The Florida men's basketball team avenged an earlier loss to Georgia by defeating the Bulldogs 63-55 on Wednesday night at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. With another strong finish, the Gators extended their win streak to four games.
"I'm very, very proud of these kids just because they found a way to win tonight when they could have very easily packed it in," said head coach Billy Donovan. "It was very similar to our last home game against South Carolina when we got down by four or five. We got down late in this game, and I thought Matt Walsh, David Lee and Anthony Roberson showed great leadership. They showed tremendous heart and character and did a great job."
Despite leading by six at the half, Florida found itself down by four with 7:20 remaining in the game. Georgia, sparked by back-to-back threes from Rashad Wright, was able to rally midway through the second half and claim the 50-46 lead .
The Bulldog lead would not last, as Florida put together a 15-3 run to end the game. The surge was led by Walsh. His trey at 4:14 tied the game at 52 and the Gators never looked back. Walsh went to the charity stripe four times in the final four minutes, making 7-of-8 shots. The Gators were able to hold the Bulldogs to only three points in the final 4:57.
"Our team has a whole new attitude," said Walsh. "When we were down by four, we didn't pout and didn't get down on each other. We stayed positive and I think that helped."
Walsh led all scorers with 22 points, nine coming from the line. Anthony Roberson also scored in double digits adding 19 points to the effort. The Gators shot 50 percent from the floor and made 18-of-23 free throws (78.3 percent).
Florida was able to hold the Bulldogs leading scorer Rashad Wright, averaging more than 14 points per game, to only nine points on the night. Georgia also shot poorly from the three-point line, making only 4-of-21 attempts.
Prior to tip off, sole senior Bonnell Colas was honored before a crowd of 11,011.
Florida wraps up their regular season as they travel to Lexington to take on the No. 9 Wildcats Sunday March 7th. The game will be aired on CBS at Noon.
