diary Series: Mat McCall, Asst. Coach - Florida

Road games are never easy. No matter what conference your in. I can't say there's an exact formula or science for it but I do believe there are certain things you must do to give yourself a chance to win the game.

We've had our struggles this season on the road losing to Ohio State, Syracuse, Rutgers, and Tennessee and the common theme in all of those games was our inability to take care of the basketball. Turnovers plagued us in all of those games. In our four losses on the road we have had 69 turnovers which averages out to almost 18 per game. In our two road wins this season we have had 16 turnovers or eight per game. Seems simple: take care of the ball and win the game. When you turn the ball over and give the opposing teams transition opportunities it has a way of igniting the crowd igniting their team and deflating your team.

Other than just taking care of the ball on the road a lot of it boils down to your mindset and mentality.  You have to know going in that no matter what there is going to be some type of adversity in the game. That's true for both home and away games, but its how you handle the adversity that will really determine what the outcome of the game will be. Can you stick together as a team when they are making a run and making some shots they don't generally make? When we played @ Ole Miss two weeks ago they came into our game shooting less than 30 percent from three-point range. They were 6/6 in the first half and led 20-4 at one point. Our guys embraced the process, embraced the stuggle and handled the adversity as we went on to win the game. There was no finger pointing and our team didn't become deflated as they made shots they don't generally make. They stayed together and continued to battle: and of course took care of the ball!!

There will be plenty of adversity on the floor tonight as we battle the No. 1 team in the country on the Road. If we take care of the basketball and stay together. We will be in good shape! Go Gators!!