ATHENS, Ga. — Mike White had to be a tad frustrated with his defense late Saturday afternoon. The Florida coach watched Georgia make nine of its last 11 shots on its way to scoring the second-most points by UF opponent this season. 

On the positive side, though, the Gators were on their way to posting a season-high number of points, thanks to their best shooting performance to date, a road display that helped build a cushy 17-point lead late in the second half that made the Bulldogs' run a mostly cosmetic element in a 92-84 victory at Stegeman Coliseum. 

Sophomore guard Tre Mann led five UF players into double-figure scoring, pouring in a career-high 24 points on a day the Gators (8-4, 5-3), with a second straight Southeastern Conference win, shot 57 percent from the floor and fueled by an early flurry out of the locker room built a big lead and finished the job. 

"We've changed the whole dynamics [on offense] since I've been here, and now this year we started playing much faster," junior shooting guard Noah Locke said after his team succeeded in building on the incredible (and short-handed) performance from four days earlier when it bludgeoned sixth-ranked Tennessee by 26 at Gainesville. "We've switched some things [lately], but that seems like the best way for us."

Locke had 16 points, dropping four 3-pointers, and 6-foot-11 forward Colin Castleton returned after missing the Tennessee game due to a sore ankle to score 14 points on 7-for-9 makes from the floor. The starting "5" spot, though, went to sophomore Omar Payne again and for the second straight game he delivered in a big way: 10 points (5-for-5), nine rebounds and three blocked shots over 25 minutes. Fourth-year junior guard Tyree Appleby had 14 points, three rebounds and three assists. 
 
The Gators out-rebounded the Bulldogs (9-5, 2-5) to the tune of 41-27, including 16 offensive caroms that led to 22 second-chance points. UF also worked for 52 points in the paint, but that was only two more than what UGA tallied inside — including a barrage of late layups — on the way to hitting 54 percent for the game (61.4 in the second half), but still losing by nine points. 

"There were some things we can clean up, but yeah, [to] shoot the percentage we shot on the road, get to the free-throw line, out-rebound … ," White said. "We did a lot of really good stuff."

Not right away. Georgia jumped to a seven-point advantage four minutes into the game, by hitting seven of its first eight field-goal attempts, with flashy sophomore point guard Sahvir Wheeler (10 points, 10 assists) cutting through and throwing and by the UF defense on his way to a nine-assist, one-turnover half. Florida, though, turned the momentum with a 10-2 run — with five different players scoring a bucket each — that seemed to get the visitors into an offensive rhythm. 

Two free throws by forward Toumani Camara (11 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists) put the Bulldogs in front, 30-29, with just over six minutes to go in the first half, but a 3-ball by Locke returned the edge to the Gators and they never gave it back. 

Payne's put-back of a Mann miss at the halftime buzzer sent UF to the locker room with a 41-38 lead, but it was the Gators' 16-3 spree to start the second half that set the tone for the rest of the game. 
 
"We didn't play that good in the first half, and we had another half to make up for it," said Mann, who hit seven of his 16 shots, eight of 10 free throws, grabbed six rebounds and finished with four assists to five turnovers. "We had to come out hard those first five minutes."

And they did. Appleby started it with a jumper from the elbow, then Mann dropped a 3 to push the Gators ahead by eight barely a minute into the period. The Florida lead was seven, 49-42, when Castleton flushed a run-out off a turnover then posted his defender for back-to-back buckets that were followed by a Mann-to-Payne lob-slam and 3-pointer by Appleby for a nine-point blitz and 16-point lead with just under 15 minutes to go. 

"We didn't come out with the same level of fight," Georgia coach Tom Crean said of the start to the second half. 

Both teams, though, had about the same level of defense, which was to say, not too much. In the end, UF finished with the better across-the-board offensive numbers — a 13-4 run opened a 17-point lead with 6:23 remaining — which was what this game was all about. 

"Thank goodness we had the lead," White said. "We just could not find stops."

They found more than the Bulldogs and, for a second straight game, put an offensive performance on tape that can be something to build on; something to be encouraged about. 

"They were terrific offensively," White said. "Thank goodness, we were good offensively, as well."

Far from perfect, but really, really good.