The University of Georgia Men’s Basketball team was defeated by archrival Florida 84-72 on Saturday afternoon in Stegeman Coliseum.
Kario Oquendo continued his impressive string of offensive performances with a 20-point outing on 7-19 shooting, while Braelen Bridges added 16 points and 7 rebounds. Athens area native Phlandrous Fleming Jr. led the way for the Gators, dropping 27 points on 11-18 FG shooting. Tyree Appleby supplemented the Florida scoring with 21 points and Colin Castleton controlled the paint in posting a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds while recording 3 blocked shots.
Offensively, the Dawgs had a strong showing both in terms of shooting and taking care of the ball. Georgia shot 47% from the floor and converted on 9 of their 23 3-Point attempts, while outscoring the Gators in second chance points, bench points, and points in the paint. The squad’s 10 turnovers marked a tie of their season-low posted in their heartbreaking 2-point loss to #1 Auburn. Despite their relative success on offense, the game slipped away from the Bulldogs thanks to an even better performance from Florida. The Gators shot 52% from the field and drained 14 3-Pointers while managing to capitalize with great efficiency on the few Georgia turnovers, turning them into 19 Gator points.
In a post-game press conference, head coach Tom Crean spoke to how the outcome of the game essentially boiled down to an inability to get a few defensive stops at key points in the game. He commented that his team “just could not get both ends put together in a consistent way. Too many times in this game we gave up the straight-line drive. We guard the first dribble or the initial drive, but it’s that second dribble and we’re just opening up.” He added further that Florida was “just not feeling enough pressure of somebody in their face literally or extending up. They just have to clean of a look.”
The one primary concern for Georgia offensively was their difficulty getting to the free-throw line, an area in which the Dawgs usually do not struggle. Georgia did not attempt a free throw in the first half and finished the game with just 11 free throws taken, of which they made 9. In his post-game presser, Braelen Bridges commented that “getting to the free-throw line definitely helps us, helps out the whole team… because we’re a good free-throw shooting team.” Georgia’s 9 free-throw makes marked their lowest total since January 15th in a loss to Vanderbilt.
The Dawgs now have just 2 matchups remaining on their regular season schedule, the first of which will be their last home game of the year on Tuesday against #17 Tennessee.