Records: Florida 24-4, 11-4 SEC; Georgia 17-11, 5-10 SEC
Next Up: Saturday, March 1, 8:30 p.m., #12 Texas A&M, SEC Network
Notable
* Will Richard’s career-high 30 points were not enough, as the Gators saw their six-game win streak come to an end. Richard added five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
* The Gators trailed by as many as 26 in the first half, 39-13, and stormed back to take the lead with 1:08 to play, but Georgia scored eight straight to retake the lead.
* Trailing 78-67 with 5:00 to play, Florida went on a 13-0 run over the next four minutes in a bid for what would have been the largest comeback in program history.
* Walter Clayton Jr. added 18 points, five rebounds and five assists.
* Alex Condon returned to action and scored nine points after missing three games (and most of a fourth) with a low ankle sprain.
* The Gators endured a hot-shooting first half for Georgia, which shot .679 from the field and 7-for-9 from 3-point range. Georgia shot 10-for-18 from 3-point range for the game.
* Clayton has now hit a 3-pointer in 50 straight appearances.
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening statement…
“Disappointing loss. Credit to Georgia, I thought they played great in the first half and stepped up to the moment in a game they needed, played that way for the first 20 minutes. We just put ourselves in too big of a hole, obviously, getting down by 26 points 13 minutes into the game is not ideal when you’re trying to win a basketball game. But I am really proud of our guys. I thought in that type of adverse situation, we showed a lot of heart, showed a lot of grit to be able to get back to the point where we had a lead with one minute to go in this game is pretty incredible. Weren’t able to made enough plays down the stretch. We needed one more stop and couldn’t get it and fell a little short.”
On Georgia’s hot start…
“They made a lot of shots. We didn’t make them miss enough; that’s really all it was. We turned them over. I think they had 10 turnovers in the first half, so it wasn’t necessarily an issue of that. They shot 68 percent for the first half. They were 7-for-9 from three, made their free throws. They stepped up in this moment in this first half and answered the bell. Obviously, the second half was a much different story. They shot 38 percent, they tightened up a little bit, allowed us to get back in the ballgame. They made some big shots in the first half. [Asa] Newell hit a couple threes. I thought [Silas] Demary was very physical and did a good job getting to the paint in the first half. Those were the main guys I thought we struggles with.”
On Florida shooting 36 percent in the first half…
“I thought we got caught up in the moment early, probably didn’t play with enough poise offensively during their offensive output and got ourselves into some positions where we weren’t running very good offense. They have good rim protection. They’re long. They’re athletic. They give you some problems around the rim, and we just didn’t execute well enough. We didn’t get our two-man games low enough. There were a lot of things that we could’ve done better, but at the end of the day we also didn’t shoot the free throws very well tonight. We left a lot [at the free throw line]. We made four less free throws than they did on two more attempts. That was kind of the story of the game from the field, as well. We shot 66 shots, they only shot 52. The math is usually going to go in your favor when that happens. But again, they had an elite first half. Multiple guys played very, very well. A 26-point hole is not something you generally want to put yourself in when you’re trying to win a basketball game.”
Senior G Will Richard
On the second-half rally…
“Our effort was better and we were more focused on defense. You can’t afford to get down by 26 to any team in the country.”
