Quick takeaways from Florida’s first SEC win vs Georgia Bulldogs
It may have made an appearance at Mike White in the O’Dome to get the Gators back in sync.
It should sound just like it used too.
The Gators were unable to catch up in the second half, but they did manage to win. Todd Golden His first win in the SEC, 82-75 against the Georgia Bulldogs.
UF is currently 8-7 and 1-2 in conference play.
It was wild, with Florida losing the most of a 13 point lead. Riley Kugel Kyle Lofton Florida’s four big free throws were made down the stretch, and Florida was finally victorious after two hard-fought conference losses.
“For our team, it was really important,” said Golden. “There are so many blows you can take before it becomes an issue.”
What happened
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Florida was quite streaky in this game, but it was the three-point lead that Florida was able take and then expand that lead with an 11-7 run at halftime.
Georgia fought back with a lot of threes and a 11-0 run by the Gators to extend their lead to 61-48. Georgia ended the game with 10 points, many of which were contested threes.
But Florida’s defense got it done down the stretch and led to a pair of dunks by Kugel, one a runout at the end of the game to bring the house down.
Florida came out of the game with very little energy. Georgia started the game on a 13-0 run. This included a Georgia five-second violation, a shotclock violation, and a pair air balls on threes.
Castleton continued his swatting shots and Florida grew hot. Castleton fought two Georgia defenders and gave the Gators the lead with a layup at 33 32. UF closed the half strong to take the 39-33 lead.
Castleton had seven blocks, while Florida had nine.
It means
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It was a huge accomplishment for a team that finished 0-2 in SEC. This wasn’t as much about NET rankings (doesn’t help a lot), but more about finding a way to win late after losing all three games decided by five points or less under Golden. It wasn’t as much about White as it was about Golden, who didn’t need to lose to the former coach and fall below .500.
Georgia was the player
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Terry Roberts is a major problem for many SEC teams. It took him a lot of shots in order to score 25 points (22 field goals attempts, nine free throws), but Florida couldn’t stop Florida from scheming to make his drives to the basket. He had eight rebounds and four assists, as well as three steals.
Florida was the winner of this game
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This was the kind of game we thought we’d see from [autotag]Kyle Lofton[/autotag] You should do it more often. Because he was the one who took over, [autotag]Trey Bonham[/autotag] He was not having a great night with zero points and a minus-6 score on the plus-minus, but he made some outstanding passes. He scored 18 points and had no turnovers to lead the Gators. “The coaches told me that if we lose this game, it’s on you,” Lofton said.
The numbers are inside
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This was an unusual feat for the Gators, as they had five players in double figures, including 12 from. [autotag]Kowacie Reeves[/autotag] The bench. This countered Bonham’s inability to score. [autotag]Alex Fudge[/autotag] Making 1 of 7 shots. Kugel missed six baskets in double figures.
He said it
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“It’s hard to guard a team that has three or four guys who can score it. We have it. We just haven’t shown it.” – Lofton.
Next up
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In three days, the Gators will be playing their sixth game when they take on LSU Tuesday night at 7 PM EST in Baton Rouge LSU and Matt McMahon are starting afresh after the Will Wade scandal with a brand-new roster. The Tigers were 12-2 and 1-1 in the SEC entering Saturday night’s game at Texas A&M.
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