The Georgia men’s basketball team fell for the third consecutive game as they lost against a tough Florida team. The Gators beat Georgia 72-60 and completely dominated the Dawgs in the second half.
The leading scorer for Georgia was Yante Maten with 19 points. J.J. Frazier banked 18 points and put down seven rebounds. Frazier also dished out three assists, one resulting in a jam by Mike Edwards. Derek Ogbeide amassed ten rebounds, marking his fourth double-digit rebounding game in the last five games.
Georgia didn’t have the best shooting game as they only completed 33.3 percent from the field. They also turned the ball over 16 times, and the Gators took advantage, scoring 18 points off of those turnovers. Georgia did out rebound the Gators by six boards.
Throughout the first half, the game went back and forth. Georgia would gain momentum and then Florida. However, down by 16, Georgia flexed their muscle and scored 15 unanswered points to cut the deficit to one point. The defense for the Dawgs contained the Gators and forced them to go 0-10 in field goals. At halftime, the Gators led 35-33.
After the late push in the first from the Dawgs, the second half was all Florida. The Gators opened up with a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 10. Georiga managed to cut the deficit in half after Maten tipped in a basket with a free-throw and Juwan Parker dropped a couple of free throws as well. However, the effort just wasn’t enough, Florida increased their lead back to 10 after a quick three-pointer and layup off a turnover with a little under seven minutes to play. For the rest of the game, Georiga couldn’t pull the game within single digits.
“We’re not playing well, and that rests totally with me,” Georgia head coach Mark Fox said. “We’re not playing well on offense. We started the game poorly, we battled back in it, and then in the second half, we didn’t finish any plays, and we turned the basketball over. Turnovers have been an issue with this team, and I have not solved it. Give Florida credit, they’re a good defensive team, but we have to have more than two guys show up and finish plays. Tonight, we didn’t do that.”
Georgia heads to Knoxville next to face Tennessee on Saturday at 4 p.m.