Recapping Florida’s road win over Mike White and the Georgia Bulldogs
In a season without a lot highlights, Florida basketball found one on Tuesday night.
By sweeping former coach Mike White and their arch-rivals, the Georgia Bulldogs.
The Gators used a barrage of threes early and took advantage of Georgia’s inability to make their own threes to hand the Bulldogs, 77-67, inside Stegeman Coliseum in Athens.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Orange and Blue, assuring them of not playing a Wednesday game at the SEC Tournament.
UF is now 15-15 overall and 8-9 in Southeastern Conference play, while UGA dropped to 16-14 overall and 6-11 in the SEC after its fourth-straight loss.
What happened
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It was a game someone had to win despite some real shooting problems in the second half.
And in the end, it was the Gators who had the last run, missing only four shots in the final 11:13 of the game.
Georgia struggled to make much late, missing one of its last 10 shots.
Florida went with what was basically a four-guard lineup for much of the game and it paid off with big plays down the stretch.
As a result, the Gators were able to win despite getting outrebounded and losing the battle of the benches.
Florida went on a run in the last few minutes of the first half and went into intermission with a 10-point lead at 43-33 thanks to a tough three from the corner by Will Richard just before the buzzer.
Florida forced eight Georgia turnovers in the half and scored 14 points off those turnovers. They also made 6-of-11 shots from three playing what was basically a four-guard lineup with both centers dealing with foul trouble.
The Gators went cold in the first 11 minutes of the second half as Georgia cut the lead to two and Florida threw up three air-balls on threes and missed a dunk.
But Richard made a couple of big baskets after Georgia got close and the Bulldogs could not make much of anything the rest of the way.
What it means
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You never want to be playing in the SEC Tournament on Wednesday and that would have been in play with a loss. Instead, the Gators know they will play on Thursday and have a chance to finish the season on a better note than what has taken place in the last month of the season.
Player of the Game: Georgia
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Kario Oquendo has had an up-and-down season and this was kind of typical. He missed all seven of his 3-point attempts and still scored 20 points. A lot of it came from getting fouled on drives to the basket as he went 10 of 15 from the free-throw line. He also played 38 minutes, so maybe he was tired.
Player of the Game: Florida
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Richard had a night to be sure, scoring a career-high 24 points on 8 of 11 shooting. He also had five rebounds. But let’s have a co-player of this game because Myreon Jones had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. The guards on this team have to rebound.
Inside the numbers
Imagn
It was a brick-throwing contest in the second half and the Gators should feel fortunate that Georgia was just as bad shooting threes. Florida went 1-for-8 in the second half, but survived because Georgia was 1-for-15 from beyond the arc.
He said it
Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports
“The key to the game was when Will Richard hit that three and then hit the pull-up jumper. It took away their confidence.” – Jones
Next up
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It will be an emotional Senior Day as Florida fans say goodbye to [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] on Saturday. The Gators face LSU at 6 p.m. EST to close out the regular season. The Tigers play Wednesday against Missouri at 9 p.m. EST. They go into that game with the worst record in the SEC at 2-14 and are 13-16 overall. Florida won in Baton Rouge earlier in the season 67-56.
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