Florida Gators

No. 5 Florida vs. Georgia

 
* When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (17-2, 4-2) / Georgia (14-5, 2-4)
* TV: SEC Network (Mike Morgan and Mark Wise)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD / Stations list
  (with Sean Kelley, Lee Humphrey and Steve Egan) 
* Ticket info

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Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Condon	F	6-11 / 230	Sophomore	10.5 pts / 8.2 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Sophomore	5.6 pts / 7.2 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Senior	13.5 pts / 5.0 reb
Alijah Martin	G	6-2 / 195	Graduate	16.1 pts / 5.3 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Senior	17.8 pts / 3.4 reb / 3.9 ast

Georgia	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Asa Newell	F	6-11 / 220	Freshman	15.5 pts / 6.9 reb
RJ Godfrey	F	6-8 / 230	Junior	6.7 pts / 4.3 reb
Tyrin Lawrence	G	6-4 / 200	Graduate	9.5 pts / 3.4 reb / 2.7 ast
Blue Cain	G	6-5 / 195	Sophomore	8.3 pts / 4.0 reb
Silas Demary	G	6-5 / 195	Sophomore	11.6 pts / 4.2 reb / 2.7 ast

The Breakdown

SETUP: Fifth-ranked Florida and Georgia meet in a Southeastern Conference game between two teams jockeying for position in the league standings. The Gators have won two straight after Wednesday night's remarkable road comeback at South Carolina, where they trailed by 14 with 12 minutes to go, and by five with just over a minute left, only to steal a 70-69 victory on Will Richard's driving layup in traffic with 4.8 seconds left. The Bulldogs have lost three straight and likely are still smarting from Wednesday's defeat at previously SEC-winless Arkansas when they blew a 16-point second-half lead and fell 68-65.  

SERIES: UF leads 125-103, including a run of 11 straight, dating to the 2020 season, as well as a sweep of three games in '24. The Gators, after blowing a 21-point second-half lead, won at home 102-98 in overtime on Jan. 27. They rallied from 12 down in the first half at Athens for an 88-82 on Feb. 17. The third meeting came March 14 in the second round of the SEC Tournament at Nashville, where the Gators held off the Bulldogs for an 85-80 win, thanks to clutch 6-for-6 free-throw shooting in the final 15 seconds from backup guard Riley Kugel, who helped rescue his team after All-SEC point guard Zyon Pullin fouled out. UF put itself in harm's way by going a collective 23-for-41 from the free-throw line (56.1 percent), with forward Tyrese Samuel (17 points, career-high 15 rebounds) hitting just nine of 23. Walter Clayton Jr. had 22 points to lead all scorers. 

ETC: Florida coach Todd Golden is unbeaten in five games against Georgia coach Mike White, who bolted UF in March 2022 for the vacant UGA post. Golden, by way of San Francisco, replaced him five days later.   

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Georgia
85.1	Scoring	77.3
.467	Field-goal percentage	.475
.343	3-point percentage	.384
65.7	Scoring defense	65.3
.379	Field-goal percentage defense	.330
.281	3-point percentage defense	.281
5th	KenPom.com overall ranking	36th
5th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	79th
17th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	14th
86th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	227th
6th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	29th
52nd	Overall strength of schedule ranking	46th

The Gators

The Gators, for the first half and most of the second, didn't play very well at South Carolina, but they never stopped playing hard. Yes, there were times when the Gamecocks appeared to be out-hustling the visitors, but UF never gave in to human nature and put their effort into a different gear when Golden unleashed the 1-2-2 full-court press that completely changed the game. The Gators had 10 steals and forced 12 second-half turnovers, including 11 in the final 15 minutes, a testament to a team that rates among the bottom in the SEC (and country) in forcing turnovers via steals. UF hit its last three floor shots and both free-throw attempts in the final two minutes. ... Florida ranks fifth nationally in 3-point percentage (28.1) and effective field-goal defense (43.2) and 12th in guarding the 3-point line (28.1 percent). On offense, the team-wide strength continues to be rebounding (despite losing both ends at Columbia), where they get back 40.7 percent of misses, which is fourth in the country. 

Guard Will Richard was spectacular in the second half, scoring 14 of his 22 points, grabbing a key offensive rebound and converting a putback, coming away with three steals and, of course, making the game-winning bucket in the final seconds to give the Gators their only lead of the game. Richard, who on that decisive bucket became the 56th player in UF history to reach 1,000 points for his career, is shooting 69.6 percent from the 2-point area (that's 39th nationally) and is up to 33 percent from distance. ... Point guard Walter Clayton Jr. had one of his better all-around SEC performances in scoring 16 points, dishing a season-best seven assists (with just 2 turnovers) and grabbing four rebounds. He leads the team with 53 made 3s, with one in every game this season and one in 42 consecutive games, a UF record. ... Guard Alijah Martin scored 10 of his 14 in the second half, with a pair of gigantic 3-point possessions (one with a banked in long one, another the old-fashion way), plus two pressure-packed free throws that tied the game with 52 seconds remaining. ... Backup guard Denzel Aberdeen scored nine points and two huge steals in 15 minutes.  

