Although there’s work that Georgia needs to do to get back in the post-season conversation for the NCAAs, Tuesday’s 72-60 win over No. 23 Florida was a satisfying way to quell the Bulldogs’ recent basketball blues.

Senior Yante Maten was certainly relieved.

“It was huge,” said Maten, who led the Bulldogs with 20 points. “Coach (Mark Fox) told us to trust the process and keep working hard every day, take it day by day, and we’ll get it.”

It’s certainly been a trying few weeks for the Bulldogs (13-8, 4-5).

Losers of five of their previous six games, Fox admitted on Monday that he could sense his team’s confidence was shaken, and after the Gators (15-7, 6-3) started the second half by going on a 12-2 run, it appeared the Bulldogs were headed for another disappointing chapter in what's been a mostly frustrating season.

This time, however, Georgia wouldn’t fold.

After the Gators surged ahead 51-48 on a three-pointer by Jalen Hudson, the Bulldogs responded with a 9-0 run capped by a layup by Nicolas Claxton to put Georgia up 57-51.

The Bulldogs would not trail again.

“This was a hard-fought game. These games, this league is so good. Florida’s got a terrific team, look at the people they’ve defeated,” Fox said. “In this league, you’re going to have a lot of games that are back and forth, and hard fought. You just hope to win your share. (Tuesday) we battled back, had a great crowd and that certainly helped.”

It didn’t hurt that Florida’s frontcourt was basically a non-factor offensively.

Between Keith Stone, Kevarrius Hayes, Gorjok Gak and Dontay Bassett, Florida’s post players accounted for only nine of the Gators’ 60 points, their second-lowest total this season.

“We didn’t come close to matching their physicality,” Florida coach Mike White said. “This game was very important to them. They beat us to loose balls; they were tougher, more physical, more aggressive, they played with more edge than we did. Credit them, they were terrific.”

Georgia outrebounded the Gators 44-35 in securing the win, the Bulldogs’ fifth over a Top-50 program.

Offensively, the Bulldogs actually showed some versatility with eight players finding their way into the scoring column.

That included a solid game from junior Turtle Jackson, who tallied 16 points but, perhaps more importantly, did not turn the ball over a single time.

Neither did Juwan Parker.

The senior played arguably his cleanest game, chipping in with 12 points and no turnovers while Tyree Crump keyed a first-half surge with a pair of three-pointers.

Claxton also gave Georgia a solid 20 minutes, pulling down a team-high eight rebounds to go along with five points.

“Nick’s length impacts the game defensively,” Fox said. “He is so long and he gives us a presence to protect the rim and was one of the reasons our defense was so good. We just executed our scheme extremely well.”

Gator guard Egor Koulechov agreed.

“They’re one of the best defensive teams in the league,” he said. “They held our field goal percentage down. Sometimes we’ve got to make plays, that’s what it comes down to. Sometimes we were shooting 50 percent, but by the end of the game it was about 30.”

Despite a slow start, Georgia rallied back and ultimately took the lead by doing something it typically doesn’t do a lot of – convert three-pointers.

In fact, it was a series of three straight treys – two by Crump and one by Parker – that sent Georgia ahead 28-25 with 5:00 left until halftime, a lead the Bulldogs would hold for the rest of the half.

The outburst was part of an 11-0 run by Georgia to push the margin to 31-26 before easing into halftime with a 37-32 lead.

NOTES: Jackson’s 16 points was one off his career high of 17. … Parker has now scored in double-digits five times in his last six games. … Maten moved into the No. 6 spot on Georgia’s all-time scoring list after passing Bob Lienhard (1,659). … Georgia returns to action Saturday night at Mississippi State (6 p.m., ESPNU).