Georgia sputters after hot start, falls to Florida on Senior Night
Sometimes, first impressions don’t mean anything. Georgia found that out the hard way Wednesday night.
The Bulldogs (15-15, 5-12 SEC) came out blazing against Florida (19-11, 11-6 SEC) but were stifled most of the way to finish the home schedule with a 68-54 loss at Stegeman Coliseum.
“There was not one guy, which I’m disappointed to say that I’ll look back at it, that they are locked into this, they have the belief,” head coach Tom Crean said after the game. “That’s disappointing at this point, but we’ve got to continue to grow leadership here.”
Superstar freshman Anthony Edwards, who was also likely playing his final game in Stegeman Coliseum, said he felt the team was sluggish and cruising through warmups. Despite that, the Bulldogs come out hot and full of emotion on Senior Night, hitting their first seven shots and building a 19-6 lead in the first 4:59 of the game.
After shooting over 56 percent in their last game, a 99-89 home win over Arkansas, the Bulldogs looked like they picked up right where they left off. Then one of the best defenses in the SEC showed up.
Florida limited Georgia to 5-of-19 shooting and 11 points in the final 15:01 of the first half, dumping a cold bucket of water on a scorching-hot offense. The Bulldogs still led 30-28 at halftime, but it was clear the Gators had gotten their bearings.
“They kept changing (the defense) the whole game,” senior guard Jordan Harris said. “It was hard for us to prepare for because we never knew what was coming at us.”
Crean said the Bulldogs emphasized screening and cutting coming into this game, knowing that sooner or later the Gators would deploy the zone defense. But a lack of communication and connectivity on defense spilled over into the offense, causing plenty of stagnant play.
“We showed them at halftime, there were a couple of cuts that, like, if Nike made 50-pound shoes, a couple guys had them on,” Crean said. “You can’t play like that.”
The struggles continued after intermission, as Georgia shot just 40 percent and scored 24 points in the final 20 minutes. However, a 6-0 run with just under eight minutes left gave the Bulldogs a brief 46-45 lead. The stretch was highlighted by a thunderous dunk from Edwards, who finished with 14 points on 3-of-10 shooting.
The Gators answered right back with a 10-0 run, their fourth and final run of at least 8-0 in the game. They closed the game on a 23-8 stretch, pulling away to win comfortably by 14 points. The defensive struggles hampered the offense, and vice versa.
“If you’re getting stops, we’re getting runouts and we’re getting out and we’re going,” Crean said. “We weren’t getting enough stops. Because we weren’t getting those baskets, that lack of cohesiveness on the defensive end caught us.”
Next Georgia basketball game
The Bulldogs close out the regular season at LSU at 2 pm Saturday.
Florida Georgia basketball box score
FLORIDA (19-11): Blackshear 3-9 2-5 8, Johnson 8-14 1-2 18, Lewis 4-10 2-2 11, Locke 7-12 0-0 17, Nembhard 2-4 3-4 8, Mann 2-6 0-0 5, Bassett 0-0 1-2 1, Glover 0-1 0-0 0, Jitoboh 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 9-15 68.
GEORGIA (15-15): Camara 2-2 1-2 5, Hammonds 5-10 0-2 12, Edwards 3-10 7-8 14, Harris 3-5 1-1 7, Wheeler 3-7 0-0 8, Crump 1-4 0-0 2, Gresham 1-3 0-0 2, Fagan 2-3 0-0 4, Peake 0-0 0-0 0, Howard 0-1 0-0 0, Brown 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-46 9-13 54.
Halftime—Georgia 30-28. 3-Point Goals—Florida 7-23 (Locke 3-7, Nembhard 1-1, Mann 1-2, Johnson 1-4, Lewis 1-5, Blackshear 0-4), Georgia 5-15 (Wheeler 2-3, Hammonds 2-4, Edwards 1-4, Gresham 0-1, Harris 0-1, Crump 0-2). Rebounds—Florida 29 (Johnson 11), Georgia 28 (Hammonds 10). Assists—Florida 15 (Nembhard 6), Georgia 11 (Wheeler 6). Total Fouls—Florida 13, Georgia 15.
This story was originally published March 4, 2020 at 9:00 PM.