Florida vs. Georgia score, takeaways: No. 14 Gators guards dismantle Dawgs as Todd Golden keeps flexing

Basketball

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Image Credit: UAA

Playing their second straight road game, the No. 14 Florida Gators were undaunted most of Wednesday night in an 86-66 win over the Georgia Bulldogs, sweeping their rivals for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. Florida head coach Todd Golden continued to flex in Athens, Georgia, improving to 7-1 in his career over former coach Mike White since taking over the orange & blue.

While the Gators may not have put their best work on tape, it hardly mattered. They were composed on both ends of the court and soared through each half, though a series of poor shot choices and a sudden rash of fouling allowed the Dawgs to carve in half what was once a 22-point lead.

Florida (18-6, 9-2 SEC) nevertheless powered through to the finish with their second-best 3-point shooting effort of the season uring a game in which its frontcourt — arguably the best in the nation — was more silent than usual.

Let’s take a look at what went down with some Fastbreak Takeaways as UF won for the ninth time in its last 10 games with five straight road victories.

It was over when … sophomore guard Boogie Fland made a midrange jumper after senior G Xaivian Lee drained a confident 3-pointer to push the Gators ahead by 15 points with 3:19 to play.

Georgia went on an 11-0 run spanning halftime, cutting what was once a 20-point deficit down to single digits as Florida missed its first six shots of the second half. However, juniors forward Thomas Haugh and G Urban Klavžar immediately answered with consecutive 3-pointers, and Fland later broke an 0 of 18 drought from long range — a streak dating back 29 days to Jan. 13 — with a heave triple to beat the shot clock and put Florida ahead by 22 points with 11:32 remaining. UGA answered by taking advantage of bad shot selection, utilizing a 15-5 scoring stretch to admirably trim its deficit to 12 (later moving down 10), before the backcourt responded by putting the game away.

First half focus: The Gators scored the first 10 points and jumped ahead by 17 midway through the period, opening the game 5 of 9 from 3-point range. The Dawgs were mostly able to go shot-for-shot the rest of the way. A 5-0 stretch put Florida up a game-high 20 with 47 seconds left, and it ultimately led by 16 at the break despite its two best players combining for only 6 points.

Exceptional efforts: Florida’s starting guards broke out as shooters in the same contest for the first time all season. Their renewed scoring prowess (for one night, at least) carried the Gators during a rare game in which the frontcourt was rather silent. Lee (18 points) and Fland (15) were UF’s first double-digit scorers, not only pushing the visitors into the lead but also clinching the game in the waning minutes. Joining them was sophomore G Isaiah Brown, who came alive in the second half for 12 points on 3 of 4 shooting from downtown. Along with Klavžar (8 points), the backcourt accounted for 61.6% of Florida’s scoring, a far greater margin than in any other contest this season.

Mixed bag of bigs: Junior center Rueben Chinyelu saw his streak of three straight double-doubles come to an end as he was largely irrelevant on offense despite posting a game-high 20 rebounds, his third game this season reaching that total. Haugh only made 1 of 6 treys for 11 points, his second-lowest total in 2026, but he matched a season-high with five assists. Junior F Alex Condon was all over the place with 12 points on an efficient 6 of 8 shooting and five boards for good measure, but his seven turnovers were appalling, accounting for half of the team’s total.

Odds & ends: Florida improved to 128-104 all-time against Georgia with Golden holding a 7-1 record against White … UF has swept UGA across six of the last seven seasons … Florida never trailed, leading for 39:13 … the Gators improved to 16-1 when leading at halftime, 18-1 when leading with 5 minutes remaining, 18-4 when outrebounding an opponent, 13-1 when shooting better than 45% from the field, 16-0 when outshooting an opponent, 8-1 when outshooting an opponent from 3-point range, 14-2 when attempting more free throws, 17-2 when 4+ players score in double figures and 11-0 when 5+ players score in double figures … Florida’s 38.5% efficiency from downtown was its second-best mark of the season

What it means: The Gators picked up a road win over a quality opponent, but they did so with the Dawgs missing a key contributor for the second straight meeting. Still, Florida improved to 9-2 in SEC play, a win better through its first 11 league contests than it performed a year ago in its national championship season. Not only that, UF’s average margin in conference play is 16.0 points per game compared to 9.0 across its first 11 SEC games last season.

Furthermore, while the Gators continue to struggle from downtown, all four of their best 3-point shooting performances against power teams have come in the last seven games. Florida entered Wednesday night ranked No. 5 in KenPom despite holding the fourth-toughest schedule in the nation. While the likes of Michigan, Arizona, Duke and Houston have much cleaner records and play more complementary basketball, none of them have faced a similar gauntlet. UF is clearly a top 10 team — everywhere except the top 25 polls — on the verge of a potential No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament if it closes out the season in this fashion.

What’s next? Florida will play its first home game in two weeks when it hosts No. 25 Kentucky on Saturday. The game will tip off at 3 p.m. ET and air live nationally on ABC.