Please Read: Welcome to the new-look Inside the Gators
BOX SCORE
(Turn your smartphone horizontally or, on a computer, right-click on the image to open in a new browser to see a larger version – Or click on the Box Score link at the top.)
Notes & quotes courtesy Florida Sports Information
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Todd Golden
Opening Statement…
“Just really proud of my team. I think tonight was a game that we needed, and an opportunity for us to play against a very good team, credit to Georgia. They’re really hard to guard, and they’re really good offensively. They stretch you out, they have multiple guys that can put people on the deck and get to the rim, but they have really good guard play, really good guard play. And we got off to a good start, got up nine, and unfortunately, a little bit of the same feeling, where we allow this team to crawl back. It was a one-point game at halftime and we just kind of talked about it at halftime, that it’s got to be now. The time is now for us to step up against a good team in a big moment and find a way to get to the finish line. And our guys did a great job in the second half. We defended with a great purpose. We held them to 34% in the second half. We did a great job on the glass, I think we we’re plus-12 in the second half, 21 overall. And we just handled the ball better, until the last two minutes, we had a couple of silly turnovers against the press, but the things that are important to us, and we talked about it a lot. We know our ceiling’s not as high, with our inconsistent perimeter shooting, but to beat a really good Georgia team at home here by 15 is a really good win for our program.”
On the dominance inside the paint…
“It’s how we’re built, who we are, and I think the more that we accept that and take pride in kind of being the ugly, gritty, physical team, I think we will continue to see good results, and we did that tonight. We were super physical. I thought our bigs did a really good job protecting the rim on penetration. I thought late we allowed them to get a couple offensive rebounds, but for the majority of the game, I thought we controlled both side of the backboard. And that battle inside was one that we needed to win.”
On if he challenged the team after the loss to Missouri…
“In terms of the bigs or the team, both? Both really, because as we talked about, we’d beat Missouri on the glass, but not by enough. The margin wasn’t enough. And you know tonight we knew we had to win the boards by double digits. That was what we needed to do to give ourselves the best chance to win. And challenge ourselves defensively, too. I didn’t think we defended well enough in Missouri. Everybody wants to talk about our offense and our shooting, but as we talked about, we scored 1.1 (points per possession) at Missouri and lost. So we’ve got to guard. Tonight, we did that. To hold this team, which has been absolutely phenomenal from two to 49% is fantastic and 21% from the three-point line. Again it’s got to be who we are and I thought we displayed that this evening.”
On the close outs tonight…
“Yeah, we had great, I’d say with the exception of Kanon Catchings, we let him get a couple off at the beginning of the second half. And Marcus Millender made a tough one in the first half, but other than that, I thought we had a great urgency on the perimeter. And our game plan is we’re going to live with tough twos over hands, but we’re not going to live with good threes. And I thought they took some though ones and I think that shows in their percentage.”
Sophomore G Isaiah Brown
On handling the full court press throughout the night…
“I felt as if today we handled it pretty good. It could definitely be better, take care of the ball a little bit more, make the right passes and make it on target, but as of today I’d say it was pretty good. Just keep moving forward.”
On the importance in improving as a consistent defender…
“I’d say being a consistent defender has been my main priority right now. Being able to guard on the perimeter and also take a little bit of the hits down low from the bigs. Being a versatile defender is kind of what I’m embarking my role on right now.”
Junior F Alex Condon
On Somto Cyril’s ejection…
“Yeah, that was a big part of the game when he got ejected. I think Rue [Rueben Chinyelu] was really physical with him, and he didn’t really like it early on, so it’s good that Rue kept his head. Since then, we just outrebounded them, and I think the game was kind of upwards from there for us.”
NOTEABLE
- With 21 points each, Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon led the way to Florida’s first top-25 win of the season. Haugh added 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, along with five assists. He also matched career highs with four blocked shots and three steals.
- Florida used an 18-7 run out of halftime to extend a one-point lead at the break to double digits. After a 5-0 UGA spurt to close back to within seven, the Gators went on a 14-2 run to open up a 19-point lead.
- UF’s defense limited Georgia, which entered the game as the nation’s highest-scoring team (99.4 ppg), to a season-low 77 points.
- Florida continued to dominate the boards, posting a 56-35 advantage on the glass, including 22 offensive rebounds. It marked Florida’s fifth game this season with 20+ offensive rebounds.
- In the tightly-contested first half, Haugh scored 15 points on 6-for-7 shooting with six rebounds and four assists.
- Isaiah Brown provided valuable minutes off the bench, matching his career high with nine points in 13 minutes, with a +11 plus-minus. His previous SEC highs were two points and 10 minutes.
- Urban Klavžar knocked down three 3-pointers (3-for-7), his fourth game this season with at least three 3s. He has made multiple 3-pointers in four of the last five games.
- Micah Handlogten snagged 11 rebounds for his fourth double-figure rebounding game of the season.
- Todd Golden picked up his 19th top-25 win as Florida head coach. Golden, in his fourth season, trails only Billy Donovan (64 in 19 seasons) and Mike White (20 in seven seasons) in top-25 victories. At 19-15 (.559), Golden is the only UF coach in program history above .500 vs. top-25 foes.
- The Gators won their 14th straight home game and improved to 36-2 at home since the start of the 2023-24 season.
- Florida also improves to 7-1 vs. Georgia under Golden, including 4-0 at home. The Gators are 127-104 all-time vs. UGA, 72-38 in Gainesville.
0 comments