Florida handed Georgia their third straight loss 62-52 on Saturday in a sold out Stegeman Coliseum. Despite a burst of energy after the half, the Bulldogs could not seem to make their shots or defend the basket.

Georgia, averages 75.6 points per game and a .455 FG%, struggled to put pointed on the board and ended with a .395 FG%. The Gator’s defense is ranked number one in the SEC and that held true in this game. The Bulldog’s leading scorer Rayshaun Hammonds missed all of the six shots and the team’s second man up, Nicolas Claxton only put nine points on the board. The two men average 13.7 and 12.6 points per game respectively.

       

Probably the biggest issue for Georgia is keeping their hands on the ball. They had 39 rebounds, 11 more than their opponent, but gave the ball away easily with 20 turnovers. This allowed the Gators to score nearly half of their points (28) off of those turnovers. Instead of correcting the problem after Georgia had 14 turnovers against Kentucky, it has only been allowed to fester. If those points off of turnovers had not been allowed the Bulldogs may have won the game.

“It is crazy because we preach on catching the ball with two hands and making good accurate passes but I really don’t know what the problem is with that, said guard Jordan Harris after the game. “We can just continue to drill on it and make sure guys secure the ball when they catch it and protect it…. I think we have to be aware of our surroundings when we catch the ball.”

       

One statistic that the team did improve was their three-point percentage. Georgia sunk five out of 14 shots from beyond the arc resulting in .357 3FG%. That number is higher than their average of .316 and more than double the .148 they had against Kentucky.

The 9-8 Bulldogs will return to the court in Baton Rouge on Wednesday where they will face LSU at 7 p.m.