After a tough loss on the road against the No. 1 ranked Auburn Tigers, the Georgia Bulldogs returned home to another daunting challenge against the No. 3 ranked Florida Gators. The Dawgs riding a 4-game losing streak were desperate to break the skid at home in what marked their 5^th ranked opponent in a row. As this stretch of five ranked opponents has happened once earlier in the season as well, where the Dawgs went 2-5 during that stretch. Entering this matchup the Dawgs had faced 13 ranked opponents and seven in the top 10. After this outing versus Florida, it would increase those numbers to 14 and 8, as both of those numbers lead the country. 

In the previous outing between these two, the Dawgs suffered a gruesome 30-point loss in Gainesville. Fortunately, this time around, Georgia took a hold of the game at the opening tip off. The Dawgs burst to a 9-point lead in the first 2 minutes, and didn’t look back in the first half. The electric crowd fueled an offensive masterclass, as the team shot an incredible 67.9% from the field in the first half. The lead grew to as large as 26 in the first half at around the eight-minute mark, and this was due to Florida’s Will Richard. Richard scored 17 points in the closing eight minutes cutting Georgia’s lead to 16 at the break. 

Coming out at half, the Dawgs had cooled off. They let the lead slip to 11 before the Gators made an explosive 13-0 run to take their first lead of the game. The momentum had shifted, and the Dawgs found themselves on their heels. When the score was 80-78, Blue Cain who had been on the bench because of defensive purposes for around 6 minutes, subs in for the Dawgs. The rest is history as Blue hits one of the biggest shots of his young career. This brings the dawgs back in front at 81-80. From there the Dawgs held onto the lead finishing it up at 88-83.

For Georgia, they end up now 5-10 in SEC play, with a chance to win out and make it 8-10. Without a doubt the SEC is the toughest division in Division 1 college basketball. So, given the strength of their schedule the Dawgs make a case for themselves to be in the NCAA tournament. This marked the programs highest ranked victory since beating No. 3 ranked Georgia Tech in 2004, and it was only right the fans stormed the court. With two top 10 ranked victories under their belt, Georgia improves to 3-11 in Quad 1 games. 

For Coach Mike White, this victory was personal. He was a former coach at Florida who had lost the last 6 against the Gators, while at Georgia. White had multiple rotations with 8 guys playing more than 10 minutes, including 5 of those players in double digit scoring. It was a full team effort to take down one of the best teams in the country.  

If the dawgs want to make a deep run they will need Silas Demary, who has improved tremendously these last 4 games. In the upset win against Florida, Demary had 21 points-3 rebounds-3 assists-2 steals for the Dawgs.