GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Gators made it fairly clear early Saturday that they were prepared and ready to roll out a tremendous effort in their game against rival Georgia. They weren't going to need the Bulldogs' help, but no one on the home team was going to turn down all the turnovers that came the Gators' way in a dominant first half that turned into a dominant 89-59 victory at the sold-out O'Dome.
Guards Alijah Martin and Walter Clayton each scored 17 points, combined for nine steals and eight assists to lead five of their teammates into double-figure scoring. All of Martin's points came in a first half when UF torched its way to 67-percent shooting, including seven of 14 from deep, and scored a stunning 24 points off 14 turnovers by the visitors, to go up by 25 at the break.
For the Gators (18-2, 5-2), winners of three straight, it was probably their most all-encompassing lights-out half in Southeastern Conference play this season, given the Bulldogs (14-6, 2-5), losers of four straight, came into the game as one of the best defenses in the conference and No. 1 in the league guarding the 2-point area, where UF went 11-for-13 (84.6 percent) in for the period.
"We've got a lot of weapons and I do think in this building, specifically, we obviously can get it going pretty good in here," Golden said. "My biggest thing is mentality and approach. If we play hard, and we're physical and we're being proactive and not reactive, I think generally good things will happen in here. But when we shoot the ball well to start the game like that and our defensive activity is the way it is, we're not going to be beat in here, that's the bottom line."
Senior guard Will Richard had 16 points, dropping four of his eight 3-point attempts, with sophomore forward Alex Condon tallying 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Sophomore forward Thomas Haugh came off the bench for his second double-double of the season, finishing with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
"The mindset was just don't come out slow," Martin said. "We've got a tendency of coming out slow, and we weren't going to do that. Once we got the ball rolling, we just kept it going."
Thomas Haugh (10), Alijah Martin (15) and the UF defense made life miserable for Georgia on its way to shooting just 35.6 percent for the game.
At the first media timeout, Florida led 16-11, but Georgia had made four of its first five shots and all three of its 3s. The Bulldogs also had five turnovers in barely five minutes trying to go side-to-side against the Gators' active hands.
"We had 20 deflections in the first half," Golden said. "That's a number that we have not gotten close to for a long time."
Out of the stoppage, Florida got one of those deflections and forced a sixth turnover, this one leading to a transition slam by Haugh that turned into 11 unanswered points for the Gators and a 25-11 lead.
When Richard hit a trio of 3s over a span of less than three minutes, UF had doubled up UGA, 38-19, and eventually built the margin to 25 at the break.
The Gators went to the locker room up 51-26.
"Our decisions, our carelessness with the ball at times, our ball toughness at times, our incorrect reads … Florida did a really good job of running through our passes," Georgia coach Mike White said after watching his team outscored 23-4 in transition through the first 20 minutes. "At times we made the right reads and right passes, but sometimes we threw them into the stands."
Yes, one Georgia pass literally did sail a good 10 feet over the Florida bench and about 10 rows up into the club-seat section.
This on the heels of Wednesday night's stirring comeback from 14 down with 12 minutes to go at South Carolina, where the Gators forced a season-high 14 steals on the way to 22 points off turnovers and a 22-0 edge in transition.
"The guards do a great job of pressuring," Haugh said. "[Martin is] insane on the ball. He just goes up there and presses them. We got that working a little bit against South Carolina, so taking that over to this game and speeding up their guards a little bit helped us a lot and created turnovers."
The forwards put in the work, too. Condon was particularly effective against UGA forward Asa Newell, candidate for conference freshman of the year at 15.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Newell, a projected 2025 NBA lottery pick and already with four double-doubles, was held to eight points on 4-for-14 shooting (0-for-5 from distance) and six rebounds.
"We have a lot of pride on our team, and our frontcourt players have a lot of pride," Golden said after watching his guys hold UGA to 35.6 percent for the game and 5-for-21 from the arc (0-for-11 in the second half). "Anytime our guys go up against a player like that, they accept it as a challenge. I thought we did a great job neutralizing [Newell] tonight."
Georgia had a run of eight consecutive points early in the second half to get the margin down to 19 and force UF to call a timeout. There were probably a few in the house recalling last season's visit from the Bulldogs, who trailed by 21 inside 15 minutes remaining, only to storm back behind full-court pressure and force overtime. Florida won that one 102-98.
This wasn't that.
Will Richard jumps into the arms of assistant coach Taurean Green and a jubilant bench.
The Gators doused any Bulldogs hopes with a 14-1 run, highlighted by a lob slam in transition from Clayton to Condon, followed by three straight driving layups in traffic by Clayton.
The UF lead was 34 with nine minutes to play, as the Gators coasted to a 12th straight win the series, with Golden improving to 6-0 versus his Florida predecessor.
"What we're trying to impress upon our team is [that] if we bring that elite mentality and effort level in every game, especially at home, we're going to be really tough to play with," said Golden, whose team has its mid-week bye before playing at sixth-ranked Tennessee on Feb. 1. "Got to do it on the road, obviously, as well. But in these opportunities, where you get good teams on your home floor, you got to take advantage of it."
Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
