Florida vs. Georgia score, takeaways: No. 3 Gators battle back late but suffer worst loss of season

Basketball

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Image Credit: UAA

The No. 3 Florida Gators proved that top 25 voters were right to discount them when the latest polls were released Monday. Just over 24 hours later, Florida again started noncompetitive in a road game trailing by as many as 26 points before ultimately falling 88-83 to the Georgia Bulldogs in Athens, Georgia.

The loss was Gators head coach Todd Golden’s first to former program boss Mike White, who is now 1-6 in the series between the longtime SEC rivals over the last few seasons. It was also the worst defeat of the season for UF (24-4, 11-4 SEC) given UGA entered 16-11 having lost nine of its last 11 games. The Bulldogs also snapped a 12-game losing streak to the Gators and registered the best win as a program in 21 years.

Sophomore forward Alex Condon returned — to the floor and the starting lineup — fresh off an ankle injury that cost him multiple games. Condon took a forearm to the face late in the contest and was forced to go to the locker room, but he ultimately returned only to be relatively ineffective during the contest.

Let’s take a look at everything that went wrong for Florida on Tuesday night.

It was over when … Georgia drained a free throw to go up four points with 22 seconds remaining. Senior guard Will Richard missed 3-pointers on either end of that attempt allowing UGA to hold on for a rousing home victory.

Richard and senior G Walter Clayton Jr. combined to score the first 10 points of the second half putting Florida down 13 points with 17 minutes to play. At this juncture, Richard had 24 of the Gators’ 48 points in the contest. A 9-2 scoring spurt tightened the margin further, and five straight points from Richard as part of a 7-2 burst cut Florida’s deficit to seven with 6:19 remaining.

The Gators amassed a 13-0 run — fueled by two triples from Clayton — to take their first lead of the game extended to 80-78 with 68 seconds left. As was the case all night, the Dawgs immediately answered with a wide-open 3-pointer — from a fresh substitute who was clearly the target of the ensuing play. A lazy pass resulting in Clayton’s fifth turnover of the game followed, and the hosts made their free throws the rest of the way.

UF went just 18 of 29 from the charity stripe, leaving 11 points on the board in a 5-point game. It was the team’s fourth-worst free throw-shooting effort on the season.

First half focus: Florida was unable to find the bottom of the basket and unwilling to stop Georgia from getting wide-open looks from long range. UF started 1/9 FG and trailed by an astounding 19 points just 8 minutes into the game. That margin increased to 26 with as many minutes remaining in the period. A rousing 10-0 run behind Richard cut the Gators’ deficit to 13 points late, but they nevertheless trailed by 16 at the break. Richard hit 6 of 9 shots for 17 points in the period while the rest of his team made just 6 of 24 for 18 points. This as the Dawgs shot 68% from the field and 78% from 3-point range.

Exceptional efforts: Richard was the only player who stepped up for the Gators scoring a season-high 30 points while hitting 5 of 11 attempts from beyond the arc with five rebounds and three assists. While he was immense throughout most of the contest, his inability to connect late was costly. Clayton was the second-leading scorer with 18 points, but he looked as if he was sleepwalking through the contest. He made just 5 of 13 shots with five turnovers. While Clayton did grab five boards and dish five dimes, he was not aggressive whatsoever in the contest.

Odds & ends: Florida fell to 126-104 all-time against Georgia with a 45-63 mark in Athens … Golden is now 6-1 against UGA … the Gators under Golden fell to 13-21 when trailing at halftime, 3-27 when trailing with 5 minutes left, 7-26 when being outshot by an opponent and 12-25 when being outshot by an opponent from 3-point range … Clayton extended his program record making a 3-pointer in his 50th consecutive game …

Florida actually edged Georgia in most phases, including forced turnovers (17-11), points off turnovers (29-12), rebounding (34-32), offensive rebounding (14-5), second-chance scoring (21-7) and fastbreak scoring (28-19) … the Gators struggling at the line and getting significantly outscored off the bench (18-27) were the culprits behind the road defeat

What it means: This was a pathetic loss for the Gators on the road against a Dawgs team that had dropped four straight and nine of 11 entering the contest. Florida again started slow on the road — a real concern rightly creating questions about the team’s pregame preparation — but it got into such a deep deficit this time around that it was unable to fight out. Golden also made an odd decision Condon — fresh off an ankle injury that kept him out multiple games — with sophomore center Rueben Chinyelu, who had a career game just 72 hours prior, coming off the bench. The team seemed out of sync from the get go.

While this counts as a Quadrant 1 loss for UF, it hardly makes the defeat sting any less, and it drastically impacts the Gators’ resume as they are now 5-4 in Q1 games, worst among the top six teams. Florida will undoubtedly be projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament when prognosticators’ bracketology efforts are updated — and deservingly so. The loss also knocks UF out of a top two spot in the SEC standings, which could mean the loss of a double bye in the forthcoming SEC Tournament.

Tuesday night was simply a failure in all phases for a Gators team that put forth its worst result at an inopportune time late in the campaign. UF somehow leading late — and the final margin being in the low single digits — paint a different picture than the game represented.

What’s next? Florida will need to regroup in a significant way as it turns around to host No. 12 Texas A&M — one of two remaining games this season against an AP Top 25 opponent. Gainesville, Florida, will be teh site of ESPN’s “College GameDay” earlier Saturday before the Gators tip off at 8:30 p.m. ET in a game that will air live on SEC Network.