After playing so well to win three of its previous four games, Georgia took a step back in Wednesday's 68-54 loss to Florida.

The final stats told the story.

After holding the Gators to 40 percent from the field in the first half, what defense the Bulldogs were playing disappeared in the second, as Florida shot 54.2 percent, converting 7 of its 13 three-point attempts.

Making matters worse for the Bulldogs (15-15, 5-12) was the fact Georgia committed twice as many turnovers as the Gators (16-8) and only pulled down seven offensive rebounds, tying the season low.

"Our defensiveness and connectivity had been really good since the Auburn game, but when you turn the ball over like we did tonight it really skewers your defensive field goal percentage," said head coach Tom Crean. "But the bottom line is we have been better defensively, we had been better taking care of the ball but tonight we took a step back and they took advantage of it."

Georgia's inability to solve Florida's second-half zone also proved to be an issue, as the Bulldogs made only 8 of 20 shots, including just one of their five three-point attempts.

"Their zone defense was great. We had no answer for it," freshman Anthony Edwards said. "We weren't prepared for it; there was nothing we could do."

Crean raised an eyebrow when told what Edwards had said.

"Our guys?," said Crean. "We spent the majority of our time on the zone the last two days because we wanted to move it with screens. We knew they would go to the 3-2 or the 1-3-1. But it is packed in from the top, that's why we've got to get the cuts and drives off the spots and more movement out of the corners.

"But again, there wasn't one guy on the team I would look to and say Ok, he's cutting and giving us great movement tonight. ... If NIKE made 50-pound shoes, a couple of guys had them on."

The Gators trailed by as many as six in the second half before tying the game at 40 on a three-pointer by Tre Mann with 11:47 to play. That was before a 10-point run put the Gators up by nine at 55-46 with 4:25 to play.

Back to back travels by Rayshaun Hammonds and Edwards resulted in two consecutive three-pointers by Noah Locke. A slam dunk by Keyontae Johnson sparked a surge by the Gators who moved to 19-11, 11-6 in the SEC.

The Bulldogs (15-15, 5-12) would get back within five on a three-pointer by Sahvir Wheeler with 4:03 to play but would get no closer.

Johnson led the Gators with 18 points, followed by Locke with 17 and Scottie Lewis with 11. Edwards led the Bulldogs with 14 points, followed by Rayshaun Hammonds with 12.

"We didn't come out in warmups like we were ready to play," said Edwards, who only scored four points in the first half. "We were sluggish."

Oddly enough, Georgia's start seemed to indicate otherwise.

The Bulldogs hit their first seven shots – including a pair of threes by Hammonds – to roll out to a 19-6 lead, a spurt that included a 13-0 run.

But the Bulldogs would soon go ice cold.

For the next seven minutes, Georgia failed to score a single point until a layup by Tyree Crump broke a string of nine straight scoreless possessions.

Florida wasn’t much better in the first half, yet despite the drought, the Gators were able to whittle the lead down to 21-16 before twice tying the game, the second time at 27-27 with 1:22 left in the half.

The Gators – who were 0-for-10 from three-point range in the first half - never saw the lead before halftime thanks to a conventional three-point play by Jordan Harris that enabled Georgia to go into the locker room up 30-28.

Boxscore

It's obviously assumed that barring a home NIT game, freshman Anthony Edwards played his last game in Stegeman Coliseum.

However, when asked about after the game, Edwards didn't bite.

"I'm not big on how I did; it's always about my team," Edwards said. "I feel like our team has pushed me to be the best player I can be. I don't look at it like it's my last home game. Nobody never knows what I'm doing, so I don't say that."

Edwards will at least have two more games in a Georgia uniform, starting with Saturday's regular-season finale at LSU, followed by an opening-round game in the SEC Tournament next Wednesday in Nashville.

• This is the 20th time this season Edwards has led the Dogs in scoring.

• For Hammonds, his points total on the night (12) and 10 rebounds mark his fifth double-double of the season and seventh of his career. Hammonds’ 10 boards was Georgia’s team-high.

• Edwards has tallied 587 points in his freshman season and is the second-highest Georgia freshman in the program’s history. He trails only behind Jack Dorsey (646; 1975) by 59 points.

• Freshman Sahvir Wheeler grabbed six assists during tonight’s matchup, totalling for a season total of 129. He trails behind Litterial Green (1988; 133) by only four assists to become the all-time freshman leader in assists.

• Despite losing the rebounding game to Florida by one board (UF: 30 / UGA: 29), the Bulldogs out-performed the Gators in defensive rebounds with 22 compared to Florida’s 19.

• The Bulldogs shot 69 percent at the free throw line, going 9-for-13, while the Gators shot 60 percent behind the line

• Georgia also out-scored Florida in the paint with 30 points compared to Florida’s 28.

• After breaking its all-time total attendance record against Arkansas on Feb. 29, UGA saw 10,007 fans at tonight’s game to up the new record to 164,071. That breaks the record set last season (148,700) by more than 15,000 fans.