ATHENS, Ga. – Just four days after surrendering 46 second-half points and making matters entirely too stressful in a two-point home win against LSU, Coach Todd Golden stood in front of his Florida team at halftime Saturday after watching the Gators allow another 46-point half – this time on 60-percent shooting – on the road at Georgia to trail by a half-dozen against a back-to-the-wall opponent trying to break a five-game losing streak. 
 
Golden used intermission, first, to ask his players a couple questions. Did they want to be a team that was good on offense, but doesn't have much interest in defending? Or did they want to be a complete team that has a chance to play deep into the 2023-24 season?
 
Then came a challenge. 
 
"Be that second team," Golden demanded. 
 
Out came the Gators, who in no time (about 90 seconds) forged the first tie of the game, took their first lead after six minutes, built an eight-point cushion and went on to make the late plays and come away with what ultimately became a tight 88-82 victory before a boisterous matinee crowd at Stegeman Coliseum. 
 
Junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. had 21 points to lead five teammates into double-figure scoring, but it was 6-foot-9 freshman forward Thomas Haugh who stole the show with a career-best 17 points, plus seven rebounds, four on the offensive end, including a big one and subsequent free throw to give his team a two-possession advantage inside a minute to play. 

"We came together in the second half and regrouped," said Haugh, the New Oxford, Pa., product who finished 6-for-9 from the floor and buried a career-best three of his four 3-point attempts. "We got the win at the end."
 
For Florida (18-7, 8-4), that win was the third straight, the seventh in the last eight Southeastern Conference games and kept the team in fifth place in the league standings and very much in the mix for a top-four seed (and double-bye) at the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., next month. It was also UF's third road conference win in the last four tries, as well as a third comeback from a double-digit deficit this season.

For Georgia (14-11, 4-8), make that six consecutive losses. The latest, he said, came against a legit squad headed places. 

"Florida is an NCAA Tournament team," said UGA coach Mike White, who's in the midst of the longest losing skid of his 13 seasons as a college head coach in stops at Louisiana Tech, Florida and Georgia. "They're really good. They share it. They're long and skilled, get stops and force turnovers when they need to."  Clayton made just one of five 3s, but was seven of 13 inside the arc to go with five rebounds and two steals. Junior wing Will Richard, playing in front of a gathering of family members who made the trip from his hometown of Fairburn., Ga., had 10 points, went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line and topped 1,000 points for his career. Backup freshman forward Alex Condon also had 10 points, giving the Gators 27 from their two freshmen. 
 
And then there was fifth-year point guard Zyon Pullin, who was his every-game unflappable self. Pullin finished with 16 points (2-for-5 from the arc, 6-for-6 at the free-throw line) seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and zero turnovers over a game-high 36 minutes. 
 
"He's like the ultimate security blanket out there," Golden said of Pullin. "He's just out there seeing things and playing quarterback for us." 
 
Georgia, which began it's five-game tailspin with the 102-98 in overtime at Gainesville (a game the Bulldogs trailed by 21 in the second half and shredded UF for a whopping 53 in the second period), had a midweek bye and it showed. UGA not only came out fresh and lively, but on fire. The Bulldogs connected on their first seven shots, nine of their first 10, and surged in front by double digits, 22-11, less than seven minutes in. 
 
"We knew we were going to take a great punch from them early," Golden said. 
 
The lead was at nine nearing the halfway point of the period when the Gators started inching close. They got within two a couple times, but Georgia went to the break ahead 46-40 having made 18 of 30 shots (60 percent) and four of nine 3s. 
 
"Forty-six points in the first half, you just can't let that happen," Clayton said. "The offense was fine. We needed to get stops." 
 
Clayton started the second half with a three. About a minute later, Richard nailed one to tie the score at 48. Florida's first lead came on a post-up move by Condon with just under 15 minutes to go and the Gators never trailed again, as the Bulldogs dipped into a stretch of more than 10 minutes without a field goal. 
 
Yet, the game's final minutes were not without angst on the visiting bench.  The UF lead was down to two inside six to go when Condon drained a 3-pointer while Clayton was getting shoved underneath the basket with the ball in flight. The bucket counted and Clayton hit two free throws for a five-point possession and 73-66 lead. Florida led 81-77 when Haugh got the ball on the wing in a late-clock situation, drove down the right side of the lane and banked in a layup high off the glass with 1:41 to go for an 83-77 advantage. 
 
Georgia guard Noah Thommason, the transfer from Niagara on his way to a career-high 26 points, answered Haugh's bucket with his fifth 3 to cut the UF lead in half. At Florida's end, and with the crowd energized, Richard missed a 3-pointer, but Haugh mixed it up underneath, grabbed a pivotal offensive rebound (his fourth, the team's 15^th) and was fouled with 53 seconds to go.
 
Haugh made the second of two free throws, which was good enough for a two-possession lead. Georgia misfired at its end, with Pullin making the first two of his four free throws over the final 23.2 seconds left to salt the game away. Worth noting: Florida was 20-for-26 from the free-throw line (80.8 percent), with Pullin, Richard and Clayton a combined 17-for-17.
 
The Bulldogs scored just 36 points in the second half, shot 37.5 percent in the second half and turned it over 10 times leading to 16 UF points.
 
"We had a sense of urgency coming out of the second half," Pullin said. "We corrected it."
 
Challenge made. Challenge accepted.

Another win in the books.