No. 6 Florida scored the first 17 points of the game, built a 25-point lead before halftime and romped to a 74-57 victory over Georgia in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday night. The Gators will meet Ole Miss on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. looking to reach their fourth straight SEC Tournament final.
Taurean Green scored 19 points to lead the Gators (27-5), while Al Horford and Corey Brewer each had 15 points.
Florida opened March with a win over Kentucky, and the Gators are hoping that a third straight SEC tournament title will be enough to lock up a top seed in the NCAA field.
Georgia (18-13), which hasn't been to the NCAAs since 2002, was looking to bolster its credentials with an upset of the Gators. The Bulldogs didn't even come close, likely ensuring a trip to the National Invitation Tournament.
Florida showed off its imposing depth and versatility before the game was 4 minutes old.
Joakim Noah started the onslaught with a short jumper. Al Horford got loose on the inside for an easy hoop. Green swiped the ball away from the Bulldogs and went in for a layup. Corey Brewer drew a foul and hit both free throws. Green came up with another steal and fed it to Noah, who converted a three-point play. Finally, Lee Humphrey swished a 3 for a 14-0 lead.
That made Florida 5-for-5 - all five starters had scored, while Georgia was still stuck on zero.
In fact, when the Gators got to 15-0 on Chris Richard's free throw with 15:53 left in the half, they could have gone the rest of the period without scoring and still been ahead at the break.
As it was, Florida was up 35-14 by halftime. Georgia missed its first 13 shots and needed a late surge to reach 7-for-37 from the field, heading to the locker room after shooting a dismal 19 percent.
The Bulldogs kept pounding the boards, getting four shots on one possession through shear effort. One was blocked, the other three missed. It was that kind of night for Georgia, which put up several airballs and even missed a dunk. Takais Brown went in for the slam with about 6 minutes remaining, only to have the ball spin out and fly over the Georgia bench.
The Georgia guards were especially woeful. Sundiata Gaines was 2-of-13 from the field, while Levi Stukes went 1-for-10. The Bulldogs didn't put a player in double figures until Billy Humphrey hit a pair of free throws with 2:50 remaining.
Brown finished as the top scorer with 12 points.
When the horn sounded for halftime, the Gators charged off the court like a team that still had plenty in its tank. The Bulldogs staggered away in a collective daze, probably wishing they could just hop on the bus back to Athens instead of returning for another 20 minutes.
Maybe the Gators were inspired by the pregame festivities. Shortly before the tipoff, they gathered at midcourt to collect the trophy for winning their first outright SEC regular-season title since 1989.
The Gators defeated Georgia for the eighth straight time dating back to 2004.
Game Notes
- All-Time Series: Florida leads 99-94 and has claimed seven consecutive victories over the Bulldogs.
- SEC Tournament: Florida leads 2-1
- Season Series: Florida swept the season series, winning 67-51 on Jan. 6 in Gainsville and winning 71-61on Feb. 7 in Athens.
- Florida scored the first 17 points of the game before Georgia got on the scoreboard at the 13:48 mark. The Gators led at halftime, 35-14.
- The teams battled evenly in the second half but Georgia was able to get no closer than 15 points.
- Georgia won points in the paint, 32-24, while Florida's advantage came from three-point land and at the free-throw stripe. The Gators made 7-of-20 three-pointers and 21-of-30 at the line while Georgia was 2-of-18 from beyond the arc and 7-of-11 on free throws.
- Florida was presented with the SEC regular-season championship trophy in a pregame ceremony. The Gators have won the regular- season title in 1989, 2000, 2001, and 2007.
- Florida is the defending champion of the SEC Tournament, having won the last two tourneys. Including tonight's win, Florida has won seven consecutive SEC Tournament games during the 2005-07 tourneys.
- Florida advances to the semifinals and will play the winner of the LSU/Ole Miss game on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. EST. This will be Florida's 12th trip to the tourney semis, including the fourth year in a row.
Georgia Notes
- Georgia is now 18-13.
- Junior forward Takais Brown led Georgia with 12 points and sophomore guard Billy Humphrey added 10.
- Sophomore guard Corey Butler, a Bulldog walk-on, had a career-high nine points.
Florida Notes
- Florida is now 27-5 overall and has won two in a row.
- Florida, the nation's best shooting team with a 52.8 field-goal percentage for the season, shot 53.5 percent tonight.
- Junior guard Taurean Green led the Gators with 19 points. Junior forward Corey Brewer tallied 15.
- Junior center Al Horford totaled 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
- Senior guard Lee Humphrey has made a three-point shot in 31 consecutive games, two short of the school record of 33 straight games with a three by Brett Nelson.
- Andrew DeClercq (1992-95) was recognized at halftime as the Chick-fil-A "SEC Legend" for Florida. DeClercq earned some sort of All-SEC honor in all four years. He helped lead Florida to its first Final Four appearance in 1994.
