Florida Gators

WHAT HAPPENED: Sophomore guard and home state product Will Richard scored a career-high 24 points, including five 3-pointers, and the Gators held off a second-half Georgia rally for a 77-67 Southeastern Conference win Tuesday night at Stegeman Arena that snapped a three-game losing skid. Richard, who grew up about 90 minutes away in Fairburn, Ga., finished eight of 11 from the floor and five of eight from distance, doing so in front of a gathering of about a dozen family and friends. Freshman guard Riley Kugel was every bit as instrumental in the outcome, chipping in 19 points for a seventh straight game in double-figure scoring to go with six rebounds and three assists. Fifth-year senior guard Myreon Jones was terrific as well, with his second career double-double (first as a Gator) of 14 points, a career-high 12 rebounds, four assists and just one turnover. The Gators had a 12-point lead early in the second half, but the Bulldogs cut it to two with 7:20 to play. That's when UF went on a run of hitting five consecutive field-goal attempts, including a Richard 3, to start pushing the margin back out. The lead got as high as 11, but was trimmed to six when Jabri Abdur-Raheem hit a 3 off a full-court pressure turnover to make it a six-point game with 42.7 seconds to go. Out of timeout, Florida managed to break the Georgia pressure with Jones throwing over the defense to Kugel for a put-away slam-dunk with 35 seconds to go that sent the fans to the exits. The loss was a fourth straight for Georgia and former UF coach Mike White, all by double-digits, as the Florida defense smothered UGA into just 33-percent shooting for the game and only 4-for-22 from the 3-point line. The Gators, meanwhile, shot 54 percent for the game, including seven of 19 from distance in winning their first game since losing All-SEC forward Colin Castleton to a season-ending broken right hand. The Bulldogs were led by junior guard Kario Oquendo's 20 points, but the Gators held UGA scoring leader Terry Roberts to just nine points over 24 minutes. WHAT IT MEANS: With the win, the Gators pulled to .500 overall with one regular-season game to go, but also guaranteed their first game in next week's SEC Tournament at Nashville, Tenn., will be Thursday and not one of the dreaded Wednesday night games featuring the bottom four seeds. If UF can win its regular-season finale Saturday it will guarantee avoiding the first losing season since 2014-15, the program's last under Coach Billy Donovan. Under that scenario, Florida would be eligible for selection for the National Invitational Tournament, regardless of what happens next week at Nashville. No, it wouldn't be the tournament the Gators (or anyone) aspire to, but it's something. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT: What a great homecoming for Richard, whose previous scoring high as a Gator was 18 against Xavier back at the Phil Knight Legacy in Portland on Nov. 24.

STAGGERING STATISTIC: Florida went 22 of 35 from the 2-point area, despite no discernable post presence. That's 62.8 percent. 

UP NEXT: Florida (15-15, 8-9) wraps the regular season with Saturday's "Senior Night" game at LSU (13-16, 2-14), which will go into Wednesday night's home game against Missouri in last place in the SEC standings. The Gators defeated the Tigers 67-56 at Baton Rouge on Jan. 10 in the first of their home-and-home rotating series as determined by the league.