#17/18 Georgia Lady Bulldogs (17-5, 9-5 SEC) vs. Florida Gators (10-11, 3-10 SEC)
Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021 | noon ET | Gainesville, Fla. | Exactech Arena
TV: ESPN2 (Brenda VanLengen and Holly Warlick)
Radio: Georgia Bulldog Sports Network (Jeff Dantzler)
Watch Link: Click Here
Storylines
• Georgia is back on the road to face the Florida Gators this Sunday in Gainesville, Fla. Tip time is set for noon ET at Exactech Arena.
• The Lady Bulldogs have been successful on the road this season, boasting a 7-2 record. Georgia’s only two road losses are to top-5 teams South Carolina and Texas A&M.
• Georgia has won the last seven meetings against the Gators, including three-straight in Gainesville. The Lady Bulldogs’ senior class is undefeated against Florida.
• Seniors Maya Caldwell, Gabby Connally, Que Morrison and Jenna Staiti have led Georgia both on and off the floor. Each have already earned their undergraduate degrees and are pursuing master’s degrees at UGA.
• Senior Jenna Staiti is the SEC’s blocked shots leader with 69 total and 3.1 per game. Steady Staiti has scored in double figures in 26 of her last 31 games dating back to last season.
• Que Morrison — a member of the 2020 SEC All-Defensive Team — is one of the top defensive players in the nation. Morrison, who guards the opponent’s top player night-in and night-out, has held 10 of her 14 opponents in SEC play below their season averages.
• Georgia has arguably the top defense in the SEC. The Lady Bulldogs are second in scoring defense (59.2 ppg), third in field-goal percentage defense (.366), second in 3-point FG percentage defense (.273), second in blocks (6.3 per game) and fifth in steals (9.0 per game). Georgia is the only SEC team to rank in the top-5 in all these categories.
• The Lady Bulldogs have exceeded expectations once again under head coach Joni Taylor. Georgia — picked ninth in the SEC preseason coaches poll — will finish no worse than fifth this season. It is the fifth time in six years Georgia has exceeded its preseason rank under Coach Taylor.
• Florida head coach Cam Newbauer was an assistant coach at Georgia from 2007-12 under Hall of Fame coach Andy Landers.
Series Information
Overall: Georgia leads, 60-17
In Athens: Georgia leads, 32-5
In Gainesville: Georgia leads, 26-11
Neutral Sites: Georgia leads, 2-1
Current Streak: Georgia has won seven-straight meetings
Last Meeting: Georgia won 68-58 (1/10/21)
Largest Margin of Victory: Georgia won, 105-62 (1/12/03)
Largest Defeat: Florida won, 94- 61 (1/7/98)
Georgia Season Notes
2 for Threeeee
Senior guard Gabby Connally goes by the nickname ‘2’ to honor her jersey number. The San Antonio native might want to think about changing it to ‘3’ following a pair of impressive shooting performances against Missouri and Tennessee
After hitting a career-high six 3-pointers to tie her season-best of 29 points at Missouri, Connally made five 3-pointers in the win against Tennessee. She is the first Georgia player since Mary Beth Lycett (Smart) in 2003 to post back-to-back games with five or more 3-pointers against SEC teams.
Morrison Healthy and Leading Lady Bulldogs
2020 SEC All-Defensive Team selection Que Morrison was a highly-recruited player coming out of high school. In her first year with the Lady Bulldogs, she made an immediate impact, placing on the SEC All-Freshman Team.
In her sophomore campaign (2018-19), Morrison missed the first eight games due to a torn meniscus in her left knee. Then, in 2019-20, she had an injury to her foot before the season began and suffered a torn labrum in her right shoulder to end her junior campaign midway through SEC play.
This year, not only is Morrison considered one of the top defensive players in the conference, she is also leading offensively, having scored in double figures in seven-straight games for the first time in her career.
More on Morrison
Morrison is one of the top all-around players in the SEC. The four-year starter ranks in the top-15 among SEC players in assists, steals and assist-to-turnover ratio. In addition to scoring in double figures in seven-straight games, she has scored over 20 points twice this year — both for the first time in her career.
Steady Staiti Reaching 1,000
Lady Bulldog senior center Jenna Staiti needs just 41 points to reach the 1,000 point mark for her career. Earlier this year, Staiti crossed the 500-rebound mark. She is looking to become just the eighth Lady Bulldog to record 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds and 150 blocks. All seven of the previous Georgia players to accomplish that feat (Katrina McClain, Tracy Henderson, Tammye Jenkins, Christi Thomas, Tawana McDonald, Angel Robinson and Caliya Robinson) earned All-SEC honors.
In the Paint and On The Move
Georgia has been an improved team on the offensive end compared to last season, upping its points per game by nearly 10 points and scoring 80 or more points six times this year (after only doing so twice last season).
Two reasons for that success include scoring in transition and scoring in the paint. The Lady Bulldogs have outscored their opponents in transition in all but two games and have owned an advantage in the paint in 12 of 22 contests.