Forward Alex Condon went just 2-for-8 from the floor and got beaten up down low by South Carolina's front court, but Condon's effort never wavered and proved to be a micrcosm of his team. He finished with seven rebounds, three steals, a pair of blocks and set the decisive duck-in screen that helped clear a path for Richard at game's end. Condon also made one of two 3-point attempts and is now at 44.0 percent on the season (11 of 25). ... Center Rueben Chinyelu scored the team's first basket, but had a rough go the rest of the night, He finished with two points, six rebounds and a minus-16 on-court score over 17 minutes. ... Sophomore backup forward Thomas Haugh (7.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg) equaled his season-low of two points, but Haugh had six boards and was an side-to-side active force in the press on his way to a team-best plus-8. 
 

The Bulldogs

They're in the third season under White with a record of 50-38 to show for it, including 14-28 in SEC play. The Bulldogs started the season by winning 12 of their 13 non-league games, with the lone loss coming on a neutral court against Marquette (currently No. 10 in the nation) on Thanksgiving weekend. They followed that up the next day by beating St. John's (currently No. 20). UGA lost its SEC opener at Ole Miss, but then beat Kentucky and Oklahoma at home to jump into the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time in 15 years at No. 23. Since, however, the Bulldogs have dropped three straight at No. 6 Tennessee, at home against No. 1 Auburn, then this week's disappointing defeat at Arkansas, which was 0-5 in league play going in. The Bulldogs held the Razorbacks to just 31-percent shooting (and just 3-for-23 from the 3-point line), but got out-rebounded by 10, allowed 33 second-chance points, and turned it over nine times in the second half when they were out-scored 42-27.
  UGA's strength is defense, with top-10 national metrics in effective field-goal percentage (44.0/10th) and in guarding the 3-point line (28.1 percent/6th). The Bulldogs block 15.2 percent of shots attempted against them (14th nationally) and are 22nd in 2-point defense (45.2 percent), including a league-best 44.6 against SEC teams (only Tennessee eclipsed 50 percent). Offensively, they're a very good rebounding team, getting back 37.8 percent of misses (15th) and are crafty when it comes to getting to the line. Georgia shoots 56.0 percent from the 2-point area (46th nationally), but just 33.0 from distance (201st). ... Forward Asa Newell is a projected lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft and one of the best freshman in the country. He's a relentless competitor in the post who has scored in double figures in all but one game, with four double doubles, including 13 points and 13 boards in the loss at currently No. 16 Ole Miss and 18 points and eight boards at Arkansas. Newell is converting at 64.0 percent from 2 and ranks 25th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage at 15.6. ... Point guard Silas Demary Jr. has built on his solid freshman campaign in '23-24. He scores at all three levels and is adept at getting to the line, where he converts at 83.7 percent. ... Fifth-year guard Tyrin Lawrence is another perimeter threat, who played the last four seasons at Vanderbilt. He had 14 points, seven rebounds and two assists in a win over the Gators last March. 

Guard Blue Cain outscored the Gators 7-0 in the final minute of regulation in last season's near-comeback/disaster at the O'Dome. He's starting now and capable of improving on his 30.4-percent from 3. ... Backup guard Dakota Leffew (11.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg) is a transfer from Mount St. Mary's and the team's third-leading scorer. He's shooting 60 percent from 2 and nearly 37 from 3 while playing starter's minutes (24.8) and has 11 double-figure scoring games off the bench. ... Forward RJ Godfrey brought the Bulldogs some muscle and winning experience, by way of Clemson, where he fell a game shy of the Final Four last season. Godfrey shuffles minutes in the post with backup Somtochukwu Cyril (5.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg). The two are efficient in the paint -- Godfrey at 52.6 percent, Cyril at 68.0 -- but are a combined 0-for-9 from the 3-point line. 
 

Numbers of Note

* plus-1 — Newell's offensive rebound vs. defensive rebound margin, based on his 66 on the offensive end against 65 on the defensive end. He will not be out-worked.  

* minus-5 — Richard's on-court plus-minus score against the Gamecocks. Yeah, sometimes that stat can be deceiving.

* 17 — Combined free throws attempted in the UF-South Carolina game Wednesday (9 for the Gators, 8 for the Gamecocks) 

* 63 — Combined free throws attempted in the Georgia-Arkansas game Wednesday (29 for the Bulldogs, 34 for the Razorbacks) 

* 2019 — The last year Georgia defeated Florida. The date was March 2. The place was the O'Dome. The Gators had won five straight in SEC play and were feeling pretty good about their surging postseason hopes. Enter the Bulldogs, losers of nine in a row and next to last in the conference standings. Exit the Bulldogs with a 61-55 upset victory. Sophomore forward Nicolas Claxton scored a career-high 25 points, hitting nine of 12 field-goal attempts, both his 3-point tries and all five free throws, plus added a trio of blocked shots and two steals over 35 minutes. UGA was ranked at the bottom of the league in scoring and field-goal percentage, but shot 56 percent for the game and went 5-for-5 from the floor over the last five minutes when the Gators desperately needed a stop. The loss sent UF, which shot just 39 percent and got 13 points from guard Jalen Hudson, into a three-game skid to end the regular-season. The Gators, though, still made the NCAA Tournament (and won a game) by reaching the semifinals of the SEC Tournament with an upset of regular-season league champion LSU. 

Bottom Line

With three of the next four on the road against ranked teams (at No. 6 Tennessee, No. 1 Auburn and No. 14 Mississippi State), the Gators need to take care of business on the home floor. 

Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu