Second half drought dooms Bulldogs
Another Georgia game, another second half where too many mistakes and cold shooting proved the difference between victory and defeat.
The result was an 88-82 loss to Florida, extending Georgia’s current losing streak to six.
Head coach Mike White’s frustration was evident in his postgame press conference.
It was easy to see why.
Georgia went more than 10 minutes without a field goal, and despite climbing to within one, could not recover as turnovers (10 in the second half) and other mistakes torpedoed any hopes the Bulldogs had of winning the game.
The loss dropped Georgia to 14-11 on the year, and 4-8 in the SEC, while Florida improved to 18-7, 8-3 in the league.
“We’ve got to guard a lot better. We’ve got to make simpler decisions with the basketball. We just did some stuff tonight that you can say is out of character, but as often as we’re saying it, that’s our character right now,” White said. “Some of the live ball turnovers, some of the other turnovers, some of the ill-advised fouls, some of the just getting out of a stance and not understanding the screen’s coming, and giving up a big 3. Those things add up, and you can’t win in this league unless you’re more accountable than that and disciplined than that.”
Noah Thomasson led the Bulldogs with a career-high 26 points, including five 3-pointers, followed by Russel Tchewa with 15 points and Justin Hill with 14.
Four different players scored in double-figures for the Gators, led by Walter Clayton Jr. with 21. However, Georgia’s continued issues in defending the paint proved detrimental to the Bulldogs’ cause.
Thirty-six of Florida’s points came from in close, while Georgia only managed seven offensive boards all afternoon.
“I’m appreciative--our fans were awesome, and we’ve got to continue learning at home, that when you score, they can be as loud as they want. But you can’t jog back, this isn’t high school basketball. You can’t look up in the crowd,” White said. “We’re not good enough to do that. Maybe some teams are, so on Monday we will continue to work on sprinting back, getting in a stance, and getting matched up, if we’re going to be competitive on Wednesday.”
After committing just four turnovers in the first half, eight turnovers in the first nine minutes of the second half led to Florida going up 59-53 with 11:33 to play.
Of course, when you cannot score, that makes it difficult, too.
The Bulldogs went over 10 minutes without a field goal, until a 3-pointer by Blue Cain snapped the slide and brought Georgia within three with 8:48 to go.
Cain’s shot pumped some life back into the sellout crowd of 10,523 and the Bulldogs as well.
The freshman’s basket sparked a 6-0 run to close to within one point.
But Georgia would get no closer as Florida went on a 12-5 run to push the margin to nine, easing to the win.
“I don’t think we’re playing bad basketball, but we’re not doing enough down the stretch to win games,” Thomasson said. “But it wasn’t just one or two things, it was the full 40 minutes.”
Thomasson was the story of the first half for the Bulldogs, who hit their first seven shots of the game.
Four of those were courtesy of Thomasson, who tallied 10 points less than four minutes into the game, including back-to-back 3-pointers giving the Bulldogs a 16-9 lead.
Tchewa was also on his game, although five turnovers did not help his cause.
The Gators had no answers for the 7-footer, who converted all four of his shots and hit a pair of free throws for 10 first-half points for the Bulldogs, who led by as many as 11.
Florida would twice close within two, but the Bulldogs answered both times before going into the half with a 46-40 lead.
“We’re going to get it done here and we’re going to be prepared on Wednesday, we’ll have a great practice on Monday,” White said. “I wish we could practice in an hour. I’d like to go get a bite, get some more caffeine, and get right back to it, but unfortunately, we’ve got to take off until Monday.
Georgia returns to action Wednesday night at Vanderbilt.