Florida executed a ferocious comeback to make it a game against a fiery Georgia squad but ultimately came up short falling on the road in Athens by a score of 88-83. With the Gators up by 2 with under a minute left Georgia’s Blue Cain was able to hit a huge three coming off a screen to give the Bulldogs a 1-point lead, with the Gators immediately following with a look for Walter Clayton. Unfortunately the play resulted in a turnover and Georgia was able to hold on for the free throw contest that finished, handing the Gators an unfortunate loss that likely eliminates any chance they’d have at finishing at the top of the SEC regular season standings. For Georgia–this game was everything. They had lost 9 of their last 11 and found themselves just on the outside of the NCAA Tournament picture and were desperate for a win over a team like Florida to get on the right side of the bubble. For Florida there was far less at stake other than the chase for the number one overall seed and you saw them come out flat which ultimately was the difference in this game. Fortunately for the Gators this game falls in the quad-1 category so it’s not a bad loss by any means, but it’s a game they’d certainly like to have back.
A Tale Of Two Halves
For the bulk of the season the story surrounding Georgia was their struggling offense but you wouldn’t have known it by how the first half went. The Bulldogs were hitting everything whether at the rim, in the midrange, or behind the arc, and while many of the buckets could be attributed to a poor defensive effort from a Florida team that looked disinterested, some of it was simply outstanding shot making. Entering halftime the Gators were down 51-35, which was shockingly a decent number for the Gators considering how at one point they were down by 26. Coming out of the break Florida woke up and played a much more inspired brand of basketball and surged back to the point where they actually took the lead, but it wasn’t quite enough as Georgia was able to wrestle back the lead and hold on. Florida ended up winning the second half 48-37, but the more first 20 minutes was enough to sink them.
Career Night
One of the most disappointing parts of Florida’s poor showing was the wasted legacy game for Will Richard, a Georgia native who was playing in his home state for the last time (unless the Gators get placed in the region of the NCAA Tournament that will play the Elite Eight in Atlanta) and left everything out on the hardwood. The only Gators to have anything going in the first half, Richard put the team on his back both offensively and defensively, at one point scoring 24 of Florida’s first 48 points. Ultimately he finished with a career high 30 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, playing one of the best games of his life despite not getting much support from his teammates. If not for Richard’s tremendous individual performance this game could have gotten ugly and his leadership was one of the fuel sources fueling the fire of Florida’s comeback.
Offensive Woes
Will Richard’s huge offensive game and some late shot making from Walter Clayton (who finished with 18 points) allowed the Gators to put up a respectable point total but overall it wasn’t a very good offensive game as they shot 41% from the field while turning the ball over 11 times, largely looking confused and unfocused on the offensive end. The starting frontcourt of Reuben Chinyelu and Thomas Haugh finished with just 9 points, while Alijah Martin was just 2-7 from the field. Alex Condon did make his return from injury but didn’t look particularly comfortable, and while he had some excellent moments he was limited and that meant the Gators were missing an offensive weapon they could really use. Going into this game if you would have said that Will Richard would have 30 points you would think the Gators hung 100 on the Bulldogs but many of their secondary scorers struggled, particularly on Florida’s conceptual offense off the first dribble penetration where the spacing and movement was clunky. There will be plenty to go over in film study as the team tries to refocus.
Final Thoughts
This was a poor showing from the Gators, but you have to wonder if this is the wake up call they needed before heading into the SEC Tournament and beyond. So far this season the Gators have largely been able to roll through any opponent that isn’t a top-25 team in college basketball, and often even if they came out sloppily or unfocused in the first half they’d still find a way to win a game by double digits. Considering they have done that a number of times there may have been some complacency setting in which reared its ugly head against Georgia, but the Gators would certainly rather have that happen now than in the NCAA Tournament. It also has to be noted that this was an absolutely gigantic game for the Bulldogs who were desperate for an NCAA Tournament win whereas this game had much less meaning for the Gators, and while you’d like to see more intensity from Florida still–you can’t always fight human nature. The Gators now drop to 24-4 on the season and 11-4 in the SEC and will look towards what will be a physical game with Texas A&M.