Florida Gators basketball: Bulldogs hand first SEC loss to Gators 73-61

It has been 672 days since the Florida Gators have lost a game in the Southeastern Conference. Today that winning streak ended.

The Georgia Bulldogs (11-5, 2-2 SEC) defeated the Gators (10-7, 3-1 SEC) 73-61 behind four Bulldog players in double-figures on Saturday afternoon at the Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Georgia.

Georgia started with the hot hand against Florida as they built a comfortable lead with a 12-0 start and never trailed during the course of the game. The Gators wouldn’t score a bucket until five minutes into the game and it would prove to be the difference with such a slow start.

Florida was able to battle through some of the adversity they dug themselves in to, pulling to within five at the break.

Guard Michael Frazier II cut the deficit to four points after making a 3-pointer with about 17 minutes to play in the game. But the Gators would inevitably collapse after committing a season-high 19 turnovers — most of which were unforced.

“A lot of them came on back-to-back possessions, which hurt us,” walk-on Jacob Kurtz said.

Florida definitely felt the quick turnaround after not having an extra day to prepare coming off a Thursday night game versus Auburn.

With a day of preparation, Georgia showed Florida up by drawing contact to get to the free throw line – one of Georgia’s strengths on offense. The Bulldogs converted 19 free throws to the Gators eight limiting Florida’s chances at mounting a comeback.

Head coach Billy Donovan said the Georgia loss is a microcosm of what he sees in practice – flashes of good play, but too much inconsistency.

Dorian Finney-Smith and Devin Robinson led the Gators in scoring with 11 points respectively. Michael Frazier II added 10, who came off the bench for the third straight game.

Frazier also surpassed Lee Humphrey for seventh all-time in 3-pointers in UF history with his second three of the game in the second half.

Florida’s second winning-streak of the season was snapped of three games and left Kentucky as the only unbeaten team in the SEC.

This time around, the Gators will get some days to prepare for their next SEC foe back in Gainesville as they’ll host the LSU Tigers, who suffered a loss against Texas A&M earlier today, on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

1 COMMENT

  1. This was one of the more frustrating gator basketball games ive ever seen. I understand that Billy is trying to send a message to his kid, but leaving Frazier on the bench for 9 straight second half minutes (when we had a chance to get back in the game) was just ridiculous. I love coach Donovan, and think hes the best in the biz, but I sure didn’t understand what he was trying to prove this afternoon. Hopefully there’s a method for alll of this particular games madness.