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MBB: Dawgs Travel To Gainesville To Take On Florida

Date: Tuesday, January 6, 2026

Time: 7:00 p.m. ET

Venue: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151)

Location: Gainesville, Fla.

TV: SEC Network (Matt Schumacker, play-by-play; Richard Hendrix, analyst)

Radio: Georgia Bulldog Network – Sirius 105 (Scott Howard, play-by-play; Chuck Dowdle, analyst; Adam Gillespie, producer)

The Starting Five

• Georgia – which entered January with the highest scoring average (99.0 ppg) of any D-I team in seven years (since 2019) – takes to the road for the first time in SEC play on Tuesday to face Florida.

• The Bulldogs are ranked No. 18 and No. 20 in this week’s AP and coaches polls, respectively. That’s Georgia’s highest rankings since being No. 17 (AP) and No. 18 (coaches) on February 3, 2003. 

• Georgia entered this week ranked among the nation’s top-5 teams in seven statistics, including No. 1 in scoring offense (99.4 ppg), fastbreak points (27.0 ppg) and blocks (8.0 bpg).

• As of Monday, the Dunkyard Dawgs were scoring a nation-leading 22.7 percent of their field goals on dunks this season. Individually, Somto Cyril’s 42 dunks led the SEC and ranked No. 2 nationally.

• Georgia has topped the 100-point plateau in seven of its first 14 games, already breaking the program’s single-season program record of five century mark tallies during the 1990-91 campaign. The Bulldogs have scored 40 or more points during 26 of 28 halves of basketball this season.

Keeping An Eye On…

Blue Cain is…

• 2 free throws from the minimum to qualify for UGA’s career leaders in FT pct. His current percentage of 83.1 would rank No. 3

• 3 3-pointers from No. 19 Sundiata Gaines

• 4 3-pointers from No. 18 Rashad Wright

• 8 3-pointers from No. 17 Turtle Jackson

• 8 3-point attempts from No. 19 Rashad Wright

Somto Cyril is…

• 5 blocks from No. 15 Rashaad Singleton

• 10 blocks from No. 14 Albert Jackson

Among UGA’s Season Leaders

Blue Cain is…

• 3 free throws from the minimum to qualify for UGA’s season leaders in FT pct. His current percentage of 90.4 would rank No. 2

Somto Cyril is…

• 5 blocks from co-No. 19s Terry Fair (‘83), Marcus Thornton (‘14) and Yante Maten (‘15)

• 7 blocks from No. 18 Charles Claxton (‘93)

• 8 blocks from No. 17 Charles Claxton (‘92)

The Opening Tip

Georgia treks to Gainesville on Tuesday to face Florida in its first SEC road outing of the season. 

The Bulldogs are No. 18 in this week’s AP poll and ranked No. 20 in the coaches poll. That’s Georgia’s highest rankings since being No. 17 in the AP poll, and No. 18 in the coaches poll on Feb. 3, 2003.

Georgia christens SEC play with back-to-back outings against half of last season’s Final Four – Auburn and the Gators – and has four of its first five league dates against 2025 “Sweet 16” teams (adding Arkansas and Ole Miss).

The Bulldogs, ranked No. 23 by the AP and No. 24 by the coaches last week, are 13-1, matching their second-best start in 121 seasons and their best since 1931.

It would be hard to fathom a better beginning to the 2025-26 campaign for Georgia, at least statistically speaking.

As of Monday, the Bulldogs were leading all 365 Division I teams in scoring offense (99.4 ppg), fastbreak points (27.0 ppg) and blocks (8.0 bpg). Among the 28 statistics tracked by the NCAA, Georgia ranked in the top 5 in seven and in the top 25 in 15. 

Georgia features one of the nation’s deepest rotations, playing at a pace among the quickest in the country.

Eleven Bulldogs are averaging double-figure minutes, and according to the oft-used metric KenPom.com, Georgia entered this week ranked No. 2 nationally in both average offensive possession length (14.2 seconds) and adjusted tempo (75.8).

Georgia’s depth extends beyond the numbers to its offensive production. 

Ten of the 11 Bulldogs playing double-digit minutes have scored 10+ points in a game, combining to record 61 double-figure scoring outputs this season. Jeremiah Wilkinson is averaging a team-high 18.3 ppg, while Blue Cain is contributing 15.6 ppg, and Marcus “Smurf” Millender is chipping in 11.6 ppg, and Somto Cyril is adding 10.0 ppg and also averages a team-high 6.4 rpg.

Scouting The Gators

Florida slipped to 9-5 on the season with a 76-74 setback at Missouri on Saturday night. Three of the Gators’ losses are teams currently ranked in the top 10 – No. 1 Arizona, No. 4 Connecticut and No. 6 Duke.

Thomas Haugh paces a quintet of Gators scoring at a double-digit clip at 17.2 ppg, followed by Alex Condon at 14.3 ppg, Xaivian Lee at 12.1 ppg, Boogie Fland at 11.0 ppg and Reuben Chinyelu at 10.5 ppg. Chinyelu is grabbing an SEC-high 10.7 rebounds per game, making him the only player in the league averaging a double-double.

Series History With Florida

Florida possesses a 126-106 edge in the all-time meetings on the hardwood between the Bulldogs and the Gators. 

In the most recent meeting on Feb. 25 last season, Georgia upset No. 3 Florida, 88-83, triggering a court storming by a raucous crowd at Stegeman Coliseum.

The Bulldogs raced to a 39-13 lead over the opening 12:07 and then rallied past Florida after a furious comeback by the Gators gave them their first lead with 68 seconds remaining.

Georgia led by 16 points at the intermission and by double digits until the 11:08 mark of the second stanza. The Gators used a 13-0 surge to go up 80-78 at the 1:08 mark before Blue Cain knocked down a 3-pointer to open a 10-3 run over the final 47 seconds.

The victory sparked a four-game winning streak by the Bulldogs to end the regular season that locked up Georgia’s first NCAA Tournament bid in a decade.

UGA and UF met in Gainesville on Jan. 25 last season, with the Gators securing an 89-59 victory.

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