Bradley Central grad Brooke Copeland, Gators visit Mocs tonight

Florida guard Brooke Copeland, left, looks for an open teammate under pressure from South Carolina guard Bianca Cuevas, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina defeated Florida 86-71. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
Florida guard Brooke Copeland, left, looks for an open teammate under pressure from South Carolina guard Bianca Cuevas, right, during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina defeated Florida 86-71. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
photo Kentucky's Kyvin Goodin-Rogers, right, shoots under pressure from Florida's Brooke Copeland (23) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Lexington, Ky., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

Brooke Copeland has had to adjust throughout her University of Florida basketball career.

The 6-foot-2 junior, who prepped at Bradley Central and whose 20th-ranked Gators (1-0) will face the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (1-0) at 6:30 tonight at McKenzie Arena, started off on a high.

She started 15 games as a freshman, averaging 5.0 points and 3.1 rebounds with 18 steals and 21 blocks. The Gators went 13-19 that season.

Last season she went through a sophomore slump, playing in 28 games and seeing her average dip to 1.4 points and a rebound per contest. Her minutes dropped from 20.2 to 5.4, but the team's wins went from 13 to 22 and the Gators advanced to the NCAA tournament.

Now it seems she's been able to carve out a role on the team, and that's of a shooter. Of her 195 shots in college, 140 have been from 3-point range.

"There's been a lot of adjusting, and I've had to try to adapt to a new role at a different level of basketball," Copeland said last week in a phone interview. "It's not what I wanted or projected for myself, but I've experienced more growth as a person than I have in my entire life.

"I'm comfortable in the position I play. If I see the rim and get a good look, it's my job to shoot it. I'm relearning the game of basketball."

Her shooting ability is something UTC coach Jim Foster always liked about her, along with her versatility.

"She's big, but she can shoot the 3," Foster said last week. "I always liked the fact that she was a tough kid, because she took a lot of charges when she was in high school or playing AAU basketball."

Copeland played 30 minutes in Friday's season opener against South Alabama, an 85-33 win. She had eight points and six rebounds, making two of her seven 3-point attempts.

She expects to have a lot of family and friends in attendance tonight, including her brother Cole, a senior quarterback at Bradley Central who has committed to UTC's football program.

"There's a lot of excitement. It's always good to play in front of the home crowd and people who supported me," Copeland said. "I'm just going to go out, give everything I have and let the end result be what it's going to be."

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