Florida 88, Georgia 82
Stegeman Coliseum | Athens, Ga.
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2024/2/17/2024.02.17_Florida_at_Georgia.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/11/17/2023-24_UFStats.pdf> | Media Resources<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iv6cc1nl98a49pv/AAD_LkZm6hKvVz7FpyboOUR1a?dl=0>
Records: Florida 18-7, 8-4 SEC; Georgia 14-11, 4-8 SEC
Next up for Florida: at Alabama, Wednesday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m. EST, ESPN2
Notable
* Walter Clayton led five Gators in double figures with 21 points, his ninth 20-point outing of the season.
* Florida has a 7-1 record over its last eight games, the team’s best eight-game stretch since posting nine consecutive wins in January and February 2017.
* Thomas Haugh scored a career-high 17 points, hitting three 3-pointers in the first half after making just six all season entering today.
* Zyon Pullin put up another complete performance with 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists with zero turnovers in 38 minutes of action. Pullin stretched his double-figure scoring streak to 22 games, scoring 10+ in every appearance as a Gator.
* The Gators had a five-point trip down the floor to go up seven with 5:41 to play as Alex Condon hit a 3-pointer and Walter Clayton Jr. knocked down two free throws after being fouled under the basket.
* Will Richard reached the 1,000-point career scoring milestone on the first of his seven free throws, finishing with 10 points, while Alex Condon added 10 points off the bench.
* The Gators posted their third double-digit comeback win of the season after falling behind 22-11 early on. UF previously overcame 10-point deficits on both 1/31 at Kentucky and 12/5 vs. Merrimack.
* Florida has posted single-digit turnovers in six of its last eight games, committing just eight today.
* Todd Golden improves to 12-1 head-to-head against his five fellow 2022 SEC hires, including 12-0 in regular season action and 5-0 this season.
* The Gators won their 10th in a row against Georgia (four under Todd Golden, six under Mike White), marking UF’s eighth double-digit win streak vs. an SEC opponent in program history. All-time double-digit win streaks vs. SEC opponents:
* 14, Tennessee, 1991-98
* 12, Mississippi State, 1984-89
* 11, Auburn, 2010-18
* 11, Alabama, 2009-15
* 11, Georgia, 2004-09
* 11, Auburn, 2001-09
* 11, Alabama, 1964-70
* 10, Georgia, 2020-present
Head Coach Todd Golden
On Thomas Haugh’s performance, his best of his career…
“Yeah, I don’t think there was any question about that. He was just huge for all 40, but I thought he was humongous in the first half – kept us in it. He hit all three of his 3s in the first half, all very much needed to keep them at bay and keep us in the ballgame. He played so hard. He had four offensive rebounds. The one late, with under a minute, it was huge. It kept it from being a one-possession game. Credit to him and Condo [Alex Condon], I thought both those guys played really hard. It’s tough to finish a game on the road in the SEC with two freshmen in the frontcourt, and both those guys did a great job to finish it up for us.”
On the difference in the second half…
“We challenged our team pretty good at halftime. We gave up 46 in the second half against LSU, so another 46-point half. It was a little bit just asking our guys what we want our identity to be. Do we want to be a team that is really good offensively but looks like a team that doesn’t have much interest in guarding? Or do we want to be a complete team that has a chance to play deep into the season? My challenge to them was I want to see more of that second team. I thought we did a better job in the second half with our physicality. We were getting on 50-50 balls better. We did a better job on the glass. We did a better job staying attached to shooters. They made six 3s in the first half, got up 15 [3-point attempts], we only allowed nine attempts in the second half. One of them was a late on a switch. So those areas. … just making them missed more, than being OK with them getting a shot up.”
On Zyon Pullin’s performance…
“Obviously, he’s really, really comfortable and really good at running the team and keeping us in our stuff and finding guys. He’s like the ultimate security blanket out there. He’s going to be able to get us organized and get us into something. He does a good job finding guys. He does a good job of recognizing when things are available. Like, he called that action early in the second half for will to get that stop-behind 3 on our Iverson action. So he’s out there seeing things and playing quarterback for us. To have a fifth-year to do that gives me a lot of comfort and makes our team a lot better.”
Junior G Walter Clayton Jr.
On getting a win in the rivalry game…
“It means a lot to get a road game victory. That’s always big. The big rivalry for me – I’ve said it multiple times – is FSU. Georgia was the rivalry after that, so I’m glad we got the win for the fans.”
On Coach Golden’s message when the team fell behind early…
“Stay the course. Get stops. Forty-six points in the first half, you just can’t let that happen. They were scoring at will. We had zero kills [three straight stops], so that’s the main thing. Just get stops. The offense was fine.”
On weathering UGA’s 7-for-7 start…
“Just stay the course. We knew the offense would be fine. They were at home. The crowd had energy, and they got out to a great start. Just matched buckets to stay in the game and be able to overtake them.”
Freshman F Thomas Haugh
On what was working for him…
“My shot started clicking a little bit, but it’s always a team effort. We came together in the second half and regrouped, and just got the win at the end.”
On why the 3-point shooting clicked for him…
“I just work on it a lot, and I got some opportunities to shoot the ball and just capitalized on it.”
On getting 50-50 balls in the second half…
“Just being more aggressive. Coach Golden said that – he said they’re getting all the 50-50 balls, and that’s a huge part of the game. Those plays add up in the end, so we just stayed aggressive and got them in the second half.”
