Georgia’s abysmal first half dug a hole too deep to overcome in a fourth straight loss at No. 5 Florida Saturday, with the Bulldogs falling 89-59 in Gainesville.
Georgia (14-6, 2-5 SEC) had one of its worst halves of the season in the first 20 minutes. The Bulldogs’ offense was constantly in reverse, as 14 turnovers allowed 24 Florida points, including 18 from fast breaks.
Georgia finished with 18 turnovers, marking its ninth straight game with at least 10 in the category.
“It’s been a big factor in all of our losses this year, (and) it’s not a strength of ours,” coach Mike White said. “We’re literally experimenting on the road in the middle of an SEC game. It was far and away the key of the game for us.”
The Gators (18-2, 5-2) led 51-26 by the half, ending Georgia’s worst defensive half this season. The most points the Bulldogs had allowed in a half on the road was 26 going into Saturday.
UGA was slightly more competitive in the second half, but was still outscored 38-33 in the last 20 minutes.
Florida was simply the better team across the board, finding mismatches in the paint for easy looks. The Gators were excellent shooting, too, sinking 53% of their field goals.
Georgia shot just 36% and was 5 of 21 from beyond the arc.
Credit: Alan Youngblood/AP
Credit: Alan Youngblood/AP
Leading scorer and rebounder Asa Newell was held in check, leading to Florida earning a 39-32 rebounding advantage. Newell, who had led the Bulldogs’ offense in six straight games, didn’t score until the 15:49 mark of the second half.
“All of their bigs, I thought did a really good job with their wall-ups and their block-outs,” White said. “They forced him into a few tougher ones than he’s been taking lately.”
The freshman star finished with eight points and six rebounds, with just 4-of-14 shooting from the field.
Blue Cain led Georgia as the team’s only double-digit scorer, totaling 10 points with two rebounds and two steals.
It was Georgia’s 12th straight loss to the Gators, dating back to March 2, 2019. White was coaching Florida at that time.
The Bulldogs and Gators will battle again in Athens on February 25.
UGA will shift its focus to a more favorable couple of weeks, with three of the next four games at home. Georgia will start next week hosting SEC bottom-feeder South Carolina at 7 p.m. on Tuesday before visiting No. 4 Alabama on Saturday.
The week after welcomes two home games, with LSU and No. 14 Mississippi State coming to Stegeman Coliseum.
White will be charged with helping one of the youngest rosters in the SEC flush the last four games, focusing only on the next one ahead. The 10th-year SEC coach actually pointed to Georgia’s loss column for encouragement, acknowledging the quality of the opponents in all six of his team’s defeats.
“You lose to a couple of mid-majors at home or you lose on the road to a team that’s just an inferior team to you, that’s another story,” White said. “We’ve got losses to Quad 1 teams. It’s what it is.”
Every week of Georgia’s schedule has a ranked team until the last of the regular season.
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