For as ugly as it’s been for Georgia over its past three games, the Bulldogs had a chance for a pair of rather significant accomplishments had they been able to knock off Florida on Tuesday night.
Alas, the final result was the same.
One of those hopes is gone and the other is on life support after the Bulldogs faded late in the second half, enabling Florida to leave Stegeman Coliseum with a 77-67 win.
“It was a pretty good effort I thought by our guys, but it felt like there was a lid on the basket for us,” head coach Mike White said. “We played hard, we responded to some runs. But we struggled at the rim, we struggled at the foul line. Physically, we fought to the end, and I really thought we stayed connected, we just couldn’t score enough.”
With a win, the Bulldogs (16-14, 6-11) would have tied the school record for most home victories in the season (14). More importantly, it would have put Georgia in a position to escape the bottom four of the conference and a spot in the second round of next week’s SEC Tournament.
Instead, Georgia likely will have to play a first-round game Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
“I’m disappointed for our guys because I thought we were really prepared. We had a great shootaround, and had a great practice yesterday,” White said. “I thought we played really hard.”
Unfortunately, the final statistics told the story.
Georgia shot just 33.3 percent for the game (21 of 63) and even worse from three-point range (4 of 22). The Bulldogs also converted just 21 of 29 free throw attempts.
Down by 10 at the half, the Bulldogs showed some energy to start the second and cut Florida’s lead to six with a chance to climb even closer. That was until Riley Kugel answered with back-to-back layups to push Florida’s lead back to double-digits.
The Bulldogs would ultimately close within two at 59-57 with 7:19 left only to see Florida respond with a 9-4 run giving itself some breathing distance, ultimately surging ahead by 11 with 2:16 left.
“Ultimately, we could just not get over that hump,” White said. “We just had a bunch of … you can’t pinpoint if it was threes, layups, or free throws, but credit the defensive effort by those guys.”
Kario Oquendo agreed.
“We get down by two and we’re thinking, OK, we can get up by two or four here, but we went about two minutes without making a basket and they make a couple of shots,” said Oquendo, who led the Bulldogs with 20 points. “We’ve just got to find a way to keep the same mindset … you miss a shot, just come down and make the next one.”
The first half was another frustrating effort by the Bulldogs, who converted just one field goal over the final 7:25.
Florida, meanwhile, seemingly could not miss.
The Gators converted three straight three-pointers from a trio of different players to surge ahead 32-28 and quickly extended the margin to nine before a 3-pointer by Justin Hill (16 points) brought the Bulldogs back within six.
However, Georgia would get no closer as Richard’s fourth three-pointer at the buzzer sent Florida (15-15, 8-9) into the locker room up 43-33. Will Richard finished the first half with 15 of his team-high 24 points.
“Their proficiency from three I thought was the difference in the game,” White said.
It was that kind of half for Georgia.
The Bulldogs only converted 10 of 25 shots, with Hill leading the way with nine points.
Defensively, Georgia continued to struggle.
The Gators converted 15 of 27 shots (55.6 percent), including 6 of their 11 three-point attempts.
NOTE: Georgia played the game without graduate Mardrez McBride due to an undisclosed illness, White confirmed after the game.
Next Up
Georgia closes out the regular season Saturday in Columbia against South Carolina on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs defeated the Gamecocks in overtime 81-78 in Athens on Jan. 28.
